In many ways, what we have in Jubilee is basically a coalition government much like what we had between Kibaki and Raila except this time we don’t have a national law attempting to govern it and neither was it formed out of necessity to prevent the country from plunging into a civil war.
That being the case, we can rightly begin to assess how the principals have done so far and how that has or has not benefited the country.
This, no doubt, will be an ongoing assessment and if the assessment is done properly by the right people with the country’s interests at heart, we could perhaps avoid the pitfalls the last coalition government fell into.
To be sure, we couldn’t get worse and the fact we didn’t make it appear as if we had made great strides in the right direction but when one pauses to evaluate, all we really did is set up the mechanisms to move forward. But this can only come about with the full implementation of the constitution.
When the 2013 general election was conducted under circumstances eerily familiar and almost identical to what happened in 2007, it’s an open question what progress we have made in institutional reforms to ensure that democracy and the rule of law endures.
Once again, the Kikuyus and Kalenjin have exchanged the presidency under circumstances we all know, leaving the rest of the country scratching their heads what the heck does one have to do to get into State House if getting a majority of the votes at the polls doesn’t do it as it has been twice proven?
It can’t be the use of violence for that’s simply not an option, which means going back to the drawing board and figuring a better strategy to overcome this chokehold on power by only two of the more than 40 tribes in Kenya.
Which means we all must accept the fact and reality that we have a new government led by President Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta and William Samoei Ruto and unless the unexpected happens, this is the government we must deal with and expect to deliver on its promises until the next general election. I dare most of you to name the promises, for the campaign was all about stopping Raila and nothing else.
That doesn’t mean now having assumed office Uhuru and Ruto cannot cobble together some initiatives they can implement while busy defending themselves against the very serious charges of crimes against humanity they face at the ICC.
Indeed, we should all—especially those of us aligned with Cord—swallow hard and do our part to make this government a success for its success is our collective success and it’s failure shall be our collective failure as well.
The least we can do is give the UhuRuto government a chance to prove themselves and especially what they are made of; are they a reincarnation of old Kanu as some suspect or would they actually break with tradition and take the country in a new direction of peace and prosperity?
The first glimpse as to this question is how they’re forming their cabinet. Given the appointments made thus far, a few things can be noted:
To start with, politics is a game and much like any other game, there must be winners and losers and judging from what has transpired thus far in the selection process of the nominees, the Ruto side of the Jubilee coalition has been the winners.
When they announced their political marriage, the UhuRuto coalition told us they will share power on a 50-50 basis, which made no sense because for one the constitution does not allow that as there is a regional balance requirement mandated in the new political dispensation.
Has the regional balance been met in the nomination of candidates to serve in the cabinet? Strictly speaking, the answer is yes. However, sometimes one must go beyond the letter of the law and implement the spirit of the law.
The spirit of the law in this case is that the cabinet cannot and ought not be composed of more than half of its members coming from two tribes when we have 42 tribes in the country; that’s just unfair and unjust.
To be sure, we cannot have a 42-member cabinet for obvious reasons but we surely can have a 22-member Cabinet as currently authorised by the law comprised of members from 22 tribes, one each.
What’s wrong with that; why are Kenyan presidents incapable of doing what makes sense and is practical? The answer, of course, is political patronage and tribalism which still plagues our country even though one gets the sense Uhuru may not be any worse than his predecessors.
In fact, this is one area this writer fully expects Uhuru to have a marked departure from his predecessors to the extent he will not overload all important government positions with members of his community.
That said, the best case that can be made about UhuRuto’s nominees is that while not tribally balanced, they have tried and done a better job than in the past cases of nominating a team to the cabinet, other than perhaps Ngilu and Balala, who appear superbly qualified for the positions nominated with the exception of Macharia who is qualified to be cabinet secretary but not for the position nominated.
That fact alone provides cover for the lack of regional balance as envisioned in the constitution and even more so the fact that some tribes have been handsomely rewarded while others have been punished with no nominees to the cabinet.
However, in terms of who has won or lost in the context of Jubilee alliance, Ruto has clearly won, having tucked away four nominees from his stronghold and may yet get one more while Uhuru is content with fewer nominees than his henchmen and others behind his presidency would prefer.
Coupled with the fact that URP has already been given the all-important Treasury portfolio, one cannot but conclude that Ruto is and right now remains the only discernible winner of the 2013 elections.
To know where he has come from to accomplish that in this short period of time, one must take their hat off for the often underestimated Ruto.
There is no question that there is a genuine relationship and friendship between Uhuru and Ruto. However, politics being politics, one would have to assume each must do whatever it takes to survive, given each has their respective constituencies (and I am not talking about voters) and people they’re beholden to to please. How the two deal with that will determine whether their political marriage is a keeper or a goner. Let’s all hope it’s a keeper.
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