CORD can afford to bid time watching out for Kenyans

By Ababu Namwamba

The sultan of Persia had sentenced two men to death. One of them, knowing how much the sultan loved his stallion, offered to teach the horse to fly within a year in return for his life. The sultan, fancying himself as the rider of the only flying horse in the world, agreed.

The other prisoner looked at his friend in disbelief. “You know horses don’t fly. What made you come up with a crazy idea like that? You are only postponing the inevitable”, he quipped.

“Not so,” said the first prisoner. I have actually given myself four chances for freedom. First, the sultan might die during the year. Second, I might die. Third, the horse might die. And fourth, I might actually teach the horse to fly”!

Mastering time, to serve your ends, is a skill indispensable in the pursuit and retention of power. Amplifying this in the 35th of his provocative 48 Laws of Power, Robert Green says: “Never seem to be in a hurry – hurrying betrays a lack of control over yourself, and over time. Always seem patient, as if you know that everything will come to you eventually. Become a detective of the right moment. Sniff out the spirit of the times, the trends that will carry you to power. Learn to stand back when the time is not yet ripe, and to strike furiously when it has reached fruition”.

Green uses the example of the hawk to vividly illustrate this: patiently and silently the hawk circles the sky, high above, all seeing with its powerful eyes. Those below have no awareness that they are being tracked.

Suddenly, when the moment arrives, the hawk swoops down with a speed that cannot be defended against; before its prey knows what has happened, the bird’s vice-like talons have carried it up into the sky.

The Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD) is at a critical phase in its evolution as a political force. It is not easy to live through the trauma of seeing what appeared to be certain victory somehow slip through your fingers, as experienced by CORD seven months ago.

Disillusionment and the chill of political Siberia could easily dispirit you into oblivion. The cords that bind the edifice together get tested to unimaginable levels as winds of uncertainty sweep from all points of the compass, while vultures and hyenas chillingly hover around, eager to devour your very bowels.

This challenge is even more acute if the coming together was rather hurried in the manner that coalitions are ordinarily crafted in Kenya. And in any case, if the primary motivation for coming together is to win power, it is a titanic task to stick together when that mission aborts.

But this is one landmine CORD seems to have negotiated around quite impressively. The three principals and their respective constituent parties have remarkably stuck together, confounding both friend and foe alike.

In fact, adversity has apparently served more like ties that bind than tears that rip the “cords” asunder. Incredible! This means CORD can only get stronger, really.

For starters, the opposition coalition has got all the time in the world. Out of government for the next four years, CORD bears no responsibility for managing the affairs of this country. Its primary role is to oversight government, keeping it on the straight and narrow.

In this period, it is not the business of CORD to provide security or deliver maendeleo. Its task is to nail government, hard, on its pledges. Right now the chief agenda for CORD is to look out for Kenyans’ best interests.

By working closely with all progressive forces to jealously protect liberties such as freedom of the press and the right of civil society to mobilise. By amplifying government howlers, which are increasing by the day…just look at the fumbling with security, mishandling of VAT, hiccups with East African integration, diplomatic discomfiture, and the despotic attempts to mute the media and civil society.

Yes, CORD can afford to bid its time, watching out for Kenyans, keeping the Jubilee government on toes, exploiting every single chink in enemy armor. While quietly and deliberately preparing for the next battle royale…the return match. After all, the opposition of today is only the government of tomorrow, and vice versa!