States in embryo like Kenya are fragile experiments in living together. By the standards of post-colonial states, especially in Africa, Kenya has done very well. Even though I constantly inveigh against the small-mindedness of the Kenyan political elite, I am grateful that we have not let the country go to the dogs.
Even in our darkest moments, we find a way to pull out of the abyss. We did so after the 2007 elections. We survived the tribalisation of the state by founding president Mzee Jomo Kenyatta and the soulless one-party state under Daniel arap Moi. Mwai Kibaki tried to steer us back to sanity, but his ethnicisation of the state almost took us to hell. Uhuru Kenyatta made us lose a decade.
In the last four years, Kenya has experienced a period of focused leadership under President William Ruto. Even I, who didn’t always agree with him, must fully acknowledge that, among all previous presidents, he stands alone on a pedestal. He took an economy left in tatters by his predecessor, Uhuru Kenyatta.
Not only has he turned the economy around in all its facets – agriculture, infrastructure, education, and health – he has also given Kenya a high standing internationally today. These facts are unarguable. Before he passed away last year, Kenya’s key oppositionist, Raila Odinga, acknowledged that President Ruto was taking Kenya to greener pastures that have not been seen before. This is fact, not conjecture or propaganda. Those who have eyes can see.
I can say without equivocation that no Kenyan president has worked harder or been more thoughtful. In the past, Kenyan presidents poured all the largesse of the state into one region – primarily the central Kenya districts.
Other parts of the country were an afterthought in terms of development, education, infrastructure and even state appointments. These are the vectors that President Ruto has sought to change; the demons he’s fought hard to slay. Under his watch, hope is being revived all over the country in areas that have never seen a road or light bulb since independence.
Previous governments lived under this motto – those who have more, even more shall be given. President Ruto believes that those with the least, more shall be given unto them.
More than anything else, it is President Ruto’s philosophy of egalitarian development that has the impeached Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua and his ilk seeing red. First, as deputy president, Mr Gachagua – a little-known one-term MP of Mathira – attempted to take President Ruto hostage. He ran roughshod over ministers, permanent secretaries and senior state factotums with a callousness that defies description. His ego was so gargantuan that he thought he was the actual power behind the throne.
Recent revelations by his successor, Deputy President Kithure Kindiki , are eye-popping. How such an individual rose atop the state is unfathomable. I hear he blackmailed his way to the top. Mr Gachagua is the prototype of an individual who mustn’t be allowed near power again.
There’s more. If the central Kenya region from which he hails wasn’t in the middle of the country, Mr Gachagua would’ve sought its secession from the republic. To him, no one exists or matters except the Agikuyu, not even his so-called cousins – the Meru, Embu and the more circumspect Akamba. All other
Kenyans are the equivalent of rump appendages. What he has is a congenitally hateful zeitgeist. Just look at his facial and body expressions when he speaks.
Now imagine Mr Gachagua as president of Kenya. His attacks on some communities and those who disagree with him have been blood-curdling. Look at how he seeks to crush to smithereens those in Central Kenya who dare as much as peek at him with a questioning eye.
If looks could kill! Now think of Mr Gachagua as president. Mr Gachagua is such an unsophisticated hater that he can’t help himself. He cannot even pretend not to hate! It is these kinds of characters that have collapsed African states elsewhere. What is shocking to me is the degree of fealty that he commands among his supporters. That subject needs a PhD thesis.
I end with a call to our state agencies responsible for security and good order. The state must not hesitate to hold Mr Gachagua responsible for infractions against the law. He cannot be allowed to say and do anything with impunity. We are a country of laws, not merely of men and women. People like Mr Gachagua thrive on threats and brinkmanship. The state must call his bluff. No one is above the law, nor should that impression ever be given by the state. As the saying goes, “kama mbaya mbaya!” (let the worst happen).
Makau Mutua is SUNY Distinguished Professor and Margaret W. Wong Professor at Buffalo Law School, The State University of New York. @makaumutua.
