Is the voice of the people the voice of God?
Deputy President William Ruto (centre) with some Mt Kenya leaders at Engineer, in Nyandarua County, on February 14, 2021.
What you need to know:
- William Ruto did not gain traction in Kikuyuland because he has a magic quality, though he creates that impression.
- What happened was that he basically took advantage of the fallout in the Mountain of Uhuru's embrace of Raila as his heir-apparent.
'The Voice of the People is the Voice of God.’
I first came across this pompous assertion in the books and plays Ngugi wa Thiong'o wrote in his ‘revolutionary’ phase. Books like Ngaahika Ndenda and Caitaani Mutharaba-ini. But in fact its first modern usage was by the Whig party of England in 1709. Of late I’ve been hearing it a lot around the Mountain. Like everything from there these days, the statement is a load of bull.
The Good Book beautifully turns it on its head with illuminating examples. What had the incoherent horde building the Tower of Babel have to do with God? Except their unparalleled pride? Was the Jewish mob that demanded the release of Barabbas and the summary execution of Jesus speaking as the voice of God? Or just displaying their overweening stupidity?
A particularly apt example is that of the Hebrews baying at Moses that they wanted to return to Egypt when he was intent to lead them to their liberation. I come from a community that has long considered itself clever. Yet it is currently intoxicated about wheelbarrows.
Ngai, wheelbarrows!
They still imagine they are the centre of the universe. The truth is they have become the nation’s laughing stock, from their leaders down. They are like the confused Hebrew lot in the wilderness. They can’t see beyond their noses. And their collective memory is worse than a warthog’s. They are forgetting history and some terrible things that happened not too long ago.
Current Mountain psychology
For starters, they are quite indifferent when you ask what share of the post-2022 government they will demand. And as their disinterest in BBI has shown, pushing for additional elective seats and increased revenue allocations commensurate with their population is not their priority.
All they want is for their Hustler indoctrinators to get power. And to see the last of the current government soonest. Then they'll be ok. This weird phenomenon has a name. It's called the Stockholm Syndrome. It's a pitiable malady where a hostage develops affection for his captor.
I have studied the current Mountain psychology for a while and it's clear to me their bitterness originates from the Handshake. High taxes and a bad economy are mere excuses. They had voted for their Uhuru Kenyatta in delirium in 2013 and twice in 2017, while not wanting to hear any mention of his flaws. But once he did the Handshake in March 2018, the Big Chill set in.
Verily, verily their anger began when Uhuru made Raila Odinga his favoured partner. Yes, the Raila who was the ultimate hate figure of the Kikuyu masses since 2005. Surely is it normal to hold such hatred for a person, eternally? To the point you don't give a hoot about your own larger interests? Perhaps this needs a mass exorcism.
Fallout in the Mountain
Let me make one thing clear: William Ruto did not gain traction in Kikuyuland because he has a magic quality, though he creates that impression. What happened was that he basically took advantage of the fallout in the Mountain of Uhuru's embrace of Raila as his heir-apparent.
This went against the “Yangu kumi, yako kumi" pledge made earlier to Ruto. That is what gave rise to the toxic slogan of "Dynasties versus Hustlers". Tied to this is the doctrine that the Kenyan dynasts have historically oppressed the hustlers.
Yet this whole narrative is illogical. If indeed the peasants of Mt Kenya got dispossessed of land and other entitlements by the dynastic families during and after the Emergency (the Mau Mau period), why did they support Jomo Kenyatta hypnotically throughout his reign (with the exception of certain radicals here and there like Ngûgî wa Thiong'o and JM Kariuki)? Why did they elect his son so enthusiastically in 2013 and 2017?
Why did they eagerly participate in a sinister oath in 1969 meant to cement solidarity against a perceived Lakeside threat? Put another way, what guarantee is there that Tangatanga will make good what these self-styled descendants of Mau Mau claim to be their lost inheritance? Finally, why are these old grievances being resurrected now, post-Handshake?
Honesty is a quality that is sorely lacking in the Mountain today. There is continual moaning of how the government has made life intolerable for Kikuyu traders, just because it cracked down on some rogue traders in an area of Nairobi who had a habit of selling contraband goods and thus short-changing customers.
Wheelbarrows and 'bottom-up'
In fact this whole noise is borne of insecurity. Somali traders are besting their Kikuyu counterparts hands down in many towns across the country, and it’s not their habit to daily grumble how business has become impossible. They are thriving. Just look at Nairobi’s CBD.
The most pathetic thing I heard in Kiambaa ahead of their recent by-election was some voters saying they will vote for the Tangatanga party so that their Kikuyu kin in Rift Valley remain safe. Are they accepting to be politically blackmailed forever in this way? Like they don't have options? What a miserable life!
Africans have numerous folk tales that vividly dramatise the foolishness of those who fall for tall tales and mumbo-jumbo such as wheelbarrows and "bottom-up". My favourite is of the crow who told the gullible hyena that the white stuff in the sky (clouds) was juicy meat-fat which he could fly him up to feast on.
The crow told the already salivating hyena to hold on to his feathers and up they flew. When they could no longer see the ground, the crow wriggled himself free, leaving the hyena to thunder down to certain death.
