Kenya: end of an era

UNTIL 27 DECEMBER 2002, there were only two significant eras in Kenyan history: the era of the ‘Mau Mau’ and the era of Moi, both of which left a mark on the country’s psyche. The legend of the ‘Mau Mau’ emerged during the struggle for independence, when some natives mysteriously disappeared into the forest, where, it was believed, they became part of the mythical freedom fighters that terrorised local British officials and waged an amazing bush war against colonial rule. Their guerrilla activities were given political significance by a man named Jomo Kenyatta, who was christened the ‘black Moses’ for possessing the courage to stand before ‘Pharaoh’ – the colonial masters – and pronounced the words: “Let my people go.”

Jomo Kenyatta, who would later wrest Kenya out of the grasp of Britain and lead it to independence in 1963, was Kenya’s leading political figure and founding president. A dominant name in East African politics, with a fame that transcended the colonial era, he remained a revered figure throughout the 15 years of his presidency. It was, notably, in the fourth year of his reign that he plucked a former primary school teacher named Daniel arab Moi out of relative obscurity and made him his vice president. So, when he died in 1978, Moi, naturally, took over the mantle of leadership. And with that, a new era began in this country of 31 million people.

The Moi era

The Moi era lasted 24 years, during which time he not only personalised the country, but also squeezed it – politically, socially and economically – until it, figuratively, fitted into his pocket. He lent his name to schools like the Moi University, Moi Girls’ School and the Moi Educational Centre. The international airport and a Nairobi avenue bear his name. His face is also on all the country’s currency; from the coins that beggars collect to the shilling notes that steadily lost value during his reign. He created a national holiday in his honour: Moi Day, on which occasion he staged a giant festival in a downtown stadium, and extols his accession to power nearly a quarter century ago.

For the first 13 years of his presidency he ran a one-party state, but following pressure from Western governments, Daniel arab Moi reluctantly agreed to multi-party politics in 1991. But even with that, Moi and his Kenya African National Union party, known as KANU, still managed to manipulate the system by fomenting ethnic clashes, exploiting state resources and outfoxing the divided opposition. Consequently, the economy was so battered that one 52-year-old opposition supporter, Gordon Yagomba told a journalist “If this country were a car, we’d be pushing it.”

Fortunately for Kenya, Moi, 78 agreed to abide by constitutional limits on his term of office and cede power in the December 2002 elections. But then, he decided to leave office on his own terms. Having the intention of holding onto power as chairman of the Kenya African National Union party, he chose as his successor Uhuru Kenyatta, the son of the country’s founding president Jomo Kenyatta. But though Uhuru, 41, first son of Kenyatta’s fourth wife, whose name means freedom in Swahili, has had considerable experience running the family’s many business ventures, he was considered a political novice. He even lost his bid for Parliament in 1997, which was surprising given his name.

Jomo Kenyatta’s son

But Moi wanted him. And – as if he desired to see a Kenyatta-Moi political dynasty in the country – he began a painstaking effort to groom him for higher office. First came appointments to government bodies like the National Disaster Control Fund and the Kenya Tourism Board. Then, in October 2001, he appointed Uhuru Kenyatta to Parliament; but seeing that the end of his own tenure was fast approaching because of term limits, he accelerated his mentoring effort by appointing Kenyatta in November as a cabinet minister, and then in March last year helped him become vice chairman of the then ruling Kenya Africa National Union.

This unilateral decision by President Moi, which political analysts said would allow him retain his influence and protect the vast wealth that he accumulated as president, angered many prominent members of KANU. So strong was the opposition to Moi’s hand-picked successor that dissenters boycotted the party’s political convention held at a Nairobi sports stadium, potentially splitting the party in two. But while the KANU party was divided, leading opposition parties, in fact, had determinedly united themselves into a national rainbow coalition, and were presenting a consensus candidate: Mwai Kibaki.

A consensus candidate

Mwai Kibaki was born in 1931 in Othaya, near the peaks of Mount Kenya. A lover of golf and jazz music, he attended Nyeri Boys School but began his political activism at Makerere University in Uganda, which was the finest place to study in colonial East Africa, as chairman of the Kenya Students Association and vice chairman of the Makerere Students Guild. Married to Lucy Muthoni, he has four grown children and three grandchildren.

A graduate of the London School of Economics, Kibaki was Kenya’s longest-serving finance minister, holding the post from 1969 to 1982 – a period of relative prosperity. He was also Moi’s vice president for ten years. During Kenya’s guerrilla struggle toward independence, known as the Mau Mau emergency, for which Jomo Kenyatta was the torchbearer, Kibaki, now 71, was one of the young nationalists who sat in a bar one day and drafted the constitution over drinks for the KANU party. Being in London at the time, he did not join in the fighting himself, though he lost one of his brothers in the struggle. A leading opposition figure since multi-party politics were introduced in 1991, he was placed second to Moi in the 1997 presidential elections and was third in 1992.

Righting wrongs

This time he maintained that his mission was to right the wrongs of four decades of KANU government. “We don’t want to be ruled anymore by those who dictate, declare orders and issue instructions. We want to be ruled by the law.” And his opponent, Uhuru Kenyatta, who studied political science and economics at Amherst, on the contrary, offered his youth as a credential, a signal that he represented a new generation of leadership. It was a campaign season unlike any other, and the first election in Kenya in which the winner was not preordained. As both candidates were Kikuyus, Kenya’s largest tribe, the ethnic tension that usually surround any political contest in the country, was somewhat diffused.

At the end, Mwai Kibaki and his rainbow coalition won. The margin of victory was so large that the Electoral Commission officially declared him winner even before the last 14 of the 210 constituencies reported. Kibaki won 63 percent of the vote, the Commission said, and Kenyatta had 30 percent. Out of 192 seats from the 210-seat legislature confirmed at the time, the Rainbow alliance had captured 122 to KANU’s 52. The remaining seats were divided among smaller parties.

Given the lop-sided 63 to 30 percent results, Uhuru Kenyatta quickly conceded defeat. In his victory speech, the president-elect promised sweeping changes to battle corruption and staggering economic problems and an end to the government’s authoritarian style. Governing “is not a matter of promoting the ego of a president,” he said and promised to propose legislation that would require top officials to declare their wealth and break with long-time traditions like hanging the presidential photo in shops and offices throughout the country.

“The era of anything goes is now gone forever,” Kibaki said at his inaugural ceremony on 30 December 2002. With Moi sitting expressionless nearby, he said bluntly: “Fellow Kenyans, I am inheriting a country that has been ravaged by years of misrule and ineptitude. There has been a wide disconnect between the people and the government.” He pledged to begin immediately his plans to revive the economy, stamp out corruption and rebuild government without any vestiges of the departing leader’s autocratic rule. “Government will no longer be run on the whims of individuals.”

This victory, which to Kenyans, was the making of an epoch, also grabbed the attention of the world because of the regional importance of Kenya, a country that, despite severe economic woes and the steady decay of its once excellent infrastructure, remains a pillar of East Africa, serving as a base for Relief operations for Sudan and Congo and for military actions to calm the killing frenzies of the region. As a zone of relative stability, Kenya remains a banking and business centre and a transportation hub. The suicide bombing that levelled the Paradise Hotel here and the failed attempt to down a chartered aircraft leaving Mombassa for Israel only underscore the importance of Kenya. Many political experts believe Kenya, which has porous borders with largely lawless Somalia, has twice been picked as a terrorist target at least partly because of its pro-Western ways.

And now, a new era has begun. President Kibaki’s promise of an economic revival – and numerous other pledges, like free primary school education – have raised hopes among ordinary Kenyans. Indeed, as one unemployed man in Nairobi said, “It’s like we’ve won our independence again.’’