By Dorcas Sarkozy
SEVEN OF THE 48 LAWS OF POWER IN ACTION
So I singled out seven of the 48 laws of power that are reflective of Kenya and her leaders. I am sure there are more but these seven jumped at me during today’s review.
LAW #2: NEVER PUT TOO MUCH TRUST IN FRIENDS, LEARN HOW TO USE ENEMIES.
If there is a law Kenya’s commanders-in-chiefs have perfected over the years, it is this one from Robert Greene’s “The 48 Laws of Power”.
From Jomo to Moi and Kibaki and now Uhuru, these men have perfected the art of playing to their enemies’ insecurities while keeping their “friends” at arm’s length. This scenario has played out to the letter over the last twelve months – certainly shortly after the “handshake”. Uhuru’s former “brother” William Ruto is now the devil incarnate and his former enemy Raila Odinga is the man’s newest “brother”! That these two men – RAO and WSR – don’t seem to understand what UMK is doing is as aggravating as it is fascinating!
Uhuru Kenyatta is using his former enemy Raila Odinga as a counter-weight to his one-time friend William Ruto and there is little they can do about.
LAW #7: GET OTHERS TO DO THE WORK FOR YOU BUT ALWAYS TAKE THE CREDIT.
Talk about being used!
From RAO to SKM (Steven Kalonzo Musyoka) to WMM (Wycliffe Musalia Mudavadi), these men are all running around the country pushing the Huduma Namba Initiative that will ultimately feather Kenyatta’s bottom line!
Come on guys! Really?
I will give WSR credit for toeing the line and refusing to join in UMK’s chain gang!
LAW #23: CONCENTRATE YOUR FORCES
“Kumira Kumira” and the persecution complex Uhuru Kenyatta’s base have drummed up and played up illustrate this next law of power.
The rallying cry of the Kenyatta’s 2017 campaign was less about the Jubilee Ticket of Uhuru and Ruto and more about consolidating his Mt. Kenya/Central Kenya base – plain and simple – all who understood the meaning of the expression that the Rift Valley wing of the coalition either did not or did – but too late in the cooption! Dog whistles work like that. They are succinct to their intended recipients but meh to all others.
Add to the whistle, the constant whining about “being finished” or being “hated because of our wealth” and his base’s self-comparison to other groups that feel they’ve been persecuted and what emerges is a calculated effort on the man’s Mt. Kenya/Central base to gin up fear and stay united even as he seeks to peel off sections of their enemies in the classic divide-and-conquer modus operandi of wanna-be-hegemons!
LAW #23 PLAY TO PEOPLE’S FANTASIES
“Laptop for all school children”; “Electricity in all homes”; “We are a sovereign nation and will not kowtow to those foreigners”, “No more corruption”, “SGR” and the latest, “Our economy is strong!” These are fantastic proclamations that Uhuru’s base bought hook, line and sinker.
The Four Pillars boondoggle is off to a rocky start but that hasn’t stopped the man from pushing it – even if it means leaving his great-grandchildren indebted to the Chinese. At least they’ll have residuals from Brookside or Peponi or Commercial Bank of Africa to fall back on.
And for all their “hard work” and “handshake” not to mention, to keep them hooked and hoping, the man threw those who’ve been marginalized a KSh10B bag of peanuts in this year’s State of the Nation.
Classic – that for the five-plus decades of historical injustices and marginalization perpetrated by his father, mentor and godfather – mostly against the Luos, Kisiis, Kambas, Luhyas and nearly all the other 40+ tribes of Kenya who haven’t had their turn at the feeding trough – Uhuru has offered (them) KSh.10B.
That works out to approximately KSh167M for every year of marginalization, abuse, violence and outright crimes-against-humans from these groups!
I am curious to see how this handout is disbursed because not everyone has a price and eventually, those who are easily bought or co-opted feel like they did not get their “fair” share the first time around.
Greed and corruptibility works like that.
LAW #42: STRIKE THE SHEPHERD AND THE SHEEP WILL SCATTER
This is one law Kenyatta has tried to pull off – and relentlessly so – with little success.
Along with his acolytes, Kenyatta is driven in his efforts to neutralize William Ruto by saddling him with the “corrupt” mantle. It doesn’t matter that Kenyatta himself is a product of corruption; that his family has a patent on corruption.
For now, William Ruto IS the Kenyan synonym for “corruption” and “corrupt”.
Why?
Because were he, Uhuru et co, to accomplish that feat and neuter his one-time deputy, William Ruto’s base will be without a leader who owes little to the Kenyatta family AND the Moi family and that is one thing the former is absolutely terrified about.
It begs repeating: Uhuru’s biggest fear (make that his mom’s biggest fear) is having to face a group with socio-political, economic and raw power that is commensurate with his group’s – a truism pointed out by Oscar Sudi!
LAW #45: PREACH THE NEED FOR CHANGE BUT NEVER REFORM TOO MUCH AT ONCE.
We are now in the 4th or 5th iteration of Uhuru Kenyatta’s “war on graft” and at each turn some Kenyans have responded with the breathless “This time He is ‘serious’….Let’s give him a chance”
Each version of the verbalized need for Kenyans to “change” how they comport themselves and how his cabinet secretaries oversee their respective departments have come and gone and nothing has changed – in fact things have only gotten worse!
Last, but not least,
LAW #48: ASSUME FORMLESSNESS.
Q: What the hell does this man Uhuru Kenyatta stand for?
A: Absolutely nothing and unfortunately, this lack of principals and of a guiding North Star is NOT by design.
It is because he is that clueless.
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