Vested Interests by Coalition Partners Barring Reforms

By Sylvester Oluoch 
    Kenya’s reform agendum has stalled as key political players in the coalition government jostle for self aggrandizement.

      The rift between coalition partners, Orange Democratic Movement or ODM, headed by Prime Minister Raila Odinga and Party of National Unity or PNU, led by President Mwai Kibaki, has never been more pronounced - at least ideologically.

At the center of the rift is the call for reforms, popularly known as agenda four of Kenya’s reconciliation and healing initiative that followed the mishaps of December 2007 general elections.

What seems to bedevil Kenya at the moment is that all the politicians have their eyes focused on 2012 elections or whenever the next elections may come. Some doomsayers theorize it might be sooner as the coalition may die a natural death. I am not putting a dime on that bet.

All members of parliament are scared of elections and will prop the current administration until 2012, even on a tress. If anybody bets otherwise, I might as well take that cash to the bank.

      Even the protest and eventual resignation, by Martha Karua against the roadblocks she felt were erected on her way to reforms seem to be doing negligible civil sensitization. Politicians are busy falling over one another for the justice portfolio.

In normal political systems, such a high-powered resignation as Karua’s would raise a red flag and get the executive acting. Not in Kenya. It now seems that this particular move has done very little to help the reform agenda. But it sure raises consciousness and might bear fruits if well received by reform agitators.

      It now appears that Martha Karua has her efforts focused on projecting herself as the only 2012 presidential candidate with a true reform agenda. This cannot be laughable for a day in politics is a lifetime, and three years plus is eons for sure.

Karua therefore has many lifetimes to shape her political destiny in her pursuit of the ultimate office in Kenya’s land and territorial waters.

      From the utterances before and after her ouster, or better still, quitting on principle, Karua has made blatant efforts to join Prime Minister Odinga and President Kibaki at the hips.

This could be helpful if President Kibaki will be unpopular at the end of his term. Karua’s party can use this vantage point to argue that it is only Narc-Kenya that chose not to show solidarity with wananchi (citizens) by proxy, but rather got off position of comfort and walked the talk.

The tale of Karua is a digression. I will sure bring it another day.

      I was talking about the antagonisms in ODM and PNU. The ODM wing projects the image of reform. PNU on the other hand, counters that ODM is simply seeking to renegotiate the accord. It is fair enough either way.

The only difference is that ODM seeks to give an impression of a people’s party serving the people’s interest. The PNU version pushes the line that ODM is self-serving, yet neither party has clear tangibles to show for it. In these machinations there is nothing more than a smoke-screen.

       The two parties need to be accountable to us. Both parties purport not to be standing on the way of reforms, yet those reforms are not forthcoming. An explanation for why agenda four of the Kofi Annan-led initiative has not gained enough traction across Kenya’s political aisle is overdue.

This can only be explained by the heftiness of the agenda or the heavy heartedness of the parties with vested interests. The latter is more likely.

      Both parties agree that one way or the other, we need to get these reforms going. What they lack is the temperament to look each other in the face, without hurling insults and craft what fits Kenya. Both sides are guilty of grandstanding. ODM and PNU representatives go into the negotiation meetings with vested interests up their sleeves.

These legislators need to take note that every second they spend going at one another is costing thousands of shillings. Their actions are akin to empting gunny bags full of bank notes down the drain, for their pay causes quite a bit of stomach upsets.

      The bickering and name-calling does no good. All Kenyans want is a government that works. We deserve it. Sometimes it is worth calling on true patriots to emerge when the need is this glaring. The Diaspora community might be the only lot to turn to.

We may not be as united as we seem, but we are sure closer-knit than our politicians. It is also easier for people who live outside Kenya to suggest and influence reforms because they have experienced governments that work.

      Political fights will not end, and they are welcomed. But for sure Kenyans can do with legal reforms and police reforms. We cannot force our politicians to be sensible, but we can demand that they deliver quality legislation that we elected them to do. 
 

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