How President Uhuru is Jeopardising Raila’s future

A file editorial cartoon.

Two weeks ago on this column, I made a prediction that Miguna Miguna’s fate was sealed on February 6th, the day of his first deportation. That Tuesday, when he was unceremoniously bundled onto a KLM flight to Canada, was Miguna’s point of no return. Literally. My projection was that his deportation would remain enforced for a long time, and that he is thereafter ‘condemned to roam the wilderness of the Americas giving hollow talks in empty halls.’ What I did not anticipate was the dramatic way in which it would happen. Now that it has happened, allow me to make some interpretations of Miguna’s tribulations.

There are two logical political explanations of why Miguna’s homecoming, supposed to be a triumphant re-entry to the ‘battlefield’, was turned into a humiliating debacle, part of it even confined to an airport toilet. The two explanations for Miguna’s troubles are Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila Odinga. But interestingly, not only are Kenyatta and Raila’s reasons for persecuting Miguna different and unrelated, they are also at cross-purposes. Kenyatta’s purpose cancels out Raila’s purpose. Let me explain. Raila’s motives are retributive. It is about settling political scores, and ridding himself of a political menace. In my view, if Raila did not somehow influence Miguna’s banishment, he tacitly endorsed it. Raila, he who on a normal day relishes press conferences, has not uttered a single word in Miguna’s defence.

But who can blame Raila? Miguna, in his book ‘Peeling Back the Mask’ and through his negative colourful descriptions of Raila thereafter, inflicted lasting wounds. And Miguna went a step further to add salt to this injurious betrayal. He hijacked Raila’s ‘Resist’ cause. Overnight, Miguna made himself the ‘General’ of an army that took Raila over three decades to build! With his gift of the garb, his ‘Trump-like’ over-confidence and his general shamelessness; Miguna is a real threat to Raila. Miguna has the potential to start revolutions, and topple dynasties even without a vote base.

This is a man who, only last year was running for governor of Nairobi, and emerged with a measly 0.64 per cent of the total vote. Now, just a few months later, he has suddenly become a regular headline item. He is causing the type of noise and gaining the type of attention that is every politician’s dream. To Raila, Miguna’s persisting populist campaign can acquire a life of its own if left unchecked. That is why his response to Miguna’s harassment has been unenthusiastic. While his recent handshake with Kenyatta may be muffling his voice, Raila is secretly enjoying the tribulations of Miguna. This is the sweetest type of revenge, the kind where someone else is doing the dirty work for you.

But there is a problem - the ejection of Miguna is actually counter- productive to Raila’s purposes.

This brings us to the next point; Kenyatta’s intention. The most logical purpose that one can deduce in this Miguna drama, is the creation of a ‘hero.’ Kenyatta is deliberately making a hero out of Miguna. The airport fiasco was not accidental. If Miguna had indeed produced his documentation as required, he would somehow have been found with another fault- one that would still have led to his re-deportation. It is like the common and frustrating encounter with a Kenyan traffic policeman; if your licence is up to date, then he will check your insurance sticker, if it is in order, he will check something more subjective- like the state of your tyre retreads. Or the strength of your tail lights. Either way, he will get you somehow. He will make an example out of you because he intends to. And here Kenyatta made a hero out of Miguna, because he intended to.

You see, heroes are created from persecution. The short cut to heroism is to endure suffering, and to endure it publicly, willingly and gallantly. Soren Kierkegaard, the Danish philosopher said that ‘The tyrant dies and his rule is over, the martyr dies and his rule begins.’

This past week, the JKIA became Miguna’s Golgotha; his personal political Calvary. The public crucifixion propelled him to ‘savior-status’ and gained him admiration and sympathy. It has provided him with grounds to further his cause, rally his troops and summon international support. And that is why I say that Kenyatta’s purpose for Miguna’s persecution cancels out Raila’s purpose. By creating a hero out of him, Kenyatta jeopardises Raila’s political future, or at least presents him with an additional hurdle in his leadership of the Luo nation.

- The writer is a PhD candidate in Political Economy at SMC University and a research fellow at Fort Hall School of Government. [email protected]