Lie detector for Kibaki, Raila?

Kipkoech Tanui

Between President Kibaki and Prime minister Raila Odinga someone is cunningly uneconomical with the truth on today’s symbolic Mau tree planting.

The bigger question remains; Why? But if one lied, what moral compass would he bequeath those they govern and their children? Should we not ask that they be put through a lie detector on the steps of Harambee House where they signed their power-sharing deal?

I do not hold brief for Kibaki or Raila but I know they will be charged and judged in our moral courts. Raila told us he is going to Mau, which is now a hot potato to some of our leaders, with President. Kibaki may not have given a date but as we have seen, each of his statements, including assurance there would be no going back on evictions, dove-tailed with Raila’s.

False utterances

One gets the impression they were talking among themselves, or why else did it take weeks before State House contradicted Raila? Here, I am reminded of what Scottish writer Robert Loius Stevenson wrote: "The cruelest lies are often told in silence. A man may have sat in a room for hours and not opened his mouth, and yet come out of that room a disloyal friend or a vile calumniator (one who utters false statements)."

You noticed Presidential Press Service, which releases President’s diary a day before, announced his Friday scheduled on Wednesday. It was silent on Mau and was not specific how long swearing — his Friday engagement — would take. Certainly not the whole day and with military choppers, he can be in many places on a day. When PPS insinuates the PM lied, by resending newsrooms the President’s Speech and highlighting paragraphs on environment to show Kibaki did not mention Mau that day, then you know we have a bigger governance problem than we imagine.

Raila was emphatic it was a national programme in which over seven billion trees would be planted over the next decade.

Each of us, the PM said, would be asked to plant at least ten trees in the aggressive restoration programme. There was no contradiction with the President’s past speeches and was in line with Mau Complex restoration which lies with his office. Cabinet even approved recommendations sourced from a task force set up by Raila’s office.

However painful it was to clear Mau forest of human settlement, starting with those with no papers, the resolve they must leave was resolute. Raila and Kibaki said as much. On New Year, in which the President gracefully gyrated the hip with Mama Lucy, Kibaki told us 2010 would be the ‘Green Year’.

Throughout this period President and PM spoke the same language and radiated unique sense of unity and purpose unlike in 2008. The two baffled so many of us but we said in African tradition forced marriages often outlast those blessed by priests.

But then came the roar of Agriculture minister William Ruto and his Rift Valley political consortium, whom though agreeing with Raila on almost everything, turned the removals into a political contest, which severely wounded Orange Party.

As I understood, Ruto and his team agreed with Raila the removals must be humane, there must be the option of compensation and alternative land, as well as vetting, headcount and document verification before the whistle to scrum is blown. The differences appeared, first to be with Raila’s speed, he wanted it done like yesterday, while Ruto wanted a slow and more meticulous process.

Ruto gave it a political twist, telling the birds he was now dealing with Kibaki and Mr Uhuru Kenyatta (because he holds the key to Treasury’s money vaults) who technically is Raila’s official deputy but displays little patience with the son of Jaramogi. When Ruto dug in, the political vultures like Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka and Uhuru who want to carry the Rift in a basket, started circling the air. That is why Uhuru and his Central Kenya politicians jammed the Mau fund-raiser, and later with Kalonzo, appeared in anti-Raila rally in Mombasa.

Now, I am told, and I have no evidence whatsoever, Kibaki and some of his friends, are dying for a Ruto-Uhuru alliance for 2012. Could this be why Kibaki is not so keen on Mau, so as not to be seen to have taken the club and swung it on Kalenjins? Or he does not want to set a precedent by opening up property seizure of a retired President 35 months before he himself goes for retirement.

Moving too fast

Some wag told me he might not have wanted to look like he is at Raila’s beck and call, and is in charge of his diary. But still it is possible Raila was moving too fast for his liking and with credit coming his way and donors flocking his office, not Treasury and State House. It is also possible Raila cooked things up to let Kibaki share in the political misery of post-Mau evictions. Or the old man was just in a ‘foul mood’?

Whichever way, Mau Forest conservation just like Narc Government’s lazy war on Goldenberg, has been taken over by politics. I just wonder why Kibaki and Raila cannot wash and dry their dirty linen in Harambee House and Treasury. But still I surrender to Swiss philosopher Henri Amliel’s counsel: "Truth is not only violated by falsehood; it may be outraged by silence."

The writer is managing editor Standard, Daily Editions.

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