Kenya Socialist Web Site
HARAKATI ISSUE NO. 5 (August/September 1999)
NDP/KANU CO-OPERATION IN A QUANDARY
In our analysis of the NDP-KANU co-operation carried in HARAKATI issue
No 2, we stated that "...on a long term perspective, the big illusions which
have been created in the minds of millions of Luos that the co-operation
will transform their lives will crumble". Since the co-operation started
soon after the last general elections, the moribund molasses plant has not
been revived to provide jobs for Luos, promises of fish cooling systems along
Lake Victoria to help poor fishermen have not been fulfilled, the cotton
industry has not been revived, the sugar industry is still in disarray, gaping
pot-holes still dominate roads in Nyanza province while services at the Old
Nyanza Provincial Hospital (Russian hospital) have collapsed.
For more than one and a half years, the NDP-KANU co-operation has remained
a secret ritual at State House between Raila Amollo Odinga (Tinga Tinga)
and Dictator Daniel arap Moi (Wuod Odongo). Not even Luos have been informed
by KANU or NDP about what the co-operation really means.
A grandiose plan for rural electrification in Nyanza province that Raila
has been selling to Luos as part of the co-operation package has not been
transformed into reality. Talk about the construction of irrigation projects
for the improvement of rice and food production in the province have all
evaporated. In Lake Victoria, heavy industrial pollution and hyacinth weed
is decimating fish in the lake, putting poor fishermen out of work. The Ksh
2.5 million plan aimed at sinking hyacinth weed at the bottom of lake Victoria
instead of removing the weed has been described by environmentalists as an
"environmental catastrophe" waiting to happen. Without a written down programme
and a clear plan of action, the NDP-KANU co-operation has turned into a comedy
that has sent forward-thinking Luos into questioning how long the community
will have to wait for matunda ya co-operation.
On the contrary, what has happened is that unemployment among Luos (just
like among other Kenyans) has increased as a result of a flood of fresh job-seekers
pouring into the crowded job-market from institutions of learning. The Ksh
600 million that had been raised by Luos for the purchase of the Molasses
plant has been embezzled by Raila and company, melting hopes of job creation
through the revival of the plant. Remote hopes by Luos that Raila may move
closer to power by some miracle out of the co-operation have been put to
rest through the appointment of Professor George Kinuthia Saitoti to the
post of Vice President and the systematic side-lining of Tinga by Wuod Odongo.
Even the post of Head of the civil service (the second most powerfull position
after the Presidency) has been given to Dr. Richard Leaky following pressure
from IMF and World Bank.
"Our view is that the real beneficiaries of the Alliance will be Luo technocrats,
careerists and opportunists camping around Raila. It is this group of vultures
who will be appointed selectively to fill positions in the state bureaucracy"
(HARAKATI No. 2).
While this analysis has come true, recent events in Kenya reveal that the
NDP-KANU co-operation is in a quandary. The appointment of Saitoti as Vice
president and the defeat of a no confidence motion against Saitoti marked
the turning point in the downward slide of the NDP-KANU co-operation. With
Kikuyu blood known to be flowing in his veins, Saitoti's survival of the
recent no confidence motion disturbed the waters of the NDP-KANU co-operation
because the defeat of the motion was based on support from the Democratic
Party (DP) which is largely seen as a Kikuyu party. In fact, the puzzle of
the Moi succession may be in the process of completion because if Moi dies
before the next elections, Saitoti will ascend to the thrown for 90 days
in accordance with the constitution, time when he will use the State machine
and wide political experience to consolidate his position. With a mountain
of experience in election rigging, Saitoti's rise to power will be a big
walkover.
KYMS is working with the theory that in the event of a Saitoti take-over,
he is likely to appoint Biwott as his Vice President and request the Democratic
Party to co-operate with KANU in some power-sharing deal and to wade away
the Luos. Biwott is the future protector of the political and economic interests
of the Kalenjin ruling class while the recent rapport between Saitoti and
DP points to the likelihood of DP remaining a key political player in both
the post Moi era and the eventual establishment of Saitoti's authority as
the new President. The nightmare NDP strategists have to deal with is the
prospect of the Luo community being kept on the sidelines with the inherent
consequence of indefinite political marginalisation akin to that of the Kenyatta
era. It was this "politics of marginalisation" and the need for Luos
to "keep the Kikuyu away from power" that drove Raila into working with his
former persecutor,
Now that the co-operation is quickly withering away, the political bankruptcy
of Raila and his NDP has been exposed. The "use and dump" policy of Moi has
once again been employed effectively by the dictator to neutralise Raila
and to draw the anti-imperialist-anti-colonialist struggle of the Kenyan
people several steps backwards. Ethnic politics has gained a fresh momentum
because prospects of new ethnic alliances have been opened up to create new
illusions among tribes that feel left out of the eating table.
We understand that Raila is talking to Simion Nyachae, (the former Finance
minister also dumped recently by Moi) to look into possibilities of a Luo-Kissi
alliance as a way of answering the rebuff from Moi.
KYMS believes that ethnic politics will not move Kenya forward. While the
Kenyan society is a conglomeration of 42 tribes, it is also a class society
which pits the rich exploitative capitalist class against the exploited and
poor majority. A solution to the crisis in the country is not based on ethnic
alliances but on whether organised revolutionary movements with a clear
understanding of the class character of the struggle in our country will
emerge to intervene with a political alternative.
The youth must recognise and discard the retrogressive tendency of ethnic
politics, reject the opportunist currents that are moving society backwards
and shun the divisive influence of the bankrupted bourgeoise parties. As
an integral part of the broader movement of struggle of the oppressed people
of Kenya, KYMS will continue to clear the confusion, pessimism and loss of
political perspective that has also contributed to the entrenchment of backward
ethnic politics in our country. The working class needs new revolutionary
ideas to dismantle the favourable platforms erected by tribal chieftains
who thrive by proposing antagonistic alternatives and bogus ethnic alliances
that are hostile to the cause of the impending Kenyan revolution.
Published by Kenya Socialist Democratic Alliance
(KSDA)
email: harakatips@hotmail.com
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