KAIKAI KICKER: A broken helicopter is Kenyas last symbol of broken values
On my kicker tonight, it was refreshing and
almost surprising to see DP William Ruto calling ODM leader Raila Odinga by
name. I say surprising because it is very rare in this country, especially in an
election year, to see politicians calling each other by name.
For the past many months, DP Ruto has
dutifully introduced Odinga as ‘yule jamaa wa vitendawili’, ‘hii mutu ya
vitendawili,’ and other variations of the same.
Previously on this kicker, we specifically
addressed Deputy President William Ruto and former PM Raila Odinga as the
presumed contenders for the office of President in the August elections. We
persuaded as we do tonight, on the need for the two to set the right tone for
the country to have a peaceful and mature general election in August.
For a start, we persuade that as a matter of
course they should address each other by name and with respect. By dehumanising
each other like they have done on many occasions, and by calling each other
names in public, they have sent the wrong message to their respective
supporters. And I am not surprised that violence became part of the equation.
The language of the leaders forms a big part of
shaping a nation’s character and political culture. When leaders swear at each
other, supporters will swear at each other and when an opportunity arises they
will go physical against each other.
We call ourselves a multi-party democracy and
have since 1992 held elections dutifully in intervals of five years. Holding
elections on time and as scheduled is not enough to mark us up as a functioning
democracy. We have to pay attention to the quality of our democracy. And a
casual assessment of the language of our politicians confirms that our state of
democracy is really wanting.
And against the backdrop of that broken
helicopter air shield, some call it windscreen, Raila Odinga and William Ruto
must now agree to approach things differently. A broken helicopter windscreen
symbolically means when bad manners take over a nation’s life, no one is beyond
reach. Politicians Ruto and Raila who both fly around in their campaigns now
know that bad manners on the ground can reach the skies.
Now, other than DP Ruto referring to Raila Odinga
by name, there is something else that is quite rare that also happened on the
day. I find it refreshing that politicians could muster the courage to say
sorry.
I don’t remember the last time I heard a
politician utter that very difficult word, sorry. An apology is not necessarily
an admission of guilt. It is an acceptance that something is not right and we
should find that commendable even if as a foreign concept in our political
culture.
The Kabenes attack was a statement on a
worrying erosion of cultural values. Culturally, DP Ruto, MP Oscar Sudi, and
even Governor Jackson Mandago know very well that there could not have been a
more out of place incident and more culturally inappropriate activity than that
witnessed in Kabenes, Soy, Uasin Gishu County.
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