Past thinkers have conceived of scarcity in a wide variety of ways. One of the concepts is that scarcity changes the value and leads to new market conditions. Coalition for Reform and Democracy co-principal and ODM leader Raila Odinga is undoubtedly a fervent politician who understands the political application of the scarcity principle. He is back from his sojourn in the US where he had gone for reasons best articulated in the various speeches he has delivered since his return. He is hoping the trip that made him scarce on the Kenyan political marketplace, has injected some fresh impetus in his otherwise withering political influence and nosediving political career. As he travelled back, Kenyans chose to engage him with a largely humorous tweeter hash tag, which accidentally hyped up his homecoming. Cord politicians burned the midnight oil to buttress his ‘homecoming value’ by ferrying supporters from their strongholds to Nairobi to make big his rally. In their address, Raila and co-principal Kalonzo Musyoka folded their shirt sleeves ready for a political tussle. They announced demand for a national dialogue, which out of their ambiguity, was understood by all and sundry that they were proposing a government of national unity. Raila released two statements the following day clarifying their vagueness. The 60-day ultimatum and a call for action on the famous Saba Saba day if the President would not have convened preparatory talks between Jubilee and Cord to agree on the agenda and timetable for the national dialogue was a shrewd gambit to sustain the Raila comeback momentum. By accepting to dialogue on day one, President Uhuru Kenyatta instantly deflated that momentum. More interesting was seeing both Kalonzo and Senator Moses Wetang’ula, refer to Saba Saba approvingly. At the time Saba Saba was Kenyans most popular platform to push for democratic and governance reforms, Raila’s co-principals were former President Moi’s fiercest defenders even justifying politically motivated detentions. Times really change! The vagueness in the demand for national dialogue reflects both the political intentions of those calling for it and the motivation for doing so. Cord, since losing last year’s presidential race, has fought hard, often applying unorthodox means, to stay afloat. Raila referred to the Judiciary “Mahakama Bandia” (fake courts) in attempt to keep alive his claims of stolen victory after the Supreme Court dismissed his presidential poll petition. He was aptly reprimanded by Chief Justice Willy Mutunga. Raila took to a political podium in Kisumu and made reckless claims the security agencies influenced the election outcome in favour of Uhuru. He followed it up with demands for State invitation to official functions for commissioning or launching of major infrastructural development projects as a way of appreciating his supposed contribution while serving as Roads and Public Works minister and later Premier. The former PM continues to castigate the electoral commission demanding its commissioners be removed from office on grounds he is yet to officially table. By the time he was leaving for the US, he had miserably flopped in his attempts to re-energise ODM through elections. All these demands, including the call for national dialogue, are shrewd schemes to ensure Raila’s relevance and sustained momentum on the political scene. It is not the first time he is doing it. He did it after the 1997 elections when he cut deals to merge Kanu and his defunct NDP. He repeated the same scheme in 2007 to share power with former President Kibaki following the disputed elections. Kalonzo is equally a master of these shrewd schemes with his ‘Kupita kati kati yao’ mantra. As a matter of fact, Kalonzo’s call for an “all-inclusive government” was not quoted out of context because he is usually very coherent in his speech. He is missing government largesse that he is so used to since the start of his political career in 1985. In his close to 30 years political life, he is one of the very few politicians to have been on the Opposition benches for less than five years. He would not pass an opportunity to be in government. For a moment, let us consider Cord’s call for national dialogue as genuine before we focus on the issues they propose to form part of the agenda. National dialogues are negotiating mechanisms intended to expand participation in political transitions beyond the political and military elites. Their ambition is to move away from elite level deal-making by allowing diverse interests to influence the transitional negotiations. Kenya is not undergoing any transition because a legitimate government and Constitution are in place. So the kind of national dialogue that Uhuru government welcomes is that of building enough trust and deliberating on the process through which the country might resolve some of its most contentious problems0. The idea of negotiating among a narrow set of elites without expanding participation to a wider set of political actors cannot be entertained. In general, the envisaged national dialogue must be from a clear, manageable mandate, with a consensus on its powers, how it will relate to existing institutions and how to implement the concrete outputs. Cord raised five issues which clearly constitute major concerns to all Kenyans. The President has not welcomed national dialogue because the government has failed to address them as Cord leadership may wish Kenyans to believe. In regard to high cost of living, the government is taking all possible measures to ensure Kenyans get basic necessities at affordable prices. National Treasury Cabinet secretary Henry Rotich is set to re-introduce in Parliament the VAT Bill, which could reduce the price of basic commodities. Jubilee MPs have been supportive of the VAT (Amendment) Bill by Cord-allied MP John Mbadi, which seeks to reduce the cost of living by exempting more basic goods from taxation. The question of security mainly revolves around terrorism—a new threat in and out of the country with immense effects to sectors of the economy. Underfunding of the security sector remains a key challenge to enhancing the country’s security. Most Cord leaders were senior State officials in the past regimes which fomented the current challenges Uhuru seeks to address through increased budgetary allocations to security agencies to counter terrorism. The government has also worked tirelessly to safeguard devolution by supporting development of sufficient structures at the county level and budgetary allocations to ensure service delivery. The Presidency has kept an open-door policy and promoted dialogue with governors to address challenges as they arise. In the period Jubilee has been in charge, issues around corruption are openly addressed. For instance, the question surrounding the standard gauge railway has been addressed by parliamentary committees. On the flip side, Jubilee has been forced to deal with the Anglo Leasing scandal whose major players were in the previous government and now in the Opposition. Finally, on IEBC, Cord should be ready to follow the right procedure in the same fashion the defunct ECK was handled. Raila and his Cord fraternity shall not use the national dialogue to re-brand and sustain momentum. He is better off trying his lack by applying the scarcity principal.
Posted on: Thu, 05 Jun 2014 16:26:36 +0000
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