IT’S DARKNESS AT NOON IN KENYA – AND IT WILL GET WORSE
By BARRACK MULUKA
A lot of stuff that is happening now should be seen within the context of the state trying to create an atmosphere of fear ahead of the repeat presidential poll. When you hear Jubilee vice chairman David Murathe say after the poll President Uhuru Kenyatta is going to be more brutal, ruthless and lethal, that is just the curtain raiser.
We are seeing the police killings, some people have been choreographed to say that NASA flagbearer Raila Odinga and his running mate should be taken to the ICC, police raids on citizens like Jimmy Wanjigi – all these things are curtain raisers to people being intimidated. What is going to happen is despite the protests by the opposition, the IEBC and Jubilee who are essentially on two sides of the same coin will treat Kenyans to some kind of election and Uhuru will be declared the winner. Thereafter, it will be a total clampdown on any dissenting voice and anybody who seems to be even remotely associated with sponsoring NASA.
We are actually seeing darkness at midday in Kenya. The culture of intimidation has come back and it is going to be on the rise. Kenyans must begin pressing up for very hard times. The opposition is not just going to stop because Uhuru has been declared President and inaugurated. It is not going to matter that the European Union has apparently given the IEBC the thumps up, the protests will also increase. The business community that is complaining had better talk to Uhuru and Jubilee and the IEBC – because it is going to be impossible for the opposition to live through another five years of a Presidency that has ascended to power in a controversial manner.
People like the EU are part of the Kenyan problem because they have closed their eyes to what is happening – such as the raids on Wanjigi’s homes and arrest orders for NASA chief executive officer Norman Magaya. The EU, the Diplomatic Corps and faith-based community have closed their eyes. In their own naïve way, they imagine that after the IEBC controversially declares Uhuru the President-elect, then normalcy will return and go back to business.
Unfortunately, this will not happen because the agitation for a free, fair and credible election will come io a crescendo. Anyone disillusioned that this kind of clampdown will shut up citizens is actually completely deceiving himself.
The writer is a political analyst
