I WISH THE COALITION WOULD CRUMBLE/THE COALITION HAS SURPASSED EXPECTATION

It has been a year since the grand coalition was formed. A lot of debate has gone on as Kenyans commemorated the first anniversary of what we were hoodwinked was to usher us from the abyss of darkness and onto the sunlit uplands of prosperity and peace. The devil, it seems has been with this government by invitation, every step of the way. Kenyans are not disappointed, the lacklustre performance was expected. Kenyans are tired of frustration.

Of all the articles that I read on this topic, the one that drew my most attention was Pete Ondeng's 'Coalition has not failed; it has just had hunger added to its plate'. The author is a man who can simply be described as dogmatic. He blinds himself to the reality, just like those in government. The only reason we have a government is to make things better. When such an author posits that it was not the responsibility of the government to provide food and even almost calls it idiotic to expect the president and PM to do so, he ignore that very basic purpose of government. This is one government that has not only betrayed the independence dream but also the hopes of people.

To maintain security, it kills. To ensure food security, it steals the public's maize. To reduce debt, it borrows from the public only for the money to end up in the pockets of officials. A government that knows no etiquette, not sorry and certainly not 'excuse me'. It cannot respect the constitution that it is supposed to protect. But then, how do we expect this government to respect the constitution if it was formed through an act equivalent to defiling the constitution? The constitution should have been a document to guide, it has ended up being simply a document. The last series of amendments and the more to come have in fact been guiding the constitution to the wishes of the elected. The result has been to leave Kenyans with a constitution that cares for everything but the vital. If the president were to, for some reason, leave office, who would take over? Constitutionally the Vice President; but how acceptable is it vis-à-vis the reality on the ground now that we have a P.M? How, also, would we hold an election without an electoral commission to talk of? But then we shall have a commission 'soon'; will the commission of novices be expected to run a referendum and then an election that is free and fair. Unless free and fair exists only in the politicians mind, then we cannot expect to have free and fair elections. It took Kivuitu about 10 years to run an election called fair. Now the MPs want us to believe that these novices can achieve that in 10 fortnights. Against hope, I expected this government to fail; now, judging by the cooperation they afford each other in institutionalizing these crimes, I hope against expectation that this government will fail.

We need some one to blame, somebody to be accountable to the people. As it is now, the failure of one is because 'our partners do not treat us equally'. Where they can speak in one voice, Dr. Mutua will promptly avail himself to state the governments position encrypted in denial. A year after this government was formed to give Kenya the best, it has come the closest some of us can relate to the description of the horrors of colonialism. Formed to stop murder, it has been convicted by all except itself of murder. Having promised to give food, it has let a third of the population slide into starvation. Promising to provide free universal education, it has increased school fees. Promising transparency, it has stolen in daylight. IDPs had only one day of hope. Young men from GEMA never know when the police bullet will go through their spine. Where traders were promised security to work for 24hrs a day, they can't work securely at 1pm. Where it was supposed to breed unity and harmony, it has given ministers that will tell their tribes they are under threat from others. This government really was a coming together of three major parties that had photocopied each others manifesto. I would have expected these to reinforce each other, it seems they did and in their true colours. If this is what government is, I don't need one. We do not demand perfection, but we do not want those who seek imperfection and actively work towards doomsday. This government has not just failed to respect my rights, it has abused them beyond imagination.

MARTHA KARUA WILL GO TO HELL

Martha Karua will go for the presidency and she will do anything to get there. She will sacrifice a lot and take suffering in a stride till she can get there. But Martha Karua can go to hell if her eyes will remain fixed on that post. She cannot win on this earthly or a heavenly Kenya. I will explain myself.

Martha Karua is no democrat. Truth be told, I admire her greatly for efforts in the struggle for multipartyism. She contributed a lot. Her time in government has been a far cry however. She was ready to standby and defends a government that had its own agenda, quite different from that of the mwananchi. After defending Kibaki’s re-election so fiercely (so fiercely that she sent us to chaos) she now has the guts to say both Kibaki and Raila rigged the election. She wants to cry for the victims of Mungiki now; while she kept mum serving the same government that had endorsed extra-judicial murder. She is a person who will do nothing before you can satisfactorily answer her one question; ‘what’s in it for me?’ that is the sole reason she resigned. Karua is simply trying to replay what Raila did after being fired in 2005. Second, she wants to show she can break from the GEMA lords, from whom she is not actually breaking. She has never been an entity in GEMA.

The way to win elections is through the hearts of many or those of the kingmakers. That is for a man, at the sake of sounding politically rude. Karua is doing a great deal to win the hearts of the masses including ads on Facebook. She is suddenly noticing what a pity the common mwananchi is, and because she suddenly has realised that this government doesn’t serve the common mwananchi she resigned. The word has come to Karua and Mungatana is the messenger, the flock cannot be found. Karua is not that good with her tongue as to entice nor is she surrounded by particularly oratorical men. The kingmakers on the other hand are not for Karua, she would have to go back to Kibaki.

By 2012, Karua will be in the place Kenneth Njindo Matiba was in 2007. A great resource wasted by ambition, burnt by time beyond recognition. Once something has been around for too long, it gets stale and nobody wants to touch it. Karua will be a product expired by 2012. She will not even be such a force as to break up the GEMA vote. At the end of 2012, because she does not have a reverse gear, she will be drowning in the sea of the common mwananchi.

She can’t win the hearts of the masses or the kingmakers, so how can she win? Even if she had wanted to rig, by 2012, not even street boys will be ready to stake their necks out for Martha Karua. But there is one open way that remains for every woman on this earth. That is to go all the way with their legs wide apart. That, I do not believe is the way for one as respectable as Martha Karua.

As it is, Martha Karua has only one option: to swallow her pride and go back to the armpits of Kibaki, who might create yet another irrelevant ministry like the Ministry of Maendeleo ya Wanawake for her. Ngilu was simply wise when she said, ‘I will be back,’ rather than go for the presidency.