Heed Mutunga’s Warning, Uprising is Beckoning!

By Eric Simatwa

The shape of the political rivalry in the country is getting ugly with time.

It should be clear that, whenever a party to a conflict gives an ultimatum to the counterpart, any emotionally intelligent citizen should sense a brink of clash unless either side withdraws under unique influences.

In our context, things are even worse.

Unlike the previous electoral contestations, where there was evidently a justle between the declared winner and the loser with no existing immediate catalyst, this post-election conflict finds the country at its lowest economic level.

The public is lamenting and wailing over the high cost of living with no convincing plan in place to hopefully normalize things. The situation the opposition seems to ride on.

At the moment, both sides of the divide are deeply clouded by jilt and pride that no faction can initiate a dialogue.

It’s a matter of watching to see who blinks first!

The worry is that with the current 14-day ultimatum by the opposition, the government’s ego may stiffen, and it may stay put on taxes for fear of appearing to yield to the opposition’s demands.

However, the government should realize that post-election conflicts are not new or peculiar to the Kenya Kwanza administration and stop taking them personally.

Only then can it seek to objectively address the underlying issues that provoke a standoff after every election.

It’s also time the government bites the bullet and admits that there are underlying historical issues in this country:

Unfair distribution of national resources, history of social injustices meted out to some communities in the past, lack of inclusivity in government appointments, and tribalism, to name just a few vices that trigger post-election conflicts every electoral cycle.

Unless we acknowledge these historical challenges, the government will treat these anti-government forums as personal and miss an opportunity to address the underlying issues objectively, perhaps once and for all, not just for us but also for generations to come.

It’s also a common practice in most jurisdictions around the world—as our “truthful” deputy president let it out—for governments to reward party loyalists and trade with their campaign financiers.

And this is what really complicates running the government to meet the expectations of the objective observers, but as things stand, if the country must be kept afloat, the government must compromise with the interest groups and put Kenya first.

Otherwise, with the majority of hungry Kenyans troubled by the high cost of living, the caution by former Chief Justice Emeritus Willy Mutunga in a tweet some days ago that Kenya is staring at a looming revolution should be taken seriously.

Unfortunately, in such an eventuality, the nation’s destiny may not leave either faction smiling.

It’s therefore a hope that eminence shall embody some personalities to prevail over these worrying parties to dialogue before our country goes south.

Eric Simatwa, Good governance advocate,