The enigma of Kenya's politics doubles up as hindrance to positive change

Our politics is configured to find balance around tribalism, the fulcrum on which it rotates.

The clearest demonstration of this is the temporary imbalance caused by the tribeless, partyless and leaderless movement spearheaded by Gen Z, whose aims caused consternation among the old guards, oligarchies and pilferers of state resources.

The hitherto bickering political elite was rudely jolted out of its lethargic, complacent stupor into the realisation it needed to regroup to regain balance and protect its wealth, nay, loot.

A bewildered President William Ruto, who had indicated he would be loathe to even touch Raila Odinga with a ten-foot pole, became amnesiac and embraced Raila so tightly that by the time they were stepping back from each other’s embrace, the opposition had already taken key positions in government. 

This reinforces the belief that Raila is the enigma of Kenyan politics. He saw an opportunity and tweaked the tribal card to defuse a potentially volatile situation posing a threat to the political existence of old guards, he included.

Homa Bay, Mombasa and Kakamega are among the key areas that fully and enthusiastically embraced recent Gen Z protests. The nomination of John Mbadi, Ali Joho and Wycliffe Oparanya to Cabinet Secretary positions was made to appear as if it was a reward for their respective communities, and it worked. 

It doesn’t matter the poverty levels among the people, the rate of illiteracy and other ills, merely having one of their own in government fools many into supporting even the most oppressive regimes. State machinery went into overdrive, got some hirelings to demonstrate in praise of the government for ‘remembering’ one of their own, and just like that, the tribal propaganda worked for Ruto and Raila’s newfound camaraderie.

What this boils down to is that there is no political goodwill, and no genuine effort to fight tribalism, poverty and illiteracy. Poignantly, these are the very ills our founding fathers sought to drive out at independence. How come successive governments have been inept at conclusively dealing with them?

These vices are nature’s gift to our two timing political elite for the simple reason they conspire to make the masses desperate, hence subservient to those who continually pretend to mind their wellbeing. Realistically speaking, Kenyans are not better off today than they were in 1964. 

Six decades after attaining self-rule, you look at the state of some schools, health facilities, villages, shopping centres and the state of most citizens and wonder if the fight for independence was worth the bother.

Juxtapose that with the more than Sh10 billion net worth of 19 individuals appointed to sit in the Cabinet to preside over the misery of Kenyans, and you get to appreciate the hopelessness of the average Kenyan. Other than being the enigma of Kenyan politics, it is emerging Raila could as well be the biggest hindrance to any meaningful change in this country.

His propensity to prop up unpopular regimes, just because it benefits him and his ODM party doesn't leave room for alternative voices until Gen Z showed up. Even then, police brutality and recourse to ethnicity have been employed to silence them. 

Raila delivered the presidency to Kibaki in 2002, something many Kenyans applauded after the oppressive single-party rule under Kanu.

He would later join Kibaki in 2008 in the government of unity to cool political temperatures that had soared as a result of the botched 2007 election, which claimed 1300 lives and displaced more than half a million people. 

In 2018, he propped up Uhuru Kenyatta’s regime as it tottered on the brink of collapse. More recently, Raila sauntered into State House to give a lifeline to Ruto at a time the latter was bemused by anti-government protests.

Gen Z meant well for this country, their approach notwithstanding, but they have been unfairly vilified because they sought to upset the status quo.