By Jackson Omondi via F
They say that if you lock-up a cat in a small room and try to kill it, you will end up dead. I couldn’t agree more.
A fraction of opposition members of parliament decided to express their utmost disgust with the Jubilee government’s runaway corruption and record breaking tribal architecture. But before they could register their displeasure, the vaunted tyranny of numbers came to the rescue of the government.
The opposition has consistently protested what has now become Jubilee’s modus operandi; a methodical, radical change from what used to be Kenya into a de facto two tribe state. The never ending obtuse appointments are exhibit A.
And when the public and the limping media catches on with the narrative and decides to put pressure by calling for resignations, the government’s political dispensary, also known as the anti-corruption and ethics body, takes over and ‘treats’ them in record time!
The Judiciary, by its own admission, is a pliable poodle with no teeth to bite a piece of cotton! The national security apparatus is not any better, its members are used by the government to antagonize opposition leaders for pleasure.
An opposition thus beleaguered, is left with no option but to lay in wait for the CEO of the country in a privileged sphere to make it known that all is not well. That’s why I support the actions of those courageous leaders.
To those who conveniently bash the opposition for this courageous act, a little perspective will suffice. The British Prime minister gets heckled, jeered and booed every week during the Prime minister’s question time. No member has ever been kicked out for voicing a concern or protest. When Raila was PM, rebel ODM Mps and PNU-affiliated MPs would hurl all kinds of epithets at him on a weekly basis, but the then ODM-sponsored Speaker Kenneth Marende never pulled the trigger!
Even Uncle Sam (USA), whom we dutifully xeroxed its Constitution, allows members to express their displeasure without deploying the use of force! A good example was when the Obama administration used its majority in both houses of Congress to pass the landmark ‘Obamacare’. The then minority leader John Boehner, in a moment of frustration, took to the House floor and yelled all kinds of obscenities he could find. In fact, he came to the chamber inebriated! But the Democratic leadership allowed him to vent.
Obama has been treated to his fair share of disruptions. From a congressman yelling “You lie,”to a Supreme Court Justice retorting ” that’s not true!” Nobody ever kicked them out. The presidency is an institution no doubt. But when a people run out of viable options to voice their opinions, they will wait for the head honcho to grace their occasion and then unleash their anger. You all see the protesters in rallies and presidential functions. It’s normal.
Who can forget Ababu’s coming out party in 2007, in which he dressed down “the honourable member for Othaya?” Did Kibaki castigate him? No. He later ‘appointed him Sports minister.
Those leaders didn’t burn any effigies of the President, they held anti-corruption placards and went on to blow their whistles as a way of getting the attention of a president who lives in a bubble. Did we expect them to book appointments for a meeting with the President? Tough luck in a society in which dialogue with the opposition is a taboo!
Lastly, Moi was heckled and routinely booed in the multiparty era and he didn’t do a thing. Saitoti, a sitting VP, endured a motion of no confidence and took it like a man. What was so hard for Jubilee blowhards to understand ? Ama with Jubilee, kila kitu kiligeuka ?
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