Kenya has been a favorite tourist destination for many years,
but visitors never saw anything other than the beautiful scenery,
quaint tribal people, and exotic animals. Everything is changing,
for the country now is close to civil war.
The story goes back much further than most people realize —
back to 1964, shortly after independence the previous year. The
great Luo tribal chief and deputy prime minister/president of Kenya
Oginga Odinga visited New York City much to the consternation of
the U.S. State Department and his boss, the legendary Jomo Kenyatta
, the first prime minister/president of that new East African
nation. Jomo (Kenyans then used the informal) was Kikuyu, and it
was strictly through a traditional political deal that his Luo
rival was ushered in as his deputy.
Oginga (his true first name was Jaramogi, but he preferred the
alliteration of the other two names) made it clear from the
beginning of his visit that he was not there for official business.
At a cocktail party in his honor at the St. Regis Hotel and later
during a visit to the United Nations, he left no doubt that he was
not about to play second fiddle in the international environment as
he had been forced to do back home.
“Double O,” as he was sometimes referred to by journalists, let
it be known privately that he had accepted some substantial gifts
from, among other East Bloc countries, the Chinese, who were just
beginning to show an interest in Africa. He wondered why the
Americans didn’t offer the same courtesies in a challenge to the
British who, he said, were “paying” Jomo. It was an excellent
insight into the practical political thinking of an African tribal
leader.
Some forty years later the Kikuyu sitting president, Mwai
Kabaki, was opposed in last week’s election in Kenya by Raila
Odinga , the son of Oginga. One of the principal charges brought
against President Kabaki has been corruption throughout his
administration. Raila stated that the president solicited and
accepted gifts from business and political sources. This is an
ironic claim in view not only of his father’s forthright
admissions, but Raila’s own experiences in returning to favor in
Mwai Kabaki’s government after his own release from prison. He had
been convicted for, among other things, allegedly arranging
financing of an attempted coup against the criminally venal
President Daniel Arap Moi.
By 2002 the left-leaning, East Germany-educated Raila Odinga had
catapulted to the forefront of Kenyan politics by successfully
leading the campaign for Mwai Kabaki’s first presidential election
while the latter was recovering from an auto accident. By any
custom, African or not, this should have meant the highest possible
political payback.
The generally accepted understanding that Raila would become PM
never happened. Instead he was given the insignificant post of
Minister of Roads and Public Works. No matter how far non-tribal
Kenyan politics was supposed to have come, a Kikuyu does not do
that to a Luo.
THE RESULTS OF THE PRESIDENTIAL elections last week were clearly
rigged in Kabaki’s favor, and he was sworn in with unseemly haste.
The Luo supporters of Raila Odinga’s party rushed to condemn Kikuyu
malfeasance; this time supported by many other tribes. Idyllic
Kenya, the stable sub-Saharan model, erupted into violence.
Paramilitary police were brought in to protect Kikuyu areas and
punish the Luo rioters and their allies.
The Kenya Army is a questionable commodity as far as tribal
allegiance is concerned. The Kikuyu have never taken to the
discipline of army life while the traditionally aggressive, though
smaller tribes, the Kalenjin and Luhya, who hold no favor for the
Kikuyu, predominate the ranks. The potential for a military
rebellion is the greatest fear of the foreign community. Meanwhile
it has received the less than encouraging guidance from the British
Foreign Office that “…events are happening in the residential
areas rather than in the tourist areas, so everyone seems
safe.”
At first Raila Odinga called for the Luo to march on Nairobi,
but later amended his orders by adding “peacefully.” This was done
to satisfy foreign diplomatic representatives who had joined the
American embassy in reversing their support of the legitimacy of
the presidential election. The European Union’s election observer
announced timidly to the press that the voting count process had
“fallen short of key international and regional standards.” What
regional standards he meant were not clear, but the international
ones certainly were.
The anti-Kikuyu response seemed relatively unaffected by the
niceties of Odinga’s changed statement and even less by foreign
fears. Reports have come in from all quarters speaking of hundreds
of murders, village burnings and destruction of businesses. The
30,000 European residents and tourists are staying indoors while
embassies are inundated with frantic calls for advice and
assistance.
IT WOULD APPEAR THAT NOTHING short of Mwai Kabaki stepping down
from his stolen presidency will satisfy the anti-Kikuyu electorate.
But then it will be only a short while before the Kikuyu, who make
up 22% of the population, rise up to demand their perceived role as
the dominant tribe of Kenya.
The wily elder Odinga and Jomo Kenyatta could have worked this
out, but the later generation just doesn’t seem to have the same
traditional understanding or, indeed, finesse. An outside
instrument will have to be brought into play, and paradise will
never be the same.
