Mutava Musyimi and below is
Nairobi lawyer Paul Muite
By Nixon Kavai
As the historic 2012 general elections beckons in Kenya, the bold entry into the presidential race of the 1990s renowned Civil rights and democracy crusaders Rev. Mutava Musyimi and lawyer Paul Kibugi Muite is raising eyebrows.
In year 2002, Kenya’s long suffering pro-democracy opposition leaders united for the first time and bundled the hitherto monolithic and dictatorial ruling party:- Kenya African National Union (KANU) out of power in Nairobi. But the two pro-democracy heroes were missing at the top in the new political elite.
Under independence hero and Kenya’s founding president Mzee Jomo Kenyatta (upto 1978) and Daniel Arap Moi (upto 2002), KANU had through a mix of feudalism, raw dictatorship, corruption, ethnicity and merciless one man rule, led the East African country into a boiling pot of simmering political upheaval.
Determined, militant (mild)and diplomatic opposition to KANU’s misrule and plunder of Public resources was always nipped in the bud, often by use of brutal force by the security forces or the then KANU maintained illegal Youth Militia Groups, then going by the names Kanu Youth Wingers or Jeshi la Mzee (Swahili for “president Moi’s army). Also playing a key role in that repression was the country’s security intelligence services, (once going by the name “Special Branch”) which operated secret assassination squads and torture chambers to silence opponents of the Kanu regime.
The worst repression took place starting mid 1980s immediately following the legislation making Kenya under Daniel Arap Moi and Kanu, a one party state.
Organization of or participation in the activities of any other political body other than Kanu was criminalized and suspects faced extreme sanctions ranging from assassination, detention without trial, police brutality, long jail terms, to economic (business) strangulation. It was purely a police state with Gestapo-like political policing common place.
The lucky few who had the means or contacts fled into exile in Western Europe and America.
The 1982 attempted military coup by disgruntled junior soldiers in the Air force, the Mwakenya and Saba-saba uprisings coupled with assassination of outspoken pro-reforms Anglican Bishop Alexander Kipsang Muge and detentions of opposition leaders Jaramogi Oginga odinga, Kenneth Matiba, Charles Rubia, Raila Odinga, Dr. Willy Mutunga, Koigi wa Wamwere, Rumba Kinuthia, Maina Kinyatti, Prof. Edward Oyugi, George Anyona (the list is long), plus the clamping down on dissent in the universities and Parliament marked that (1980’s) decade which is noted as Kenya’s darkest.
It was at the height of that agitation for reforms, multi-partyism and civil liberties in the late 1980’s that Rev. Mutava Musyimi and Mr. Muite emerged forcefully on the Kenyan National Stage alongside established religious and political figures already in the struggle. Apart from the political wing, Mr. Muite was a member of the then powerful Law Society of Kenya (LSK) that had energetically joined the struggle.
Rev. Musyimi rose from issuing powerful pro-reforms and good governance sermons at the Baptist Church, Ngong road, to the helm of the Umbrella Churches Organization: National Council of Churches of Kenya (N.C.C.K.) as Secretary General. He easily fitted into the league of older religious leaders who risked their lives to take on Kanu and Moi calling for reforms. Amongst these were: Catholic Bishop Ndingi Mwana a Nzeki and father Ndikaru wa Teresia, Anglican Bishops Dr. David Gitari, Bishop Henry Okullu , Alexander Muge and Presbyterian Church’s Rev. Timothy Njoya.
As NCCK boss, Rev. Mutava Musyimi easily invigorated the group’s pro-reforms voice and agenda and was easily blacklisted and targeted by the days’ Kanu hawks for condemnation and Public reprimands, always being branded a stooge of foreign enemy governments “out to re-colonize Kenya”
Mr. Muite working alongside such anti-establishment of the time, pro-reform lawyers notably Dr. Gibson Kamau Kuria, Rumba Kinuthia, James Orengo,Mirugi Kariuki, Dr. John Khaminwa, Japheth Shamalla, Pheroz Nowrojee, Dr. Willy Mutunga, Kiraitu Murungi, Gitobu Imanyata, and Nzamba Kitonga, literally took up and anchored the battle for the re-introduction of multi-party politics in Kenya and ably played the role of the demobilized anti-establishment politicians.
However, come the 1992, first multi-party elections and pro-reform/multi-partism crusaders easily split into geo-political and ethnic groupings which fragmented the hitherto strong opposition FORD into two rival factions: Ford Kenya and Ford Asili under Jaramogi Oginga Odinga and Kenneth Matiba respectively.
Even the dictatorial KANU split opportunistically into two complementary factions with president Moi remaining with the original Kanu while his longtime political bosom friends Mwai Kibaki, George Muhoho and John Keen formed the Democratic Party (DP) with the sole purpose of splitting the true oppositionists’ big vote.
As expected Mr. Muite stuck with Jaramogi in Ford Kenya and would be his undisputed running mate in that watershed General Election.
On the other hand Rev. Musyimi, just like his colleagues among the reformist clergy, kept off active participation in that general election. The elections were full of irregularities, violence, rigging and vote bribery.
As it were, the KANU-DP trick worked perfectly with DP rudely eating a huge chunk of Central Kenya and upper Eastern vote, hence effectively undercutting the opposition faction led by Kenneth Matiba and Martin Shikuku (Ford-Asili) from removing Kanu and Moi from power. Ford Kenya emerged a distant fourth behind Kanu, Ford Asili and DP but with the distinction of being the only party with elected MPs from all corners of the country.
Upto the time of that election and into the next five years, Mr. Muite and the reformist clerics (i.e. Rev. Musyimi) retained a credible presence on the Kenyan political and pro-reform stage, often putting up forcefully and internationally celebrated rebuttals to Kanu’s illegal governance.
During those difficult years of Kanu’s resurgence, pundits easily likened Mr. Muite to legendary American president Abraham Lincoln.
On the other hand, influential players in the then vibrant Civil Society, pro-reform churches and diplomatic circles strongly proposed that Rev. Musyimi be the then disjoined opposition’s compromise and unity candidate to help topple Kanu from power.
But whereas, Rev. Musyimi resisted being conscripted into the political road gang and refused to engage sufficient skills to conquer the Kenyan political space successfully Mr. Muite appeared unwilling to adopt the Kenyan political culture that has got a tattered history of ethnicity, con-artistry and raw conquest. He preferred the rare platform of nationalism.
For these, the two got overtaken and dwarfed by lesser competitors who were more adept at utilizing Kenya’s political curse of deep pockets (often corruption money), tribalism and violence.
Come 2002 and none of them could be heard on the political scene. Rev. Musyimi having retired from the helm of NCCK, vanished almost entirely while Mr. Muite hang on precariously, seeking delicate refuge in the fragile NARC coalition to reclaim his then nominal Kabete Parliamentary Seat.
A similar blunder, in a sequence, saw the two degenerate in value between 2002 and 2011 (now).
For unexplained reasons, Mr. Muite on his re-election into the 9th Parliament (2003 – 2007), quickly jumped onto the ethnic bandwagon and joined the retrogressive Central Kenya ethnic political hardliners who openly stifled the conclusion of the Constitution re-writing process (Bomas of Kenya Constitutional Review Conference).
He got assisted by the hardliners, led by the then power wielders. Dr. Chris Murungaru (Internal Security Minister) and Kiraitu Murungi (Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister) to wrestle the pivotal chairmanship of the crucial parliamentary constitution committee from the surest pro-reform grouping in the NARC dominated parliament that was led by Raila Odinga.
The subsequent events under Mr. Muite’s stewardship witnessed choreographed acrimony in the Bomas process, with delegates being deliberately split along ethnic and regional lines hence leading to a breakdown and bitter conclusion.
Attempts to force out the chairman Prof. Yash pal Ghai and to push through a state sponsored (Central Kenya dictated) version of a new constitution failed miserably.
For a reward the power elite tried to appoint Mr. Muite a junior Minister (Assistant Minister) in government, but he declined protesting that it was below his stature. He then proceeded to lose favor with the ruling clique who went on to undermine his re-election in 2007. He lost the subsequent election to system loyalist Lewis Nguyai.
But as Mr. Muite exited parliament, Rev. Musyimi entered the 10th parliament via an election as Member of Parliament for Gachoka in Embu, another region known to fully support president Kibaki and his clique.
Despite clear signs that by 2007, much of the country had fallen out with the Kibaki presidency, Rev., Musyimi chose to belong to the Kibaki circle of MPs viewed mainly as anti-reformists, full of ethnicity and corrupt and like Mr. Muite before him, he lost his coveted place at the peak of national politics.
It is with their images of traitors of the reform agenda that the two recently launched their separate 2012 presidential bids with pomp and fanfare.
Immediately after, questions started popping up over whether the two can effectively inspire the same kind of national and international support, good will and confidence they once enjoyed in the 1990s.
With apparent state engineered 2012 election support in their joint backyard of Mt. Kenya region (Central Kenya and upper Eastern) organized tightly in favour of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Uhuru Kenyatta, it seems likely that each one of them has the Herculean duty of winning over the remaining vote rich regions of Western Kenya, Rift Valley, lower Eastern and Coast.
Observers of Kenyan electoral politics are however quick to dismiss the two as mere also runs in 2012, since the other vote blocks appear totally unwilling to vote for any other presidential candidate from Mr. Kibaki’s Mt. Kenya region due to what they dismiss as treacherous and corrupt governance.
There is also a widely held belief that Kenya’s newly crafted constitution risks stalling or aborting as the Mt. Kenya region’s top political leaders are not comfortable with devolution and dispersal of the powers of the imperial presidency.
In Kenya’s heavily ethicized politics, any national and reform credentials the two could be hoping to unleash may be neutered easily. There are also fears that the two could easily be Trojan Horses for the same disgraced kleptocrats who controlled the Kibaki regime, who are desperate for a friendly regime, to protect their ill gotten wealth, after president Kibaki retires
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