1. 1
WHY PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA REBUKED THE KENYA OPPOSITION
At age 70, it is amazing that Mr. Raila Amolo Odinga is so teachable, such a
listener! The ruling Jubilee government in Kenya is having it rough ever
since visiting US President Obama chided the opposition of the need to up
their game. The government has thus seen the full hell of Raila, the harrying
that lived only in the 1980s and 1990s. With elections coming in two years,
and at this rate of attack, the Kenya government should indeed prepare for
the worst or eject.
Over the decades, the achievement of Kenya’s opposition has been
immense. Indeed, it is only in Kenya where opposition’s score card is longer
than that of the government over a prolonged period of time. Due to
opposition activism, we now have the devolved form of governance with
senators, governors, county assemblies, complete with own budgets and
public service boards. Earlier on we had a simpler form of devolving
government funds by way of constituency Development Funds, which made
sure that even areas that had never benefitted from government existence
in any way now enjoyed a level of government funding for local growth and
welfare. A new comprehensive constitution is in place not because of
government benevolence but the sweat and struggle of the opposition, in
many cases leading to the death. Courtesy of the opposition a number of
elders these days are entitled to doles, as youth labour is being
strengthened, even though the regime does it selectively for political
reasons. Of course concerted effort has been made constantly by the
government to water down these milestones, but they are real and enduring
enough to form a landmark of opposition struggle in Kenya.
So far so fair. In march 2013 the opposition, however, slept in class as
people who believe in change and fairness saw the government bulldoze it
self into power, through brazen election rigging and brute daring, using the
very institutions the opposition had fought tooth and nail to put in place. The
Supreme Court presented a judgement after only two minutes of
proceedings. Ten minutes later Raila Odinga and his brigade were in the
media, reluctantly accepting the court’s verdict.
Where was the fiery James Orengo protesting the conduct of the court
rejecting Cord’s 900 page exposition of election fraud? Where was Prof.
Nyong’o with his sharp pen laying bare the misconduct of the electoral body
IEBC? What was Raila standing there saying about what he believed to be a
sham? Why conspire with evil to defeat yourself, the law and the people? No
wonder we thought they were all bribed.

2. 2
The 2013 election episode was like a conspiracy to delude Kenya. We hear
President Obama and the international community prevailed upon them to
keep the peace. Now the same Obama is telling them off. It is as fraudulent
as stealing the votes itself, behaving as if your plan B was to accept defeat
unfairly. The collective retiring behavior of the opposition was most
unpatriotic and self-preserving. Raila even said; “People cannot die because
someone has to be president.” Yet people died because they refused to be
president. Five people committed suicide. Fatal police shooting met suicidal
defiance. Why were the people ready to do this? The opposition conspired to
subject Kenya to a futureless existence, where morals would not matter,
where you can be robbed of anything without even lifting a finger, where
Raila himself lost a prized son! A morbid sense of fear and insecurity
engulfed the whole nation.
Fine, there were celebrations in one part of the county when election results
were announced. Expansive Rift Valley which was touted to have voted for
the new regime turned chilly like a graveyard. Something was seriously
wrong. Who votes massively for a regime and then turns chilly when it wins?
The shock they got spoke for itself. Yet the opposition expected Kenyans to
swallow all that, and remain okay.
In some way the Supreme Court was justified in acting mean. How do you
assist those who do not believe in themselves? Cord’s 900 page election
rigging dossier was rejected the way it was presented. Up to now we do not
know what was contained in the voluminous report. The court was not to be
everything. Salient parts of the report should have been publicized, even as
paid advertisement or free brochures to the public. A summary of salient
points regarding the election rigging, together with videos on the same,
would have even embarrassed the supreme court out of corruption. With
such crookery unpublished, how are we sure they will not repeat them next
time?
The people’s fears are vindicated. We were heading directly into trouble,
because opposition feared trouble. Politics is sacrifice. When insensitive,
malicious opponents realize that you are scared of being Somalia or South
Sudan, they start playing up your emotions. Like the Somalis or South
Sudan, our patriotism is no more, our economy in tatters, our moral values
in a shambles. Fearing trouble is breeding trouble.
Fundamentally, nobody, no clique, no tribe should be allowed to hold the
country to ransom, simply because we fear blood, we fear men in uniform,
we fear disunity, we fear chaos. A nation of pretenders, where people
bastardise the electoral process and everybody indulgences them into the

3. 3
corrupt conspiracy of “Let’s accept and move on,” must remain
unacceptable. How do you help your country by saying yes when you mean
no? When the opposition did that after the election results were announced,
how has that helped the country or the citizens?
Never again should there be the nonsense of election rigging in Kenya,
without taking on those who are involved. I thank heartily the European
leaders who have refused to shake hands with vote thieves and land
grabbers. That is the language impurity understands. Stop taunting them
and they conclude you “have accepted and moved on.” On a similar note I
heartily thank the New York based Kenyan law scholar, Prof. Makau Mutua,
who happens to realize the extent of the damage these people who visited
on the country’s moral, political and economic fabric, not to mention the evil
precedent.
Moral capitulation, even in the name of decency, is the manure to grow
impunity. The opposition thought that being decent and submissive would
make the Uhuru team appreciative. Instead they were jeered at, Raila as
being senile while Kalonzo and Wetangula as being clueless. To them,
decency is weakness, a form of abnormality. How could the opposition not
know this? We relied on them innocently, voted them to a man, until we
saw, in rude awakening, hyena arriving on stage wearing sheepskin. Where
do we go from here?
Treating thieves like God because they have money, which they have stolen
from you, they have power, which they have rigged through, is a height of
moral decadence. We are the ones encouraging theft, election
gerrymandering and murder! Once they grab office we treat them like
saints, once they gather ill-gotten wealth they are lord. Why applaud
someone whose only qualification seems to be appetite for public robbery?
We deify greed even after finding it is burdensome to us, we make
incompetence legitimate.
BY;
FREDERICK OWINO OYARO
Email: frederickoyaro@gmail.com