G7's WATER PISTOL

The G7 politicians are tut-tutting about the recent campaign focus by Prime Minister Raila Odinga on his reform history — his record of fighting for the second liberation while the others went to bed with the oppressive regime, his mysterious was-he-or-wasn’t-he the main planner of the 1982 coup de tat, his equally mysterious turn around that Uhuru and Ruto should be allowed to vie for the presidency. Some of the tut-tutters are upset at any suggestion that this election is about the reformists versus the non-reformists. Others decry the personalization of the reform agenda: why can’t we just discuss change?

The new constitutional dispensation has put Kenya on the reform path, the country has gone from being dictatorial to being democratic; meanwhile, the new constitutional dispensation seeks to define the kind of leadership Kenyans can expect,  but not enough to offset the dark forces of impunity who are pro-statuesquo. As a nation, Kenya still needs a lot of reforms to see the changes we expect, thus we need a leader who is best suited to fully implement the constitution and safeguard reforms.

The bottom line in all this is that the G7 are firing blanks with their tut-tutting that the reform is a past thing and change is the in-thing to ensure transformation. If they decide to focus only on change!, what they’re basically doing is giving a cold shoulder to a myriad of issues bedeviling this country..

To put it nicely, “the G7 has an unloaded water pistol pointed at Raila’s head.” Actually, it’s even better: The G7 can, if it chooses, fire more shots at Raila’s reform agenda — but it’s a hot day, and he would actually enjoy it.

The fact that the G7 has had to go down into the mud to portray reform as a past thing and not needed now is a sad comment on the nature of politics. The G7 politicians are probably sincere about their calling to ‘the house on the hill’, but their  alignment  in the way of tribal alliances masquerading as political parties with the aim of stopping a reformist, points to extremities within the alliance, thus producing a Frankenstein of contradictions on their ambiguous ‘change!’ message . In a better day, Kenyans wouldn’t be treated to the theatre of absurdity; we would hear intelligent discourse from both sides and vote in the best interests of the country.

So as I said, this election is, in substantive terms, about the reformists versus the rest, and it would be doing voters a disservice to pretend otherwise.

According to a book by one of my favorite authors; Liberty and Tyranny by Mark Levin, “change is a manifest marked distinction which ill men with ill designs, or weak men incapable of any designs, will constantly be embracing. It alters the substance of the objects themselves and gets rid of all their essential good whilst reform is a direct application of a remedy to the grievance complained of….”

The Kenyan people are hungrier for reformation not change. Whoever has a ‘real-loaded’ pistol will feed them and get their votes. The G7 should think about their capability of doing the former. They should take my advice; ditch the unloaded ‘water pistol’ and go get a loaded ‘pistol’, better than Mr. Odinga’s. The ball is in their court, the prerogative is theirs to let it gather no moss.

 Bam! Bam! Bam! It should fire!