Own up, we must dialogue on reforms

In all but name, the Jubilee Alliance Party mirrors the defunct Communist Party’s politburo (policy making committee) of the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). The politburo was formed by Vladimir Lenin to spearhead the Russian Revolution in 1917.

In almost similar manner, President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto formed Jubilee to spearhead their own version of a ‘revolution’.

There is no denying the Uhuruto alliance was birthed by the sword of the International Criminal Court hanging over their heads for perceived crimes against humanity in the 2007/2008 post-election violence that the court was unable to prove.

The Uhuruto revolution took them to State House, a pedestal from which they twirled ICC so furiously it was left in a daze. That heady experience, however, has left them feeling they owe no one an explanation nor apology. Jubilee goes about its business in a way that precludes the aspirations of half the country.

At some point, the Politburo was an aberration to the rest of the world. The Soviet Union was the epitome of a closed repressive class society. Citizens led straight-jacket lives. So layered was the Soviet Union that different categories of people enjoyed only those rights commensurate with their social standing.

And even within the ruling elite themselves, there were cadres. But as obnoxious as any political party or grouping of individuals may be, often, the odd one or two nice guys are always there, waiting in the wings to do something positive.

Mr Mikhail Gorbachev, the last Secretary General of the Soviet Union, is one such individual. He broke away with tradition by publicly admitting in 1985 that the Soviet economy was in the red and the living standards of his people an absolute low. His famous ‘glasnost’ (openness) philosophy and ‘perestroika’, a movement for reformation within the Communist Party that aimed to restructure the political and economic set-ups of the Soviet Union, made it possible. The Soviet Union opened up, disintegrated into individual states and eliminated the possibility of a nuclear war with America; the cold war had ended.

We are at that point; the economy is not robust. The political set-up is ailing. Jubilee has become our contemporary politburo; fronting exclusiveness and repression. For the discerning, it only takes the now familiar refrains “wale jamaa wengine” (those other fellows) and “the president and I” (denoting special status and the inner sanctum) to appreciate Jubilee’s exclusivity. And the matter of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission forcefully brings this to the fore.

Granted, the law is clear on the modalities of removing constitutional office holders, yet it does not explicitly bar dialogue. The Constitution itself is a product of dialogue. Between 2008 and 2013, we had the office of the Prime Minister, which was not provided for in the constitution but which circumstances and necessity demanded.

Putting the country’s interests first had to be given preference over hard-liners on both sides of the political divide when eminent African personalities came in to arbitrate. Today, there is no need for the eminent personalities because we should have learnt from that ignominious experience.

Whether it is done today or later, dialogue over IEBC is inevitable. It will save the country extended agony and tension if the President took personal control and excluded his lackeys. While over six million Kenyans stood behind President Uhuru Kenyatta in 2013, there were over 5 million behind Raila Odinga and ignoring the latter is imprudent.

President Uhuru Kenyatta must turn Gorbachev and do a Glasnost (uwazi) and a Perestroika (mageuzi) within Jubilee to give this country a shot at reclaiming its lost glory on the continent. In Tanzania, President John Magufuli has his glasnost and perestroika doing wonders and only recently pulled the rug from under Kenya in reaching lucrative deals with Uganda and Rwanda to build a pipeline and the Standard Gauge Railway line.

Jubilee is not inherently corrupt or inept. A clique of impulsive, foul-mannered and highly opinionated individuals has given it a bad name. These are the people President Uhuru Kenyatta must put on a very short leash out of public limelight to secure his legacy.

At the end of the day, he will take responsibility for what happened or did not happen under his watch. The hard-liners on both sides of the political divide and the demonstrations which the police disperse with excessive force have given Kenya the distinction of being lumped together with oppressive and failed countries like Burundi, Gambia and Uganda in the eyes of the international community.

Like the Soviet Union was an aberration, so are we and thumping our nose at the UN and the world over the forced repatriation of refugees at Dadaab and Kakuma camps to volatile Somalia only scores off us.