Freedom Has Never Been Free – But at What Price?

By Dorcas Sarkozy

I am struggling with the impending “swearing-in” of Raila Odinga as the “People’s President” scheduled for next week December 12.

Struggling because #UhuruKenyattaisNOTmypresident – nor of the 66% who rejected the sham “re-election”. He was, however, “sworn” in as part of the Kabuki Theater that has been the Kenyan presidency – since independence.

Struggling because the Constitution does NOT have a provision for the swearing-in of a “People’s President”.

Struggling because lives, mostly Luo, Luhya and opposition lives, have been lost; this even as Jubilants and members of the duopoly cheer on and offer justification for and rationalization of extra-judicial killings and desecration of the civil and human rights of those who hold different socio-political and economic views with them.

Make no mistake about:

I am fully committed to the principals that RAO and NASA stand for. Said party platform and individuals, the latter as imperfect as they are, are far more inclusive, more altruistic and dare I say less morally and ethically bankrupt than Jubilee and Jubilants are.

A comment by Al Franken, the US Senator from Minnesota who announced his resignation this morning over allegations of sexual impropriety, captures the satire of Kenya’s current zeitgeist. The former comedian ruefully offered the question:

Isn’t it ironic that people who have done absolutely nothing to create the democratic space Kenya is now enjoying are the same ones using/manipulating said space to abrogate the democratic rights of those who fought for said rights?

On the other hand, how does one reconcile the frustrations, indeed anger, wrought on by said irony with the need for a Kenya that respects the very institutions now being manipulated by Uhuru Kenyatta, Githu Muigai and the cabal around them?

Maybe it is the pacifist in me not to mention the fact that I still have family and loved ones in that God-forsaken cesspool that tempers my desire to support power by any means necessary.

Maybe it is this conundrum – of the desire to act within the confines of established but malleable institutional mechanisms – that I am sure the former crimes-against-humanity suspects, one with links to the murderous Mungiki, (as written by Peter Kuguru in his book “Trailblazer: Breaking Through in Kenya”) are only too happy to seize and take advantage of – to maintain their hold on power.

Jubilants have certainly internalized that construct of power through the barrel of a gun – because that’s all they have, a sense of “accomplishment” within the borders of their creation: one of the world’s most corrupt country, led by two former CAH suspects protected by the 3rd most incompetent and corrupt law enforcement apparatus IN THE WORLD.

I think the world can now conclude with confidence that the west – US, UK, EU – and the various organizations – AU, EU, UN – have zero moral grounds to tell Raila, 66% of Kenya and Africa how to conduct their affairs. The same paradigm that gave the world Donald Trump and the xenophobic wave now sweeping western Europe should not be lecturing Raila on the basics of “good governance” and upholding the Constitution, certainly not Donald Trump given his travails with Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller.

Similarly, Attorney General Githu Muigai who doesn’t seem to understand that he is NOT Uhuru Kenyatta’s personal/family lawyer or the basics of conflict of interest and the corollary – recusal from a case – should be the last person lecturing anyone on the basics of fidelity to the law.

Maybe all I am left with my moral rectitude and sense of right and wrong. That the one thing I will neither countenance nor support is acceptance/embrace of what has repeatedly been shown to be fake olive branches of peace by this government, by Uhuru Kenyatta.

I would rather live in squalor with my pride and integrity intact than accept ill-gotten handouts from suspect former criminals.

The foregoing – flipping off the west and Githu Muigai – notwithstanding, I am struggling because I fully realize that freedom has never been free – but at what price?