By L. Muthoni Wanyeki
Posted Saturday, March 23 2013 at 13:53
A colleague comments: “I feel as if I am right in the middle of the 1990s... ill-tempered attacks on foreign journalists... virulent attacks on civil society... growing government siege mentality... angry search for foreign puppeteers behind every local critic.”
What is he talking about?
The Kenyan state has announced that all foreign journalists working without accreditation will face the full consequences of the law. The state has also announced that all demonstrations are banned until further notice.
The Jubilee campaign team has moved its online onslaught on Kenyan civil society into the mainstream media. It has developed a graphic pictorial showing the linkages between key civil society figures, one private philanthropic foundation, one diplomatic mission and the Chief Justice.
The aim (errors therein notwithstanding) is apparently threefold: First, to depict some of Kenya’s leading civil society figures as being Trojan horses for the interests of Empire. Second, to ensure that Empire retreats more than it has. And third, to discredit the Chief Justice. On the basis of nothing more than the fact that the people know/are related to each other or receive funding from the foundation and bilateral concerned.
Neither of these things is hidden or particularly newsworthy. Even a cursory knowledge of Kenya’s democracy struggle would reveal that these people know each other — the pro-democracy pool has always been small. And a mere glance at the online annual reports of the civil society organisations concerned would reveal who funds them and to what ends. But the graphic pictorial makes it seem conspiratorial. “Evil” in fact. As the pictorial is indeed titled.
The move into the mainstream media manages to make it seem that the interests that seem to have prevailed are somehow a stand against Empire.
And that all who resist — by challenging the electoral outcomes — are the new “comprador bourgeoisie.” It is clever — but not clever enough. The comprador bourgeoisie would certainly not be the civil society organisations involved but, in fact, the interests that seem to have prevailed. It would even be funny in its perversion — but, of course, it is not.
Because its aims are, in fact, being achieved. The individuals and organisations involved — who have nothing but a history of standing up on principle — are being publicly vilified and placed at risk. Empire is backing down, bending over, capitulating.
Where, we must ask, is this heading?
We were told that if we were aggrieved, we should take our grievance to court. The Coalition for Reform and Democracy dutifully did so. So did civil society. What is wrong with that? Some of us are aggrieved by what happened to our vote.
Our complaint is that there are evident differences between the provisional voters’ register and the one(s) used for the elections — showing clear deductions from CORD strongholds and clear additions to Jubilee strongholds. There are evident differences between the “official” results announced at the national tallying centre and those eventually posted. There are evident differences between the size of the presidential vote vis a vis the size of all other levels of the vote. There are evident differences between polling, constituency and national tallies. There are evident basic errors of calculation throughout.
“It is a miracle,” the supposed winners claimed. Indeed. The same colleague who commented on the virulence of the political atmosphere, without hesitation quipped back: “A miracle is, by definition, a violation of natural law.” Indeed. Thanks are surely due to hands more material than God’s.
L. Muthoni Wanyeki is doing her graduate studies at L’Institut d’etudes politiques (Sciences Po) in Paris, France
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