By Brooke White-Mugambi
[wpsocialite]
In a government owned stadium, whose construction was marred by massive corruption during the Nyayo years, Kenya’s President elect who is wanted for crimes against humanity, held a bible which his own father used in his swearing in ceremony.
The swearing in ceremony was in a Nyayo era style beamed live in National Television. Analysts doubt if Uhuru, an intensely polarizing figure would be able to unite a divided nation given that his swearing in ceremony was attended by his supporters and those of his Deputy.
Kenyan tribes have certain salient characteristics and from the footage from Kasarani, it was obvious that those in the crowd were mostly drawn from the two ethnic groups that voted for Uhuru to a man.
Analysts doubt if votes from those 2 ethnic communities were enough to help the son of Kenya’s founding father attain the 50%+1 threshold.
Uhuru Kenyatta is wanted by the ICC for crimes against humanity charges where he is accused of financing rape, murder and circumcision without anesthesia.
The ICC says the crimes were- at Uhuru’s behest- meted out by a gang comprising of Uhuru’s tribesmen whom Uhuru, whose massive fortune brings him to among the wealthiest in Africa, is being accused of having financed.
Even though Uhuru hasn’t been proven to be corrupt, he has been involved in a controversy in which a Sh. 50 billion error occurred in a budget prepared by his officers then as Finance Minister.
Most analysts believe that Uhuru used his family’s fortune to shore up a massively funded campaign war chest in which Kenyan corrupt tribal chieftains were bought off at a ransom to swear allegiance to him.
Ruto- his Deputy on the other hand has been a perennial court “bird†in corruption cases including one in which he is accused of annexing a 100 acre land belonging to a helpless old man who he is accused of evicting at the height of the Kenya’s 2007/8 violence.
As a Briton married to a Kenyan, and a mother to Kenyan children, I have spent a lot of time in Nairobi and other parts of Kenya, and it isn’t difficult for me to understand that Uhuru Kenyatta has a very loose mandate- if any to govern. Uhuru trailed in all opinion polls conducted prior to election day. The only one in which he led was commissioned by his own henchmen.
Uhuru is a rich opinionated Kenyan who as evidenced by his suggestion to invoke a swearing while touching a bible held by his wife was rejected by millions of Kenyans in mainstream and social media.
This was the first Uhuru agenda to be rejected by Kenyans. Dead on arrival. His ideas are alien to the common man in Kenya. “His ideas are extra-terrestrial†commented a Muriithi Gakunga on Twitter.
That UK lost the argument in a very frivolous and trivial subject just fresh from an election means that his popularity is first waning- having been shellacked by CORD in the events in the last 2 weeks, and that the CORD/Raila political machine is resurgent, and will give him a thorough shellacking.
Thanks to news awash with words President-elect, there’s fatigue with the name Uhuru Kenyatta. Kenyans are sick and tired of deliberate biased media coverage. 80-90% of media houses are suddenly like KBC of the 80s. Do they freak being shut down? They probably know UK so well. So sad.
At most, Uhuru’s approval rating is now in the lower 40s if not 30s by now, a truly horrible position to be in fresh from an election. It will continue to tank.
The people are with Raila, the one who was widely tipped to win clean and square had the 2013 election irregularities not prevented a second round run-off.
Uhuru’s acquiescence or submission if you like to the “Maggie holding the bible†goof is probably an indicator that he has no political capital/muscle to surmount the numerous roadblocks that would be raised in the advancement of his “not so rosy†agenda. He is a man who won the legal war, but lost the moral war plus the court of public opinion.
There’s also the question of legitimacy in which lazy judges hesitant to read 900 pages of an affidavit and video footage dismissed material evidence that could have fundamentally changed the direction of the Supreme Court petition lodged by Uhuru Kenyatta’s main challenger, Raila Odinga.
The mostly analogue judges some whom cannot use Microsoft Word were also not keen on letting the case assume a technological angle for fear that they might not comprehend a tech-laced case in a short period of 2 weeks. They wanted an easier route.
The judges, most of whom have gained weight since being named to the Supreme Court, are not used to working hard, and therefore abused their power to dismiss watertight and otherwise irrefutable evidence in other digital jurisdictions.
They just want to relax, shop and travel. They don’t wonna read 900 pages of evidence or even listen to a young lawyer who has managed a fete they never managed while they were in the bar.
Jealousy towards my fellow woman- the indefatigable Kethi Kilonzo- the most brilliant Kenyan lawyer of my generation.
Analysts also argue that Kenyan judges have fallen in love with their huge perks and allowances and are now willing to go to any length to retain the status quo, which is in their best interest. “The judges are in bed with the wielders of impunityâ€, commented one of my thousands of Twitter followers.
It therefore remains to be seen how a President who was declared “validly elected†on grounds of procedure and inadmissibility of evidence is going to govern a nation in which his support without Ruto is probably only 19% of the Kenyan vote. His TNA party only got support exclusively from his tribal stronghold.
It was interesting that the Supreme Court never found Uhuru to have attained the 50% +1 constitutional threshold.
What happened at the Supreme Court is that the case was dismissed on technicality, not that the court found him to have attained the constitutional threshold to be declared President.
The court only upheld the status quo.
However what matters is that in the public court of opinion the jury is that Uhuru’s is an illegitimate regime.
So sad, just coming out of a negotiated arrangement secondary to Kibaki’s illegitimate 2007 ECK declaration.
Brooke White Mugambi is a British Born Kenyan. Her views do not represent those of her husband or the British Government.