Cabral Pinto
3 October 2008
column
Nairobi — Prime Minister Raila Odinga is a sports fan, so I am sure this analogy will appeal to him.
Marathon runners like Haile Gelabrasse of Ethiopia stay with the pack for long before breaking away to the finish line, while others, such as our own Wanjiru, the reigning Olympic champion, lead from the start to the finish. Either strategy will bring about either victory or defeat.
Politically, Mr Odinga has combined both tactics of running a successful marathon. But the race is not over yet. If he has any political sense now is the time for him to break away from the political crowd and be a Jaramogi, a Nyerere or a Mandela.
The PM realises that he has already built a national following that is multiracial and multi ethnic and which calls for change. Opinion polls suggest that he is thought highly of by Kenyans, who seem to admire his innovativeness, drive and inexhaustible political energy.
He seems to be everywhere the people need him, and he publicly declares that he is a social democrat. If this is a genuine commitment, it means that he embraces the whole philosophy and ideology of human rights and social justice, the mitigation of capitalism and neo-liberalism as we know them and the undertaking by the State of pro-people reforms in which it (State) remains a great engine of social advancement.
This social democratic vision is for the world's future, what with the financial meltdown currently bedevilling the capitalist countries. The world has to reflect on the lessons from other crises and the wisdom behind social democracy in the short-term.
Mr Odinga may now start implementing what Medical Services minister Anyang' Nyong'o has proposed as the road map for making Kenya a second-world country in the 21st century. It is important to realise that, in Kenya's case, social democracy is the Achilles' heel of ethnic, racial, regional and other divisive politics.
Pegged on the ideology of social democracy is the nurturing of politics of issues that has yet to take root in the country. In politics of issues one builds a broad constituency that dents divisive politics.
The PM faces monumental challenges. He seems to be enslaved by ethnic, regional and other sectarian politics, which constantly threatens to derail his victory in the political marathon.
How does he explain his principled stand on the Mau forest and his inability to expose grabbers of that land? In the Mau issue the national interest is clear. Why can't he part company with the grabbers and mobilise Kenyans against them and save the nation from a great catastrophe?
At Kakamega's Muliro Gardens a week ago, Mr Odinga spearheaded a political chorus for the winner-take-all style of politics that has resulted in divisiveness, continuous instability and violent conflict.
One would have thought that, as an architect and engineer of the grand coalition, the ODM leader would glorify the politics of coalition and inclusiveness. It is easy to see why a united front of Luos, Luhyas and Kalenjins will carry the day in any election, but is this what Kenya needs? Is it not clear to our politicians that the politics of winner-take-all have been rejected by Kenyans since 2002 if not earlier?
If a new constitution is to herald peace and security and create a nation out of the current situation, then it must restructure a Kenyan State that is developmental and one that shares resources equitably among all regions.
ODM has been right in supporting the principle of power and resources devolution, but we do not hear from the PM his views on the issue. We do not know how he will spearhead equitable distribution of resources. Kenya needs to accept that autonomous local governments, which have resources and are independent, are critical to devolution.
Kenya also needs to have another chamber of Parliament in which leaders of these councils can convene four times a year, debate the sharing of the resources with the central government and proceed to equitably share them among themselves.
The Government will not de-marginalise northern Kenya and other areas without devolution of political power and economic resources.
There seems to be a national consensus on alleviating the plight of the Kenyan youth. Mr Odinga's performance at the recent National Youth Convention failed to articulate his views on this critical issue.
He did not even revisit his 2002 vision of employing the youth in rural areas to build roads. He dwelt on youth participation in governance and politics, but the youth need jobs more than anything else.
These few examples touch on issues of nationhood, restructuring the State as well as economic and social reforms that will make the nation secure and enable it to begin a break with the dark past. Mr Odinga can be a Nyerere by making Kenya a nation.
He can be a Mandela by creating a human rights and social justice State that pursues social democratic reforms, notwithstanding their limitations.
Yes, he can be a Jaramogi, the father figure of the Kenyan left, by embracing radical social democracy that addresses the limitations of social democracy itself while embracing other liberating paradigms.
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