The Kenyan Presidential Debate
2013: A Critical Analysis
hen a pastor presides
over a wedding ceremony he should do only that. If a bridegroom gives him a
leeway to have a cozy relationship with his bride, the former risks finding the
latter in his matrimonial bed with his wife. Besides, it is human nature not to
trust others too much lest you want your heart torn by the daggers of betrayal.
BY MUSYOKA NGUI
The mass media
as we know it today has come a long way. Its role in shaping public opinions
was long experienced and felt in the 1960s in the United States of America. The
maiden debate between Richard Nixon and John Fitzgerald Kennedy ushered in a
whole new phenomenon in public speaking. When the two faced off under the full
glare of TV cameras, television was in its toddler years. But when Kenya
decided that it did not have to reinvent the wheel I had mixed reactions. On
one hand I was eager to witness the maturity of our democracy and on the other
hand I anticipated the copycat of Americanization. A false confidence that we
could hold our “Made in Kenya” sober debate after having made an incursion
inside Somalia to conquer them like Uncle Sam did in the early 1990s.
The night of
February 11 2013 was too pregnant to wait any longer to deliver. The stakes
could not get any higher. What with the cloud of ICC Status Conference hanging
above Brookhouse International School like the swords of Damocles. Then the case
filed in the High Court challenging the eligibility of Uhuru Kenyatta and his
running mate William Ruto to run for the highest office in the land was
imminent. The small matter of locking out perceived non starters namely
Mohammed Abduba Dida and Paul Muite was resolved at the eleventh hour when they
were given the green light to attend the debate. I can almost imagine the
makeshift metallic podiums being put together by carpenters and the mad rush.
It must have been worse than the Nairobi traffic jam. It was beehive of
activities.
That we are on
the verge of transition meant a lot. Succession politics had entered
homestretch. The timing of the debate could not have come at a more exact
moment. All the eight contestants are about to tilt and tip the weighing
balance of Kenya’s voting basket. It, however, remains to be seen how the
debate will impact on Kenyans. The proof of Pudding is in the eating. Thanks to
the mass media Kenyans will vote wisely due to the vast evaluation that
revealed itself on that Monday night. The rules were strict, the moderators
firm. The audience was to remain mum, no wearing of campaign attire and the
contestants were supposed to address one another with respect as well as to
adhere to set time slots. I guess that was too much to expect from a
politician. How can someone who has mastered the art of personal attacks and
used demagoguery now to be bossed around by a mere mortal of a journalist?
While the
interests of the people living with disabilities like the deaf and dumb were
taken care of by the sign language interpreter, there was no one to translate
English to Kiswahili so that the commoner can understand the debate better.
Now we are
going to get an up close scrutiny of the debate majoring on the good and the
not-so-good. Then in the end I will give my closing remarks to summarize the
long standing three hours and sixteen minutes. Let’s now go, shall we?
The drama was
flat. It lacked originality and substance. Having copy pasted straight from the
Obama-Romney format, it followed the same script although the cast was
different. What the producers forgot is that the stage will be crowded by eight
contenders compared to a pair in the American case. Thus this put the
moderators in a delicate situation of giving equal opportunities to the
aspirants. The unlucky balloting unfortunately landed Dida and Muite at the
extremes of the stage. Mohamed complained that it was unfair for him to use
metallic stand yet the frontrunners had polished podiums. Talk of tilting the
paying ground. It was difficult to have a one- on- one talk. At one point the
permissiveness of Julie Gichuru and the chauvinistic ego of male aspirants
threw the show into a shouting match as they were trying to catch her attention
and that of the audience. They were answering whether they had children in
public schools.
Another
fundamental flaw of this whole episode was bias on part of the moderators.
Linus Kaikai is on record singling out Raila Odinga and Uhuru Kenyatta to
square out their ICC exchanges hence reducing the other contestants to
spectators. It was like Kaikai was saying that the rest were pretenders joking
about ruling Kenya and Raila and Uhuru were the horses and the rest were
donkeys. Isn’t it the citizens’ democratic right to choose whoever they want without
being coerced?
A backgrounder
about media ethics was put under sharp criticism when it coined a forty one
versus one matrix-if Raila was to be believed. Media in this case advanced
ethnic politics by alluding that Kikuyus were pitted against other Kenyan
tribes in the referendum. Again, Mutahi Ngunyi, a political scientist and
political analyst doubling up as an all-knowing pundit predicted Jubilee
Coalition victory in presidential elections by making inferences from IEBC
voter roll. Truth is that the IEBC did not ask voters about their tribe but
political strategists pre-empted that a perceived high voter registration of
Kenyans in Rift Valley and Mount Kenya gave Jubilee a head start given the
voting patterns have been along tribal lines. What if we have low voter
turnout? What about the independent middle class voters? How about the apathy
of the post election violence victims and the Mombasa Republican Council threat
to abstain from voting and/or stirring up violence at the Coast?
The media set
the agenda for Kenyans to think that only CORD and Jubilee mattered. Yet we
know that Eagle Alliance’s Peter Kenneth had an enviable track record of CDF
management yet no one talked about it. We are also aware that RBK’s Prof.
Kiyiapi and Nark Kenya’s Martha Karua resisted the temptation to be herded to
tribal cocoons. The mass media has not provided equal coverage for all the
presidential aspirants. Mr. Dida offered his two cents saying that he read the
papers questioning why Kenyans nominated Ferdinand Waititu and shunned Jimnah
Mbaru. He said the paper cautioned Nairobians to be afraid of Waititu. When he
faced off with Dr. Evans Kidero in a gubernatorial interview on Citizen TV,
Waititu mirrored an articulate, cool, calm and collected character but Kidero was
arrogant, elitist and out of touch with both the reality on the ground and Wanjiku. I admit that Waititu has a Stone Age
juggle culture of throwing stones and slapping the GSU but he is the peoples’
choice and should be respected. The same can be said of Mike “ Sonko” Mbuvi and
my crystal ball tells me the pair will triumph Nairobi general elections
despite severe character assassination from the media and yes, the moral high-grounders-The Church.
The political
analysts and pollsters have not been any different. Instead of telling Kenyans
the bare facts they churn out convenient half truths bordering on
sensationalism. Mutahi Ngunyi’s “tyranny of numbers” theory cannot hold, whips
up ethnic emotions and is utterly irresponsible. Adams Oloo’s activist and NGO
stand makes him sound like Johnnie Carson of ‘Choices have Consequences’’. So
what? His thinking portrays him as an American and a European mouthpiece. Is
Kenya not sovereign enough to chart its own destiny? Why should we be
threatened and talked down to by former colonial powers? That you brokered
peace during the violence does not qualify you to poke noses in our business
whenever you want. When a pastor presides over a wedding ceremony he should do
only that. If a bridegroom gives him a leeway to have a cozy relationship with
his bride, the former risks finding the latter in his matrimonial bed with his
wife. Besides, it is human nature not to trust others too much lest you want
your heart torn by the daggers of betrayal. If our leaders owned up about
tribalism we would find a lasting solution. Don’t they say that the first step
to healing is by accepting one’s status? Why then did Uhuru and Raila fool us
that their agenda is not to lead political blocks of tribal blocs with a hidden
strategy that numbers count? Karua and Kenneth were shocked by such scapegoat
escapism. Uhuru and Raila buried their heads in the sand like an ostrich. Truth
is that tribalism marginalizes the “small” communities and it is not taught in
school. On the contrary, it is a weapon wielded by our elitist leaders in order
to access and allocate resources to their kin and cronies. The rest can feed on
crumbs. Ole Kiyiapi feels (and rightly so) that he stands a slimmer chance than
say, Uhuru simply because he comes from a little known Maa community. Honestly,
Martha Karua hit the nail on the head when she said that Kenyans should not
allow themselves to be used by leaders and be dumped soon after the election
because in the end it is they (Kenyans) and their God and the opportunities in
their hands. “No one feeds from their tribe but from the sweat of their brow”,
she said. A poor Luo equals a poor Kikuyu. In fact, there are only two tribes
in Kenya; the rich and the poor. Period. Telling Kenyans to vote six-piece is
akin to singularity and cancels all the gains realized by the multiparty
democracy.
The non-verbal
cues of the politicians were too telling. Uhuru and Raila exchanged murderous
glances leaving the viewers tense and worried that they might go for each
other’s throat anytime. Paul Muite did not shake hands with his rivals save for
Raila who outstretched his arm. A simple smile on Karua’s face could lighten
the serious mood engulfing the stage. By and large, the debate left a lot to be
desired and the next episode is a must-watch.
It, however, is
not lost on me that this premiere show took commendable efforts to put up. I
admire the cooperation of Kenyan media houses to agree to put their rivalry
aside and invest upwards of KSh. 100 million in this worthy event. I take off
my hat for all the eight TV and thirty-two radio stations who served patient
Kenyans for the full length of that debate. It was a tough call to resist
dozing off just to catch up with the show. To the forty million plus Kenyans,
kudos for attending and participating on all forums. You sent your SMSs,
tweeted, Facebooked, watched, listened and downloaded on Youtube. You have only
yourself to blame if you will not make an informed choice on March 4th.
The Forth Estate has washed its hands.
This man
Mohamed Abduba Dida is a gem. He stole the show from the been theres and done
thats. He held them to account and also made us laugh. His humor was original,
fresh and timely. Hear him:
“It does not matter where you are
taken for justice whether in Tanzania, Europe or here in Kibera. Justice is
justice unless you have intentions to compromise”
“Any piece of art originates from
the author. This world we are just acting but it has God who manages
everything.”
“If you want to be healthy eat when
you are hungry. This timetable I do not know who brought it… breakfast, lunch,
dinner and the dinner has phase one(soup and mushroom) phase two, phase
three….”
“Imagine after so many years of
leadership we are treating jiggers and we are learning to wash hands then we
still want to do this and that…..Where were you and who is the government?”
The humble
Mwalimu ended up being the man of the moment. He shot from the hip and did not
mince his words like the others who had oral weighing machines to censor what
we should hear. Dida came across as a philosopher and victim in urgent need of
sympathy votes. His critique against big men did not go unnoticed. He asked
Raila why he claimed to be a social democrat enjoying internal democracy yet
all his luminaries in Pentagon rebelled against him and walked out of ODM. As
for Uhuru, he was put to task by Dida to explain why a junior clerk would
resign and he (Uhuru) stay put yet he is suspected of heinous crimes against
humanity. To Dida, Uhuru embodies the height of impunity. Kiyiapi, who enjoyed
a gravy train of perks at the expense of peanut receiving teachers, was taken
to task to justify why the huge disparity exists between PSs and teachers and I
don’t know what he said. He mumbled something like that the Salaries and Remuneration
Commission was to blame and not him –effectively passing the buck. Shame!
When Dida was
caught by Kaikai napping he woke up with wit. He was asked how old his party
was and he quipped that it may be a few days old but it is aged in terms of thoughts.
Such wit is too sharp for an average politician that is the Kenyan parliament.
He put up a determined spirit and defended his party.
Though the
mainstream media would want to ignore Paul Muite, his brilliance as a lawyer
shone bright like a star at night when he was firmly fixed on the spotlight.
His answer to almost every question was full and faithful implementation of the
new Constitution. He was tough, stern, firm, and articulate, had a commanding
voice, and was passionate but a bit dictatorial. A little high-handed but may
be the kind of stuff an African country needs to govern. A democratic dictator,
sort of. Says he: “First, as your Commander in Chief I would take personal
charge and a powerful message will go out. It is no longer acceptable; it will
not be tolerated for communities to take things into their own hands. I would
deploy the GSU, if need be I will deploy the army because the message has to
get across.”
As an authority
in legal matters, he stressed the role of justice as a conciliatory factor as
did Martha Karua, a fellow learned friend. He begged his colleagues to steer
clear of whipping up ethnic emotions as a card to edge out competitors. To IDPs
he urged all to spare a thought.
The debate
served its purpose though. By and large, it revealed the characters of our
leaders. Skeletons fell from cupboards like the noisy dry bones prophesied by
Ezekiel. This fostered transparency, accountability and nurtured our young
democracy. Uhuru came across as cool when under pressure, Raila sadistic and
ironical, Mudavadi sober and cowardly, and Karua an advocate for accountability
and an enforcer of rule of law. The colossal failure of Kenyan leaders came to
the fore when Uhuru admitted losing KSh. 30 billion through corruption and
other dubious deals at the Treasury. Raila too gave us a rare sneak peek into
the underworld of Kenya’s health sector cartels. Apparently, the “big boys”
were arm-twisting him and Kibaki hence Ngilu’s lobbying for comprehensive
health insurance scheme was shot down. Raila and Uhuru’s attempt to save face
did not do much since the damage was already done. Their damage control
mechanism was like crying over spilt milk. Too little, too late.
As the curtain
came down I realized that these were just mere mortals just like you and me. If
you cut them they will bleed. They are people with emotions. They have families
and friends as us. Karua has a granddaughter, Kenneth a son, and Raila a wife.
The myths of revered, awed and feared leaders were shattered. Now that the myths
are debunked I suggest we treat thems our servants and we their masters not the
other way round.
*I wrote this piece on February 18th
2013, two weeks and two days before the polls.
The
writer is a blogger at musyokangui.blogspot.com and a Fourth Year Communication
and Media student at Chuka University.
