Of Watergate Politics, Machiavellianism and Outright Dictatorship

This weekend, we were treated to some very embarrassing revelations about politicians spying on others. Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka is apparently being stalked by Prime Minister Raila Odinga. The man being used in this game is billionaire legislator and drug-dealer, John Haroun Mwau. The game involves paying individuals working for the Vice President and his surrogate, Hon Mutula Kilonzo to leak political secrets to the prime Minister’s side.

This is not the first time this is happening. Last year, the Odinga campaign employed the same dirty tricks against Kalonzo. They hacked his campaign website and redirected all traffic to their own. They even went ahead to attack his foundation’s website after breaking into the physical offices and making away with computers.

Some people within the Odinga camp will argue that this trickery is within the permissible radius of political hard- tackling. The truth, however, is that this is sheer corruption. Someone who aspires to be President should understand the need for upholding not just integrity in the conduct of his political life, but also the appearance of the same. This kind of politics is no different from the Watergate shenanigans that led to the impeachment of President Richard Nixon. It is neo-Watergate politics at play.

When Hon Raila and his people descend to this level of despondence in their pursuit of power, the question that comes to mind is: What do they want to do with the power? Why should we not be apprehensive of the ODM ringleader when his modus operandi is defined by such archaism?

It is this apprehension that has led colleagues of Raila Odinga’s to publicly question the motives behind this runaway Machiavellianism;

PNU nominated Member of Parliament and Ford Kenya chairman, Musikari Kombo, last year warned Kenyans of an individual he called One Dangerous Man. This was not something out of the blues. We had been severally warned before of how we should never let some people come close to power for the obvious reason that they may never know what to do with that power besides abusing it.

Cyrus Jirongo was more blunt; “Raila is confused….and it goes to show these ODM people should never be allowed to come close to state power.”

ODM presidential running mate, Musalia Mudavadi, on his part warned of the reincarnation of Idd Amin Dada. This was after he was subjected to some strong-arm tactics which he eventually succumbed to and agreed to live in political submission.

It is easy to dismiss some of these sentiments as the usual political rhetoric, but since Raila Odinga has found his way to some executive power of sorts, it would be proper for us to highlight some glaring examples of abuse of power;

After the formation of the Grand Coalition Government, some Members of Parliament started a crusade seeking to be allowed to form an opposition caucus in Parliament. Prime Minister Raila was opposed to this move. To be fair to him, his fellow party leaders, President Kibaki and Vice President Kalonzo were similarly opposed. But the distinction was how each voiced his opposition.

While Kibaki urged MPs not to grumble for not being appointed ministers because they could ‘become ministers tomorrow’, Kalonzo hinged his argument on the need to preserve and protect the new-found cohesion in Parliament. Raila on the hand, told his party MPs that such a move would ‘deny him a majority in Parliament’ (And he repeated this in Kitale yesterday); a majority he would seriously need to sabotage government projects in the event things do not go as per plan.

But it did not stop there. He went on to remind them that they could lose their seats if they attempted to regroup themselves as an opposition outfit. That was a shameful threat especially when you consider that he had used the same MPs to install what he considered to be a user-friendly Speaker. In the name of fairness, why should Members of Parliament be threatened by an individual who has changed political parties more times than anybody else in Kenya? Do we need to remind anyone that he himself had been elected on a Narc ticket in 2002 before forming an LDP opposition within government? This LDP ‘wing of government’ went on to be converted to ODMK and then ODM. I don’t recall him seeking a fresh mandate in between these defections. Where he got the moral authority to lecture people on these matters, I do not know.

The Prime Minister a couple of weeks ago kicked off a campaign to have judicial officers sign the kind of performance contracts civil servants sign. This is another classical case of dictatorship. Everybody understands that there should be a clear separation of power among the three arms of government. The executive’s attempt to lord it over the judiciary is quite frankly, draconian. It is an expedient attempt to pack the judiciary with puppet officers. In the same way Members of Parliament cannot be answerable to the executive, the judiciary shouldn’t.

While supporters of the ODM will always be quick to defend their party leader (It is typical of the haphazard way the ODM conducts its politics), the objective mind will acknowledge that he has often times acted in improper fashion.