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Kenya: Let's Promote Social Democracy

Koigi Wa Wamwere

21 October 2007

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opinion

Nairobi — In the 1962 independence elections that Kanu won, the debate centred on Majimbo. Forty-five years later, history is repeating itself for Majimbo is becoming the main issue of the 2007 elections.

So, what is Majimbo before we elect or reject its ODM proponents? Majimbo is a uniquely Kenyan term - conceived by European settlers just before independence - that is not in the Kiswahili dictionary. Majimbo does not mean federalism or shirikisho in Kiswahili, and the two words cannot be used interchangeably as the Shirikisho Party does. As coined by Kenyan settlers, Majimbo means ethnic regionalism.

Threatened with the loss of Kenya, settlers wanted to create for themselves a homeland or jimbo in the so-called White Highlands and scatter the African dream of independence. In his book Not Yet Uhuru, the late Jaramogi Oginga Odinga tells us that the first intention of Majimbo was to delay independence, and if not, carve Kenya into regions for every community, including white settlers.

Contrary to the claims by ODM, the English-Swahili dictionary does not translate devolution as Majimbo; that was never conceived to give power and resources to downtrodden Africans. Accurately, the Bomas Draft defines devolution as "Usambazaji wa Madaraka", not Majimbo.

To know what Majimbo is, read page 227 of Not Yet Uhuru. "It was no secret that the authors of Kadu's plan for regionalism were Wilfred Havelock, Michael Blundell, R.S. Alexander, and their associates? 'The details of the plan,' said The Times of London, 'were worked out by Kadu's European associates..."

Regionalism was a development of the argument by settlers in the '50s when they argued that the Westminster parliamentary model could not be adapted to Kenya because it gave too much power to the majority. "Havelock and Blundell convinced Kadu leaders that an independent Kenya with a Kikuyu and Luo majority would be fatal. They could not stop independence, they argued, but they could divide Kenya into autonomous three states - Rift Valley, the Western Region and the Coast.

"The settlers of the Rift Valley would assist the finances of the Coast and the Western Region. This plan would ensure that Jomo Kenyatta would never be Prime Minister for there need be no head of state or prime minister, but a loose system of regional councils with rotating chairmen."

Today, Mr Raila Odinga pursues Majimbo because he believes, as the settlers did, that a Kenya led by someone from Mt Kenya region would be fatal. But the ODM brigade actually tells us they want Majimbo in order to share resources equally. Majimbo is, however, not about sharing resources. It is about sharing the country.

To actualise Majimbo and share Kenya among communities, ODM will need to give all of 42 Kenyan communities a jimbo each. But these regions will not be equal in size, resources or numbers. So our Majimbo will not deliver equality to our communities. Majimbo will not only create ethnic states, it will also give every jimbo a king or governor. Majimbo is a formula of sharing power and the very glue that is uniting ODM leaders. If ODM wants Kenyans to share resources, the solution is not Majimbo but social democracy that will distribute resources to the grassroots, and more money to CDF, free education, free medical care, higher salaries and controlled prices of basic commodities.

There are things we must not play politics with because they are bigger than us. What good is winning elections if we lose Kenya? In Congo, Majimbo killed Patrice Lumumba. In Rwanda, Majimbo killed nearly a million. Colonialists conquered Africa because the continent was fragmented into defenceless ethnic regions. To strengthen Kenya, we should support the East African Federation, not fragment it into Majimbo. Wanting power is legitimate, but killing Kenya for power is not.

Mr Wamwere is the Subukia MP and assistant minister for Information

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