- President Ruto has already shown an eerie desire to capture political parties and Parliament in general before.
- In fact, this always formed a major gripe among the issues the Gen Z crowd had with the regime.
Image: RACHEL RUTO / X
This week, the Senate voted to uphold the impeachment of Governor Kawira Mwangaza by the Meru county assembly. At some point, from the sympathy-sapping emotional mien of the governor, and the eloquent presentation by her lawyer, Elisha Ongoya, I thought it would be third time lucky for Kawira, who joined former Embu Governor Martin Wambora on the dubious roll of infamy, as the most impeached county chiefs since the advent of devolution. It is a reputation that may speak to resilience, but also one that comes with humiliation in equal measure.
I do not quite like the impeachment process of governors, and the power the law gives to MCAs. In Kenya’s more populated counties, governors may garner close to half a million votes via universal suffrage. But the same county boss, elected widely by the vast majority in the county, has to be beholden to the whims of ward reps, many of them in office courtesy of just 10,000 votes. Essentially, the county chief who enjoys the confidence of the people is then forced to bend to the scheming and machinations of a few village heroes with an evil agenda.
Watching all three impeachment trials of the Meru governor, a disturbing pattern of misogyny was in clear display. Her lawyer, Ongoya, confirmed as much on Tuesday night. Male politicians from her county have used heavily demeaning words in reference to her, at public rallies. Truth be told, some of the charges brought to her trial at the Senate this week were quite flimsy, and manifestly perpetuated this pattern of misogyny.
At a certain level, one even feels that the Senate should have done more to protect the governor, despite her own evident leadership failures. There is a danger that devolution itself, left to the mercies of village heroes and scheming ward reps, will face the real risk of death, after a long battle with conniving MCAs, bravely borne.
But it is not just the impeachment process of governors that spooked me this week as representing a danger to the democratic foundations of the nations. The other was the manner in which opposition MPs, especially some Azimio-allied legislators from Luo Nyanza, suddenly became praise singers of the Ruto regime, upon four ODM officials getting co-opted into government. Granted, that especially for the larger Luo community (including the minority Suba speakers), there have already been several firsts, under Ruto’s presidency.
So far, the Gen Francis Ogolla( deceased) left a powerful legacy as the first descendant of the Luo nation to rise to four-star general and the chief of Kenya’s military. It was a feat that had eluded many from that land, most prominently, the celebrated Lieutenant General Daniel Opande, back in the day. Now, with John Mbadi taking over at Treasury and Dorcas Oduor becoming not only the first woman to hold the office, but also the first person of Luo ancestry to do so, these first have continued to pile up. In all honesty, you cannot begrudge the community for feeling like things are looking up.
Strangely though, therein lies the problem. The activism and agitation that fuel the fight for democracy and freedom in Kenya have been Luo-heavy for generations. In fact, it is not far-fetched to state that many communities in the country actually feel that it is the responsibility of the lakeside people to push the freedom agenda, with strong feeling of abandonment of the struggle each time the Luo community walks out of a cause, like they have done with regard to the Gen Z riots after Ruto’s broad-based government was formed.
However, it is imperative to draw a line between a few party officials joining government, and ODM or Azimio losing itself within the chaos of government. I am persuaded that the underlying issues within Ruto’s regime, mostly to do with public disenchantment over cost of living, economic mismanagement, corruption and bad policies, are too entrenched to be resolved by a small number of “experts” from the opposition side.
It is a scenario that requires especially ODM to be strong enough, not only as a fallback plan should its former officials find the going in government too rough, but also as the movement of choice ahead of the 2027 election, should disenchanted Kenyans need a vessel to carry them across the line.
There is really no problem with 'outsiders' joining government. Indeed, since the whole country pays taxes, regardless of which region supports government or not, the civil service should be an equal-opportunity employer. But there is a bigger responsibility on the shoulders of elected leaders, who haven’t made the switch, to strengthen the party base, while acknowledging that the mere act of a few officials being named into Cabinet already places a strain on the reputation of the movement. To regain the trust of its members, party leaders must distance themselves from government in order to sustain their oversight roles, rather than becoming its willing choir.
In other forums, I have drawn parallels between the current broad-based government and previous inter-party arrangements in politics. I am particularly interested in the Kanu-NDP friendship, which saw President Moi pick two Cabinet ministers and two assistant ministers from the NDP side, in 2000. Raila became Energy minister while Adhu Awiti was tapped for the Planning portfolio. Aside from the four who were co-opted into government, the rest of the NDP cast appeared to continue playing their parliamentary roles well.
A major underlying factor in all cross-party cooperation in governance usually remains that the president and his party hold all the aces, and the newcomers are on a short tether, ready to be cut loose at any moment. For this reason, the ideal cooperation framework is one in which a few 'experts' from the opposition work for government, cautiously while watching their backs, leaving the rest performing the party’s core mandate as a watchdog for the public. If everyone enthusiastically parades as part of a cheering squad for the few, the foundations and discipline requisite to multiparty democracy become weak.
President Ruto has already shown an eerie desire to capture political parties and Parliament in general before. In fact, this always formed a major gripe among the issues the Gen Z crowd had with the regime. Essentially therefore, appearing to negate any democratic gains by using state appointments to emasculate political parties is not the way to go. More importantly, political parties whose members have ended up on the ruling side of the divide bear a duty to its members to keep on track and avoid being seen as part of the said arrangement with the regime.
There is yet another angle to ponder here. Presumably, the opposition figures now serving government have diverse dreams ahead of the 2027 general election. I suspect that some, if not all, will jump off the ruling ship in time to contest for elective positions in the elections. If this happens, they will have to present their scorecard to the people, while seeking to avoid being dragged down the mud over perceived government failures.
This will be a problem both at the individual as well as political party level. Whatever they do therefore, they need to cut links with their former parties enough to afford the movements wiggle room to dissociate themselves from government should the need arise. Which amounts to safeguarding democracy even if the default setting is to flow with government.
Political commentator