I have no idea who between Juma and Balala is telling us the truth. As things presently stand, we can only await the outcome of the investigations that have been launched into the issue by the Ethics and Anti-corruption Commission, assuming they will not be bungled, before establishing the veracity or otherwise of Juma's sensational claims.
What is, nonetheless, not in dispute is that hypocrisy and giving and taking of bribes are not alien to Kenyan politics. Shady deals, involving millions of shillings, between influential politicians and leading businessmen keen on clinching lucrative government contracts and other favours are a pervasive feature of Kenyan politics. Right from the summit down to the lowest level of our politics, bribery and raw hypocrisy are part and parcel of the game.
In the early 1990s, a leading Dubai-based businessman, Nassir Ibrahim Ali arrived in Kenya keen on convincing the Kenyan government to permit him to run duty free shops at Kenya's international airports. On sharing his dream with a Mombasa-based tycoon with connections to the president, Ali was advised to pay the Head of State a courtesy call and make his offer. According to his revelations, in quasi-judicial proceedings after the deal went sour, he was, however, advised not to meet the president empty handed. Consequently, he stashed a briefcase with US$2 million and made his way to the president's residence.
On reaching the home, Ali was instructed to place the briefcase at a certain location in the compound and told to pick it from the same point on his way out. True, as he left after meeting the big man, he found the briefcase at the point where he had left it. It had, however, been emptied of the money and filled with green maize. Ali later on argued that there was nothing reprehensible with this and that his was a lawful gift to the president. But whichever way Ali or anyone else may want to look at it, this was corruption and trying to cloth it in some nice-sounding phrases does not change the fact that it is graft.
And then there is the story of former Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka. Two weeks ago, the former VP and Wiper party leader was interviewed by a leading newspaper. In the interview Kalonzo opened up on an array of issues. He, for instance, made it clear that he still has so much to offer this country and he is not just about to vacate the political stage. He also took issue with former President Mwai Kibaki for having tricked him into joining his government after the disputed 2007 general election with a promise to support his(Kalonzo's) candidature for the presidency in the 2013 general election. Kalonzo blamed the former president for having reneged on this promise.
But it is his sentiments in regard to former Prime Minister Raila Odinga and the controversial 2007 general election that exposed the hypocrisy that is the bane of Kenyan politics. Kalonzo termed Raila as 'a strong person' whose victory in the presidential race has been stolen twice. He argued that Raila won both the 2007 and 2013 general elections but he was robbed of his victory. Now, shortly after the 2007 elections, Kalonzo's party entered an alliance with President Kibaki's Party of National Unity. This saw Kalonzo appointed Vice President and two of his cronies were made ministers.
Once in office and despite the violence that was sweeping across the country like a tornado, pursuant to cries of rigging from Raila's Orange Democratic Movement, Kalonzo became the defender-in-chief of President Kibaki's 'victory'. He told anyone who cared to listen that President Kibaki had won the election and if aggrieved, ODM had the option of seeking recourse in the courts of law. When the international community moved in to help quell the raging violence and restore normalcy, Kalonzo opined that Kenyans were capable of putting their house in order and that it was too early for the international community to step in.
Yet this is the same guy who is now telling us that Raila won the 2007 elections. Why did he join the Kibaki administration as VP when, in his heart of hearts, he knew that Raila had beaten Kibaki? It is not lost to Kenyans that in the run up to the 2007 general election, Kalonzo, while on the campaign trail, repeatedly told his listeners that he will 'pass in the middle' of Raila and Kibaki. This was despite overwhelming evidence that Raila and Kibaki were the front-runners and there was no way Kalonzo could win the presidency. Was his joining an illegitimate government a validation of this promise? The inference is inescapable that even before the disputed polls, Kalonzo knew something that the rest of us didn't.
But who can blame him any way? As aforementioned, hypocrisy, wheeler-dealing, bribery and a litany of other ills are part and parcel of Kenyan politics. This is perhaps the reason why clean people can hardly survive in the filthy waters of Kenyan politics. Professor Patrice Lumumba, PLO, was indeed right in opining that there's an urgent need to introduce some hygiene in Kenyan politics.
This article was published in the Star newspaper of August 17, 2013
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