For a peaceful Kenya, Kikuyus must voluntarily relinquish power come 2017 elections

“On one thing, however, all MUST agree: There must and shall be no more Kikuyu presidencies for at least 10 years from the next election. The price of Kikuyu hegemony has already proved greater than anyone wants to pay. Come 2017, a Kikuyu candidate will stand no chance at all. We will not allow that to happen and we have acquired enough power to declare so. We don’t want to be further isolated from the presidency just as our fellow Kenyans, Kikuyus don’t want to be further isolated by other communities for their selfish beliefs and clinging to power. Should they fail to heed this cautious advice and go ahead and ascend to power by means of poll rigging again, I will call for national economic boycott of their products and services” Quincy Timberlake (the Mutongoi Njamba) – Melbourne, 2013

Kibaki after winning elections in 2002. Former PM Raila Odinga protected Kibaki’s presidency-elect from KANU scavengers besides declaring him “Tosha”

The difference between a democracy and a dictatorship is that in a democracy you vote first and take orders later; in a dictatorship you don’t have to waste your time voting. The worst software in us Kenyan voters is that we quickly forget what a politician does or says. We as voters crave authenticity. What politicians are not aware of is that Kenyan voters from regions other than Mount Kenya are looking for credibility. 

This is my message to the clowns who believe they were born to rule over others either by force or through trickery. Please, DO NOT underestimate the Kenyan public; technology has made these disgruntled voters more informed than ever. We at PlaCenta Party of Kenya have come up with the following conclusion about the most intimidating politics in Kenya’s history.

Kenya is marking half a century of freedom from British colonial rule, and while many agree there is much to celebrate as it forges its path as an economic power, there is the unfortunate reality that it is still in the grips of corruption, inequality and violence. Meanwhile, jokers have raised another flag on the snow-capped peak of Mount Kenya – happy with leadership in their custody while other Kenyans are internally brewing over injustices that have been entrenched through tribal patronage by successive governments.

President Uhuru Kenyatta addressed crowds during the country’s 50th jubilee, just as his father Jomo Kenyatta did in 1963 when he became the first Kenyan to lead the nation. Uhuru’s speech was heavy with anti-western rhetoric, amid international pressure ahead of his trial for crimes against humanity early next year.

Jaramogi Odinga selflessly declared he would not accept any senior post until Jomo Kenyatta was released

Uhuru who denies all charges of masterminding violence following the contested elections in 2007, has campaigned hard to have his trial at the International Criminal Court suspended, appealing for support from fellow African presidents and the African Union.

At midnight, Kenyatta called for the honoring of the country’s freedom fighters of the Mau Mau uprising, a largely ethnic Kikuyu insurgent movement in the 1950s brutally suppressed by colonial powers. As well as dealing with a violent past, many Kenyans want to focus on the country’s current issues and struggles.

This week the World Bank has cut the growth forecast for Kenya for 2013 and 2014 to five percent, suggesting Kenya is drifting behind regional nations.

Security remains a challenge, with Somalia’s al-Qaeda linked al-Shabab threatening Kenya with more attacks following its Nairobi Westgate mall massacre in September, in revenge for Kenya’s two year military intervention in southern Somalia.

I hasten to add that I hold the view—that Kenya should not have another Kikuyu president; at least not in the next round anyway—not because I have anything against Kikuyu’s—I don’t—but I do hold this view for the same reasons progressive Kenyans (and Kikuyu’s) hold the same view, and that is, it is just neither fair nor just for an ethnically diverse and vast country such as Kenya to have three of its four presidents since its independence, hailing from the same tribe.

All of us as Kenyans were happy to have and accepted Mzee Jomo Kenyatta as our first president and we lived with the fact that he was to be our president to the day he drew his last breath, which was fine; the man, after all, was very instrumental in our country’s gaining independence.

Kenyatta was, of course, succeeded by Daniel Toroitich Arap Moi. In 2002, having been fed up with the Moi rule, Kenyans in a euphoria never seen before, showed Moi and his pet project Uhuru the door and ushered in the Kibaki era.

Timberlake with DP Ruto. Timberlake was by his side during the hardest times of his political career.

Any informed political observer could not but recognize that, just like his father Jaramogi made the Kenyatta presidency possible, Raila, Jaramogi’s son, made the Kibaki presidency possible by his “Kibaki Tosha” declaration.

Jaramogi assessed what was best for the country, and concluded it was best to put his own political ambitions on the side and make it possible for his friend Kenyatta to become president for the good of the country.

Fast forward to 2002, Jaramogi’s son, Raila, was faced with essentially the same decision, albeit under different circumstances, namely to do that which was politically expedient for him personally, or to do what was right for the country and just like his father before him, Raila chose to back Kibaki with his “Kibaki tosha” declaration, which made it possible for Kibaki, to be elected president.

On their own, conducting themselves in their respective times with such unparalleled political judgement and vision, coupled with their unmatched sense of self-confidence and sound decision making in the face of the most difficult of times, except as son mirroring father in this only such known example, these are qualities that have already enshrined the names Jaramogi Oginga Odinga and and Raila Amolo Odinga in the annals of Kenyan political history.

What reward does either of these men deserve for stepping in at the right time in our country’s critical points and acting unselfishly to save a nation of uncertainty but ensuring her of certainty as to new leadership of its people when doing otherwise would have perpetuated an undesirable status quo much to more suffering of the country? Jaramogi was briefly rewarded with vice-presidency, only to have it taken away and he sent on permanent political exile. What Jubilee is now enjoying in political party freedom was unveiled by the Odinga dynasty in the early 1990s. Whether we like it or not, he is the doyen of opposition politics equalling freedom.

By historical nature and other considerations, the Kikuyu shall and will always be an integral part of the Kenyan social-economic and political fabric. How Kikuyus vote in 2017 will reveal quite a bit about how the community sees its role in the vastly changing and new Kenya: vote as a block for one of their own and remain stuck in the past or move in the direction of new Kenya by spreading their vote around as they ought to, even on a limited and constrained manner.

The main cockamamish thought in Kenyan politics is that each and every August House is formed to contain the Raila Odinga tide.  To them Raila appears to be the one to beat. This is far from the truth – Raila will be beaten by the only force than can stop him and that is, tribalism or more specifically, what Kikuyus decide to do about it.

Timberlake’s family has of late been receiving death threats from President Kenyatta’s regime

If Kikuyu’s were to look back at history, the choice for president for them come 2017 would be Raila Odinga, even if one their own is on the ballot. They keep on forgetting that while they exclusively invest all their energies in stopping the former premier, a deep threat is growing within their own alliance. Deputy President Wiliam Ruto is not a fool as Jubilee may think. I have sat, visited, dined and campaigned with the DP while in Kenya. I campaigned with him across the country from east to west. Kalenjins accorded me a very warm welcome – what an admirable, hospitable community. I know what Ruto is capable of. During our private talks, I learnt a lot about him some of which I may not share here now. But what I did learn was that he is a force to reckon with in political circles, not to be underestimated. Ruto is fully cooperating with the ICC, playing low, as injustices within the Jubilee alliance take a negative and painful toll on him, even turning his own URP against him. But don’t be too quick to misjudge Ruto. He will rebound from this debacle. He does not need Kenyatta – Kenyatta needs him. The alliance may not last 5 years unless they clamp down on dissent which could provoke civil war or ethnic clashes.

Jaramogi was not looking at Kenyatta as a Kikuyu in deciding not to throw him under the bus and assuming the presidency himself. Neither was Raila looking at Kibaki as a Kikuyu in deciding not to throw him under the bus and either heading to the State House himself, or throwing his weight behind someone else who would have been equally elected as Kibaki was in 2002.

Both men from the Lake region obviously knew the two individuals they supported in their respective times, were Kikuyu men but that was not the deciding factor in their choosing to do what they did: they both looked at the men in their respective times and concluded each was fit and, indeed, the best person to take the helm of power in Kenya as president at the critical times in our history when, by their unselfish and nationalistic move, each declared their man tosha and the rest is history.

Jaramogi, in his mind, said “Kenyatta tosha” and that was enough to usher in the Kenyatta era. Raila said “Kibaki tosha” and that was enough to usher in the Kibaki era. But it won’t happen now.

The focus on Raila is all wrong. There’s a force that is silently raising on an hourly basis against the tide. It is called Kenyagenes. This is the multi-ethnical group forming to beat the forces that are much too focused on Raila right now.

CORD must stop playing into the hands of the Jubilee wolf’s trap. It must remember that Kenya must have a strong official opposition to defend the voiceless

Kenyagenes are now working underground and are prepared to create shock in upcoming political events. To them, Kikuyus are Kenyans and must be part of that real Kenya, not the Kenya they are trying to create. This group is equipped financially, politically, multi-community-wise and have convinced almost all tribes in Kenya to see ahead and use their political muscle to pluck the feathers of a one-tribe dynasty.

By clinging on to the idea that we must have a Kikuyu president, the Kikuyu inadvertently give credence to the erroneous perception by Kenyans of the other tribes that when a tribe has the presidency, all members of the tribe benefit immensely. Most kikuyu depend much more on business to eke out a living. What they need isn’t a president from their tribe, but a conducive environment to carry out the various activities to earn a living as they have always done. Having a president from another community will remove resentment against the Kikuyu for monopolizing the presidency, thus helping in cohesion and integration- all food for business to thrive.

To all my brothers in Kikuyu community, the peace butterfly is in your hands. You can set it free by letting go of your presidential ambitions and allow us all to live in peace in Kenya. Alternatively, you can squash and kill it by hanging on to your stupid idea of “the Kikuyu fought for independence so they deserve the presidency”, which will force the other tribes to unite to pry your claws out of the statehouse. The rest will be history.

I know that all the big books state that everyone has the democratic right to run for presidency, what they forgot to include is that democracy must be tempered with a little common sense…

We need to start by giving Luos or Kambas or Luhyas or any other tribe that has not been at the top job before, at least a five year term as president. They can deliver, and by allowing them to govern Kenya, their communities shall also share wealth distribution as the other 2 have in the past. When will Nyanza, Ukambani or Luyhaland elevate to affluent status if Kikuyus continue to believe they themselves were blessed to govern?

Here are a few crucial steps that Kenya must follow towards a more harmonized nation. First of all, Isaac Hassan must be thrown out of office, IG of police David Kimaiyo must resign, CJ Willy Mutunga must be investigated that means he must “step aside” and KDF chief of staff Julius Karangi must also step aside. All these for national reconciliation and healing purposes. Majority of Kenyans have now realised the folly of fighting among themselves in order to have one of their own (read fellow tribesman) in power. The fight has now shifted to both economic justice and democracy rather than political power for its own sake.

Quincy Timberlake ni mutongoi njamba wa 2017

The relationship between the Kikuyu and the rest of Kenya has been warped, residents sense, possibly beyond repair. Nyeri’s inhabitants are haunted by a more immediate fear. Most of the 300,000 people displaced in the violence  during 2007/08 were Kikuyus.

Land scarcity is the leitmotif of the Kikuyu, the historic source of their anguish and the motivating force behind their success story. Accounting for around 22 percent of Kenya’s population of 38 million, the Kikuyu’s mark on the East African nation has been far greater than the figures imply, thanks to that driving hunger.

Under Kenya’s first president, Jomo Kenyatta, another kinsman, they streamed out of Central Province, settling in the Rift Valley and on the coast. Today, they dominate the economy. Kikuyus drive most of Kenya’smatatus and its taxis, run its newspapers, and constitute much of its civil service, their entrepreneurial reach extending from the glitziest of hotels to the remotest roadside duka (kiosk). They also, joke Kikuyus, account for the biggest share of the country’s criminals and prison inmates.

They hail themselves as “the Jews of Kenya,” envied and hated in equal measure for that entrepreneurial zeal. But there’s a difference: Europe’s Jews never combined economic influence with political power. The Kikuyu have done just that, providing three of Kenya’s four presidents. And their current predicament can be traced to that double-fisted grip on the nation-state and the resentment it stirs among their compatriots.

The Kikuyu, outsiders feel, have been rubbing other communities’ noses in their pre-eminence ever since. “We’re obnoxious, we’re thrusting, we’re loud, and we’re everywhere,” acknowledges a Kikuyu banker. “Our problem is there aren’t enough of us to dominate, yet we’re too large to ignore. We are at once both obnoxious and indispensable. If we are not careful, we will plunge this country in to unsolvable chaos that will see us lose what we have achieved economically.”

On one thing, however, all MUST agree: There must and shall be no more Kikuyu presidencies for at least 10 years from the next election. The price of Kikuyu hegemony has already proved greater than anyone wants to pay. Come 2017, a Kikuyu candidate will stand no chance at all. We will not allow that to happen and we have acquired enough power to declare so. We don’t want to be further isolated from the presidency just as our fellow Kenyans, Kikuyus don’t want to be further isolated by other communities for their selfish beliefs and clinging to power.

This presidential sword of authority must now leave the hands of the ruling class and feel hands of authority of other communities

As I wind up this important message to my people, I venture to state on a more sinister note that some cockamamie daring stupefied high profiled personalities have recently sent my young family very long lists with death threats should we step on Kenyan soil again. My message to them: We are the most protected family from Kenya in Australia. You can use your embassy in Canberra but any miscalculated mistake may trigger a very afflictive scenario diplomatically. This is not the Quincy Timberlake of 2010,11 or 12 any more who was a silent victim of torture, inhumane treatment, degradation, national scolding, molestation and forceful incarcerations. This is a new formidable force in the Kenyan political industry with intentions to relieve other Kenyan voiceless communities. I am well equipped to combat any threats that have been coming especially from you officers at the CID and KDF whose information is now with the Australian Federal Police. Send more death threats and I dare you, you may provoke me to unearth more that I know and have kept in my secret files. I may be provoked to stand against Uhuru Kenyatta at The ICC. Dare me not because whether you like it or not, Uhuru Kenyatta is the last Kikuyu president of the Republic of Kenya. After him, no community is willing to let them back to power for at least 10 years or else, there will be no business as usual in the Republic and you all know this. Stop intimidating, terrorising, loading your forceful rule over other communities, inciting hate and extra-judicially killing Kenyans who air their dissent. It is a free country.