The Genesis and meaning of “ACHICHA wendi kityo”!

BY: William Makora

This term began among the Rift Valley’s Kalenjin folks as a drizzle of rain that could not only be felt by sensitive skins but seen by naked eyes.  It was first said in a meeting between Raila Amolo Odinga and the Kalenjin elders on 30th October, 2012 where he apologized to the community for any wrong he might have done against them. That reconciliatory tone struck the hearts of the elders and a number of them disgruntled by William Kipchirchir Ruto’s concordat with Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta simply said in vernacular: “Achicha wendi kityo!” meaning “No, he will go alone!” That would be the initiation of the rift in the politics of the Kalenjin nation that is catching up with the rest of the country; a torrent of rainfall.

Achicha wendi kityo!  is a rallying call that has become a nightmare to William Ruto and Uhuru Kenyatta’s  URP-TNA’s pre- election deal.

Uhuru Kenyatta and  William Ruto seek to unite their communities in power arrangement as President and running mate respectively. The Kalenjin community is not comfortable with it citing lack of comprehensive consultation ans suspicion of the Mt Kenya mafia. The interests of the Kalenjin community are not taken care of , so they say.

Other G7 leaders like Kalonzo Musyoka, Eugene Wamalwa, Kiraitu Murungi among others have been left  of the pact hence weakening its strength a head of the elections slated for March 2013.

 

Kalenjin leaders including Gideon Moi, son of the former President, Henry Kosgey, Franklin Bett, Musa Sirma, Jackson Kibor, Pius arap Kauka, among others have dismissed Ruto as a misled leader who is seeking self satisfaction, the youth have also taken to the streets of Kericho and Eldoret (more demonstrations are slated to take place in the days to come) to denounce the much awaited pre-election deal between URP and TNA.

Achicha wendi kityo! This is the phrase that has become a nightmare to much touted Ruto’s URP and Uhuru’s TNA’s election deal mooted in a long period of time also as G7. As it currently stands, Uhuru and Ruto seek to unite their communities in power arrangement as President and running mate respectively. The Kalenjin community is not comfortable with it. They say it does not consider their interests.

In Kericho town, about fifteen thousand youth drawn from North and South Rift held a peaceful demonstration on the streets to condemn the political pact. Led by their lobby’s coordinator, Jacob Rotich, the group castigated the alliance saying that it was founded on quick sand and that the Kalenjin were unlikely to benefit from it. To the youth, Ruto was taking undue advantage of their regards for him.

In Eldoret, the youth made it short and clear as they all seemed to read from the same placard: “Achicha Wendi Kityo!” They also accused Ruto of trying to use the ICC criminal cases against him and others to tie their fate to eternal slavery to people who have no regards for them. Apparently they were referring to Uhuru and his people. The youth asked; “Where is our future in your blind interests? Where is our destiny after the elections?” That was far-reaching and Ruto is yet to talk back a word.

The youth simply accused Ruto of shortchanging the community by selfishly seeking the alliance without involving them, other leaders and elders. They wondered why Ruto did not consult if he meant well.

Then came Kalenjin leaders. Mr. Moi simply lamented how Ruto had betrayed the community by reneging on the peoples’ agreement. He said Ruto broke the treaty they signed between their political parties without any consultations. He accused him of killing the spirits of the people and therefore asked him not seek for any support further in his complacent endeavors. He declared that Kanu had withdrawn their assurance to support Ruto’s ambitions for leadership after they realized he ‘is’ more decked in conceit than popular appeal. Other leaders, elders and Ruto’s own allies think the same way.

The youth simply accused Ruto of shortchanging the community by selfishly seeking the alliance without involving them, other leaders and elders. They wondered why Ruto did not consult if he meant well.

Kosgey, Sirma and Bett said that the union between Ruto and Uhuru is driven by self-interest and is aimed at preventing the Kalenjins from joining other Kenyans to elect credible leaders. They vowed to mobilize the community against voting for Ruto and his allies, especially, if he proved utterly rebellious.

Kibor asked Ruto to stop masquerading as the overall custodian of the votes in Rift Valley because “he is just an ordinary voter like everybody else. We are at liberty to vote for anyone. It is our democratic right.”

That is it! Achicha wendi kityo! That is the bell tolling into the earshot of the Eldoret North legislator and Uhuru’s lover. As a tree being replanted in a foreign land, many other hands are watering him. He may not care any much of the Kalenjin rains.

That is it! Achicha wendi kityo! That is the bell tolling into the earshot of the Eldoret North legislator and Uhuru’s lover. As a tree being replanted in a foreign land, many other hands are watering him. He may not care any much of the Kalenjin rains. Like a caged game, he better stays away and save his skin. After all, the tamer has tethered him to a ‘fertile land’. He needs only some little bit of bold resolve to survive the rest of the time. He seems to ask himself: What else does a man need in life?! Is it not ‘good’ money and rest from struggles?! In fact, it seems he does not care what people get from the pact; if it is politics it can rest or be taken by someone else. After all he has a mountain of criminal case and it needs money!

From such reasoning, a leader loses his worth and becomes an empty shell. That is why his people may want to shout after him: Achicha Wendi Kityo! They do not want to share in his contemptuous compromise and confusion. In the contrary, they call him back ‘if he has any ears in his head’.

With that protest, Ruto’s Kalenjin community have turned their back on his leadership and opened up themselves to the rest of Kenyans. They have given wide-berth for the ODM ship. For accepted Father Figure leadership, Raila is the bird that can freely fly into the farmland and feed on the crops. Other birds do not eat crops; they either feed on nectar, insects or meat. 

In his bid to counter the angry force, Ruto has held a meeting in Nakuru’s Olkalai Lodge and desperately spent a better part of the day in briefing a faction of the Kalenjin elders and a few professionals about the pact between him and Uhuru. He also outlined reasons why he rebelled against Odinga. At the end of the meeting, chaos erupted as the people demanded to know more. Police had to be called in to arrest the situation.

After that meeting, the Kalenjin counties were left weighing their options following Ruto’s failure to handle the mandate of carrying the mantle and walking the right path. A number of leaders are left lamenting that “giving a young man power is like losing it”. They say; “Much talk of the tongue is not much knowledge of what to do or where to go”. That is the gravity of their disappointment.

With that protest, Ruto’s Kalenjin community have turned their back on his leadership and opened up themselves to the rest of Kenyans. They have given wide-berth for the ODM ship. For accepted Father Figure leadership, Raila is the bird that can freely fly into the farmland and feed on the crops. Other birds do not eat crops; they either feed on nectar, insects or meat. As Kogey rightly put it; “The PM is reaching out to voters directly because they understand him and many of them will actually back his presidential bid.” It explains why he has met six thousand elders in the time. That means his ship has rightly docked.

As for William Kipchirchir Ruto; “Achicha Wendi Kityo!” That sounds truly Kalenjin; truly Kenyan!

No, let him go alone if he does not want to be with us!