It’s a chill wind that blows no good - for some in Kenya

27 August 2010. The day dawned cold and grey, a dark lowering sky. All the same, hundreds of thousands of jubilant hopeful Kenyans trekked to Uhuru Park in central Nairobi, to take part in a grand ceremony to mark the birth of ‘the Second Republic’, a new Kenya to be built up on the basis of our brand new constitution. After decades of false starts, lost and shattered lives, and many thwarted attempts at meaningful reform, finally a new constitution, voted in by a 67% majority in the national referendum of 4th August, was here. Actually here! Coming barely two years after the post election violence that showed Kenyans a vision of hell and shocked millions of us to the marrow, the (relatively) peaceful passage of the campaigns for and against the new constitution, and the fair and orderly polling process, demonstrated once again the powerful resilience and optimism that the stoic Kenyan people have needed to take them through the hard times. Just like parents everywhere all they ask for is peace and stability under an honest government (democratically elected), and a chance to use their time and energy productively to earn an income which enables them to care for their families and bring the children up well. That’s what they hope the Second Republic will provide.
Everything looked good and the whole event indeed was conducted in an orderly manner, strictly and capably choreographed by the security people. Great excitement, cheers and ululations greeted each ritual of promulgation of the new constitution. The crowd was cold but vocal and made their views clear about which individuals among all the politicians and potentates up on the podium they felt should be recognized for their championship of the commoner. They went wild for Prime Minister Raila Odinga, less so for President Kibaki to whom they were merely polite, and were positively displeased to see former President Moi up there with the nobs, along with Kofi Annan, Graca Machel, former Ghanaian President Kuffuor, and a posse of regional heads of state. People cheered Kofi, but jeered Museveni of Uganda (who had been rude about Kenyans a few months ago in a dispute about the ownership of Migingo Island in Lake Victoria).
But there was consternation and bewilderment at the sudden appearance and comfortable installation on the dais of the Sudanese President Al-Bashir, who has a warrant out for his arrest on a charge of genocide by the ICC, and who ought by law to have been detained by the police the moment he set foot in Kenya. So what was all this? His name did not appear on any of the invitations and schedules circulated about the day, but he was announced and officially welcomed. Very awkward moments for the US Ambassador and other diplomats, and difficult for Kofi Annan. How had this come about? Speculation is rife of course. Somebody must have arranged it, presumably with the knowledge and assent of top government. The Foreign Minister airily dismissed all expressions of outrage and the questions about Kenya’s serious transgression of international law - on the very day it inaugurated the new constitution - as misplaced. ‘We don’t do that kind of thing to our neighbours in Africa’ he intoned, a patient uncle chiding us to remember our manners. We keep peace with our neighbours he explained, and ..er .. and we want to encourage Bashir to have a peaceful referendum in Sudan next year too. Southern Sudanese will vote in 2011 on the option to secede from Sudan and be independent.
But it was an odd message for the Kenya government to send to the world on such a day. And half the government claims to have been utterly unaware of the arrangement, with dozens of ministers and MPS spluttering in outrage too, including Odinga. So why? Surely it was not just a goofy thing someone did without realizing it would upset people. The Foreign Minister wanted us to know that it was part of the government’s master strategy to ensure long term peace and stability in the greater Horn of Africa. But how many people really buy that? Could it have been something as simple and silly as plain truculence, contrariness – the inveterate compulsion to spoil it for others, felt by some of the die-hard old guard in top government who just did not want this new constitution to happen? So they give us all the middle finger. They ‘cocked a snook’ at the world by pulling this stunt, and now have something to chuckle about when they meet at the club? Was that it? Or is there something more sinister going on? Like wanting to scupper the imminent ICC prosecution of some of their number for organizing the post-election violence? The sad thing is that once again, just when everything looked like it was going so well, something happens to sour the taste. And send a shiver down the spine.
But that’s not all. While the international media made a big story of the Al-Bashir business, they took little or no notice of another peculiar episode at Uhuru Park. When Prime Minister Odinga ended his official speech the crowd exhorted him to say more. So he told a garbled cryptic tale, describing the duplicity of the bat, a creature which claims to be a bird when it is among birds, and a mammal when it is among mammals, and noted that we all know who the bats are among us. He did not name them. Perhaps the significance of his words will emerge in time. But this further twist in the tale of that cold grey day in Kenya may herald some further complications in the infancy of our brave new Republic. This is still just the beginning.
Meantime, excitement over for the moment, we will go back to the less glamorous work of persuading smallholder farmers in Africa to use our MoneyMaker irrigation pumps to grow more food more often and make some useful money. Last month some 1800 families took up our offer. Because whatever the politicians say or do, life still has to go on.