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Kenya: Give Lang'ata Some Spruce Up for Missing the Lakeside Feast
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The Nation (Nairobi)
OPINION
13 May 2008
Posted to the web 13 May 2008
Macharia Gaitho
Nairobi
I DON'T KNOW WHEN THIS "homecoming" business entered Kenya political culture. I don't recall seeing much of such events before 2003. Anyway, it has now become de rigueur for a politician, on winning a Parliamentary seat or securing a Cabinet position or other high office, to ride back "home" in triumph.
The more cows, bulls, goats, chicken and other animal are sacrificed for the homecoming feast, the more important that politician is.
That is why I have been waiting for my MP, to celebrate the fifth time he has been elected - and more importantly this time elevation to the high office of Prime Minister - to bring a feast my way.
Instead, the only man in Kenya who goes by the appellation Right Hon. chose to throw his bash hundreds of kilometres away in the region that the Kenyan lexicon would define as his ancestral home.
Now, I do not begrudge the people of Kisumu and Bondo the opportunity to eat, drink and make merry. But as residents and voters in Lang'ata constituency, I am part of a group that surely should have first claim to any drinks and bitings Prime Minister Raila Odinga throws in the direction of his constituents.
Or maybe we delude ourselves? By taking his homecoming to Bondo and Kisumu, Mr Odinga has revealed where his real constituency lies.
He may have been MP for Lang'ata constituency in Nairobi since 1992 and is now undoubtedly the longest serving MP in the capital city, but like every other Nairobian, the city for Mr Odinga is just an abode, a place of temporary sojourn. Ultimately, it is "home home" or shags that really matters, and it is the bastion of an ethnic region that provides the most valuable constituency.
One will easily recall that in the run-up to last year's elections, there were suggestions that Mr Odinga should avoid the potential pitfalls of Nairobi's transient politics by going back home to secure a "safe" seat in either Kisumu or Bondo.
Mr Odinga firmly rejected the suggestion, and of course has always pointed to the fact that he represents a cosmopolitan urban constituency, to debunk accusations that he is an ethnic leader.
It is not strange for Nairobi politicians of long-standing to retreat to some rural area when the fickle politics of the city become too hazardous.
The most famous exile in such terms is, of course, President Kibaki, who represented Donholm-Bahati constituency in Nairobi from independence, until the 1969 elections when he was given a mighty fright by Mrs Jael Mbogo. At the next election, he moved to his village in Othaya where he has been easily re-elected every election since.
THE SUGGESTIONS THAT MR ODINga move out Nairobi were based on real concerns that any politician can be vulnerable in a city where there are no real loyalties and where the voters are perpetually shifting.
Indeed, President Kibaki's campaign team was banking very much on making life difficult for Mr Odinga in Lang'ata and possibly scuttling his presidential bid at the parliamentary constituency level.
Mr Odinga preferred to fight from his established base, so in Lang'ata he remained and in Lang'ata he was re-elected to Parliament. Without a solid constituency base, Mr Odinga would not have managed to put up such a formidable presidential campaign.
Even though he missed the prize narrowly after a very suspicious count by the Electoral Commission, the post of Prime Minister in the power-sharing arrangement was just compensation.
And, therefore, there was cause for the mother of all homecoming bashes. We, the people of Lang'ata, waited with anticipation for the coming banquet, only to be condemned to salivating as we watched on TV our party taken elsewhere.
We trust that Mr Odinga will make good, even if we now know we occupy second place in his estimation.
Maybe he can make amends by, instead of a mere feast, doing something much more meaningful for his constituents. Parts of Lang'ata are in a terrible state. Kibera, the giant slum that seems to have become a tourist attraction, gets all the attention, but we could do with some intervention in Nairobi West, a thriving commercial centre, which seems to have fallen off the Nairobi City Council map and the Lang'ata Constituency Development Fund radar.
What used to be tarmac roads are now lunar surfaces that have not seen the slightest repair and maintenance in two decades. Burst water pipes and exploding sewers are the order of the day, and a shopping centre important enough to attract the likes of Barclays Bank and Uchumi Supermarkets is being run by a proliferation on unregulated activities even as council askaris brazely go about levying parking fees on area motorists.
I hope Mr Prime Minister is listening. But then, I should not expect too much because I have fulminated in the past from this very column about one of the disgraces of Kenyan politics: Voters expecting that having a President, Prime Minister or Vice-President from their area means goodies diverted their way.
Prime Minister or no Prime Minister, however, the area around Mini Pub, which attracts some distinguished clientele, could surely do with a bit of work. Oh, and while the repaving is in progress, perhaps the Postal Corporation of Kenya could do something about "Food Court" it owns at the shopping centre.
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The place is a disgrace that somehow escapes the eyes of City Council health inspectors.
This is the most sober comment from a die-hard supporter of Raila. "Even though he missed..”I am not your admirer because of hitting at Kibaki, too hard to provoke the ire of the first lady. The PM has to change his stance of Majimbo. You witnessed the violence in Rift. He got votes there and many other parts of Kenya out of Central and Rift Valley because of evoking anti-kikuyu feelings. He wanted the locals to believe the government favored Kikuyus. You Mr Gaitho, know that they have prospered even in Central by cheer hard work; some... [Read Full Text]
This is the most sober comment from a die-hard supporter of Raila. " Even though he missed the prize narrowly after a very suspicious count by the Electoral Commission, the post of Prime Minister in the power-sharing arrangement was just compensation. ..” I am not your admirer because of hitting at Kibaki, too hard, often unnecessarily even to provoke the ire of the first lady. You still write this article with some good amount of disregard for Kibaki and show clearly Raila to be your hero, and I have no quarrel with this. All I am saying is that... [Read Full Text]
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