KWENU: Our Culture, Our Future

Rising sons of Kenya

M.O. Ené

New Jersey USA

egbedaa@aol.com

September 9, 2002

PREAMBLE

Politics has not given Nigerians cause to cheer lately. It is sometimes better to steer clear of its pathetic pestering path and watch people who won’t learn get it all wrong… again. But politics is the second-nature of many Nigerians. They enjoy it. They talk about it. And they practice it. So, any writer who wants to sit on the fence and play the four feathered friends -- hearing nothing, seeing nothing, saying nothing, and doing nothing -- must find something else to do, but not veterans like us. So let’s look at the softer side of it.

Ever wondered where the sons and daughters of Nigeria’s big guns end up; or, rather, how they fare in attempts to fill the humongous shoes of their prominent parents? I had given it a transitory thought, but there wasn’t much ‘kindred spirit’ to arrest my mind's eye; however, there is a certain pattern: none has risen above the parent. Two prominent exceptions, Generals Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu and Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, made it big but outside their folk’s path of business and politics respectively. This confirms the Igbo proverb that a son should not attempt to lift his father off the ground, otherwise, the old man’s sacred scrotum would wow him. In any case, this is usually applicable to those whose parents truly achieved and reigned almost larger than life itself: Take the thought to Azikiwe, Balewa, Bello, Awolowo, Okpara, Akintola, Ibiam, Osadebe, Kashim Ibrahim, etc. You will soon discover that these great men left special-size shoes.

PROMINENT PARENTHOOD

We can dish out a few specifics. Not many Nigerians know that Chukwemeka Azikiwe’s rose to become an ambassador. It was only when Mrs. Faderera Abeke Akintola died recently that we learnt there is an Ambassador Abayomi Akintola. As much as great men like to shield their family from the idiocy of some lowlife political opponents, I doubt that they purposely keep their young ones out of the scene. Not many of the offspring bother to step up to the plate. Some do. Lt. Colonel A. S. Z. Maimalari tried to follow the footsteps of his father, the debonair Brigadier Z. Maimalari (N/5) murdered on January 15, 1966; he didn’t get too far: President Olusegun Obasanjo retired him for being a military governor under General Sani Abacha. Take Greg Mbadiwe, the son of the ‘Agadagbachiliuzo’ Himself, the timber and caliber, Dr. K. O. Mbadiwe. He ran for the Imo State top job in the late 90s and was floored. Obasanjo retired him to Congo, and then brought him back to do the almost impossible: make Ndiigbo of the Southeast vote for him again en masse.

Talking of Obasanjo, the man has taken it upon himself to project the sons and daughters of ex-this-ex-that. Is he alone in this obvious act of political partiality? We know that President Shagari picked John Nwodo, Jr. -- whose father was a former minister -- but it was not really due to that factor; I believe matrimonial linkage played a bigger role. We know that the military men have bent over backwards to accommodate these “ajebota” (uptown) boys and girls. Yet, no one has done more, at least not so openly, to revisit the feathers of the fathers… or the milk of mothers. Are you thinking what I think you are thinking?

PAYBACK

Let not your thoughts go to “poor” Mohammed Abacha, soon to be governor of Kano... insha Allah; no, that’s a different kettle of fish. We are talking of rewards here. Starting marginally with Dr (Mrs.) Kema Chikwe, nee Ejiogu, Obasanjo opened up like a man on a mission. I say “marginally” because Kema’s father was NOT a politician; he was a prominent and respected educationist. We cannot say the same for Mrs. Modupe Adelaja, nee Adesanya. ’Dupe’s dad is a prominent politician and the sociopolitical leader of the Yoruba nation, which had rejected Obasanjo at the polls. Then we have a Murtala Muhammad with the First Lady. To “advise” the president or his ministers, we have the Okigbo, Saraki, Shagari, nee Ekwueme, nee Okotie-Eboh, and whomever you can further recall.

Nigerians are not worried by such appointments. As long as these people do their work, it is all good. However, it is unlikely though that those who got jobs based on who they are, rather than what they are, would serve the nation well. That’s another story. Whatever, once one steps out to be elected, people check them out much more closely, especially in the south. Some get through though: Mrs. Omolola Abiola-Edewor (Lagos: Apapa, AD) is a good example. Then again, who wouldn’t want to “reward” the Abiola family in 1999 and in Action for Democracy (AD)? Haba! Come on, fair is fair. In 2003, I bet people will base their decision more on merit… more on what she is rather what who she is.

GO EAST, YOUNGMAN!

But enough about Nigeria; one day, someone should sit back and revisit the issue thoroughly. I am sure other countries have their peculiarities too. For example, Nigerians would not have elected a Bush soon after his father. He wouldn’t even make it through the party primaries. Another Kabila would not have succeeded his father in Nigeria. I wonder why, but that’s for another day. Now let’s look eastwards where the fight to replace Moi is heating up.

Kenya has had two leaders since independence from Britain in 1963, thanks to the mostly one-party system of early years. The people cannot wait for Mr. Daniel arap Moi to pack his bag of imperial-presidency tricks and retire quietly to some plantation in the Rift Valley. The man has agreed to go after 25 long years, but he won’t go quietly. He wants to make sure he has a direct hotline to the presidential mansion in Nairobi. He wants to make sure he will remain relevant until he is here no more. Left alone and as is typical of many African dictators, he would want to die in office. And he might just get it, if he insists on sowing wind and reaping hurricane at this fall of his long political career.

PRESIDENTIAL PRETENDERS

There are about nine serious contenders for the top job, but the ruling party, KANU, is sure to retain it. The opposition parties have failed over the years to present a united front; and, in their disunity, they failed to remove Moi until he could go on no more. The most likely successor appeared to be Vice President George Saitoti. In Moi’s book, that won’t fly; he wanted the son of the man he replaced to succeed him! Uhuru Kenyatta, son of the legendary Jomo Kenyatta and father of the nation, is all but set to replace Moi, not because of his political pedigree but because of his prominent parent. Period!

This move by Moi has every Kenyan talking. It is indeed something worth talking about, especially with two other sons of prominent political parents in the race for KANU’s nomination. It is not a sad commentary on Kenya’s politics that three famous sons are slugging it out like everyone else; it is unfortunate that the President is bulldozing in Uhuru regardless of experience and or popularity.

UHURU NO MORE

Mr. Uhuru Kenyatta has no political power base to write home about, except that his father was Kenya's first president. At 42, the reportedly beer-guzzling and chain-smoking young man rose from failed parliamentary election to become the ruling party’s vice chairman and minister of local government. And now he is heir apparent to the mercurial Moi. Another thing working for him is that he is of the Kikuyu nation, which reaped enormous benefits under Jomo Kenyatta. As in Nigeria when a politician from another ethnic group is in power, the Kikuyi feel marginalized under Moi. So it stands to reason that they would rather go with their own than have another nationality lord it over them for years to come. With Moi's Rift Valley, North Eastern, Coast, and Eastern provinces rooting for Uhuru, the political novice looks set to fill the shoes of his old man.

A more politically correct candidate would be Raila Odinga, another son of a prominent politician, Oginga Odinga -- Kenya's first vice president under Jomo Kenyatta. Raila is the ruling party’s secretary general and energy minister. He was reportedly the frontrunner until Moi decided to pluck Uhuru from political Dead Sea and hoist him on political Kilimanjero. At 57 and unlike Uhuru, Raila has political credentials of his own. He has worked the opposition beat, and he has been to jail for his activism, before he took his opposition party into a merger with KANU. If push comes to shove with original KANU faithful, he might move out and face Uhuru before the entire country, where his uncircumcised status would become an issue worth talking about! The support from his Luo nation, the third biggest ethnic group in Kenya, cannot secure him the top job.

The third rising son is Musalia Mudavadi, KANU’s vice president and transport minister. He is the son of famous Minister Moses Mudavadi, who served in Moi's government. Of the Luhya nation, the second largest in Kenya, he has not carved his political teeth on anything anyone can remember. Like Uhuru, he is more of his father’s son; but, unlike Uhuru, he had some political credentials to parade. Musalia is not taken seriously in many circles, but politics is a conflict of constant conspiracies. Anything is possible in politics, so it wouldn’t hurt for the young man to bid his time and stay relevant in the scheme of things.

It is politically unfair for Moi to abandon his VP George Saitoti, a professor of mathematics; it is grossly sad that he unceremoniously fired the man on 30 August “for disloyalty” after 13 years of playing second fiddle. But Saitoti has no political power base; no one is even sure of his ethnicity: he claims to be Masai; opponents say he is Kikuyu! In Africa, where politics is an ethnic game of raw numbers, Saitoti could be better off on campus. It is therefore most likely that KANU could decide to go with Moi and endorse Uhuru for the heck of it.

OPPOSITION

Other candidates in the race include Mwai Kibaki, Kijana Wamalwa, Charity Ngilu, the only woman in the race, and Simeon Nyachae. If KANU keeps Uhuru and steps out with him, any chance of stopping him at the polls will depend on the six opposition parties coming together. As in Nigeria, unless they form an alliance and present a single candidate, KANU’s candidate will carry the day. So far, their best bet is golf-loving Kibaki of the Democratic Party. A former vice president under Moi and a finance minister under Jomo Kenyatta, he is the most prominent Kikuyu political leader. At 72, he is of the old brigade, but he could split the Kikuyi vote with Uhuru, and it would then be up to the other ethnic nations to decide.

So, if Uhuru secures KANU’s nomination, he could pick Raila Odinga for VP, to lock up the Luo vote and also prevent Odinga from de-merging and joining the opposition. He could also go for numbers and pick Minister Musalia Mudavadi to secure the votes of the Luhya nation. Either way, the sons of prominent Kenyan politicians would be back on the saddle of their old folk.

CONCLUSION

President arap Moi has the right to influence the selection of his successor within the party, but he should not interfere with the right of Kenyans to choose their next leader. He should not impose Uhuru Kenyatta to “repay” his father. If the rising son must become the chosen or risen son, he should contest in an open democratic election with other bone fide members of the ruling party. If he becomes the flag-bearer of KANU through due process, he should step out there and face the opposition. Anything short of this would set back democracy in one of Africa’s progressive societies.

Whether Uhuru wins or loses, it is not yet uhuru. Any system that sustains the likes of Moi and Mugabe for decades is overdue for reevaluation and revision. Otherwise, it will continue to throw up undeserving leaders. Capable or not, the point is that political playing fields must be leveled for the best to emerge.

Everything else is embellishment.