POLITICIANS MUST SPARE US THIS FLAGRANCY OF REASON.

In her book titled “Preaching Proverbs”, Alice M McKenzie says that “powerful paranoia is perfect sense.” The truth of her assertion hit me like a bombshell when some renegade ODM legislators in the flagrancy of reason waxed lyrical about the “Pentagon” instigating the 2008 PEV. Their rhetoric may have passed as useful idiocy but it failed to score even on that front too. Instead they only succeeded in exposing a litany of lies and sheer wackiness. In their utter desperation they thought that such antics will make the ICC investigators to retreat from the threshold of reasonable and meaningful investigations.

These unfortunate remarks instantaneously re-energized a section of hawkish PNU legislators. They quickly called a press conference to demand that ICC investigates the ‘Pentagon” for masterminding the 2008 atrocities. Never mind that these legislators had previously (albeit unsuccessfully) tried to implant in their constituents a narcissistic sense of victimization by the ICC.

It is worth noting that all these legislators seem to be driven only by one agenda-they all have paranoia for the Prime Minister. They all want to distort the truth so that every issue becomes a contest between the “purity” of their tribal chiefs versus the “evil” of the Prime Minister, Raila Odinga. These politicians cannot think about the overall public good because they are trapped in short term, zero-sum calculations, where Raila`s gains in public opinion is seen as their collective loss. This explains their palpable paranoia with Raila.

It is not that these legislators have a short memory as to easily forget what really transpired in the early days of 2008. They know for sure that Raila more than anyone else was a victim of the most foul play. By constantly throwing barbs at him at any opportune moment, anyone can see that it is the ossification of the same vile schemes, only that now former foes have united not just to cheat justice but to ensure that Raila does not clinch the presidency.

It is little wonder that these politicians have even enlisted the services of an effete political pundit who at one point opined that Raila was the sacrificial lamb for the birth of a democratic nation. The same pundit is now opining that the ICC is after both president Kibaki and the PM.

But is there evidence of Raila`s culpability in the 2008 PEV? I do not think so. In discounting the pundit`s white lies, it is important that we travel down memory lane. During the 2007 disputed elections the ODM party had two clear options on its table- one favoring mass action and another attempting to maintain negotiations. The ODM leadership felt that the two strategies were fundamentally complementary.
However, the kind of mass action envisaged was similar to that of the 2005 Ukrainian “Orange Revolution.” Unbeknown to the ODM leadership there were some people who were desperately looking for an opportunity to stamp their unrivalled supremacy in the Rift Valley politics. They therefore deliberately misconstrued (as they have admitted in their very recent remarks) the centrality of the mass action approach to mean inciting and funding their constituents as well as private militias to unleash the cruelest kind of atrocities (such as the Kiambaa massacre) to the supporters of PNU.

On the other hand, the PNU (read government), held a series of strategy meetings with a view to restoring calm in the country. However, like in ODM there were some powerful individuals within PNU who wanted to be seen as the guardian angels of their community. They, without the blessing of the government, sanctioned repression and retaliatory attacks against people who were deemed sympathetic to ODM in places such as Naivasha.

It is these deep-pocketed benefactor(s) who in their capacity as private citizens compromised state security agents and funded organized militia groups to commit serious crimes against humanity that the ICC seeks to bring to book.

TOME FRANCIS,
BUMULA.
http://twitter.com/tomefrancis