ByJames Wafula in Nairobi.
Election patterns in Kenya have always brought out the rivalry of the Kikuyu and Luo, Kenya’s most outspoken political families.
This has helped shape Kenya’s political society since independence.
The previous four presidential elections have seen Kikuyus and Luos compete for power with rivalry between Jaramogi Odinga and Kenyatta taking centre stage.
The two communities have had historically frosty relations since Jaramogi worked with Jomo Kenyatta at independence from colonial Britain in 1961-63. When Jomo became President Jaramogi was his first Vice President.
But this unity was short-lived after Jaramogi resigned in 1966 in a huff accusing his boss of using Tom Joseph Mboya, a fellow Luo, to undermine him. Mboya is said to have amended the ruling party KANU constitution to provide for a rotational regional Vice President. This angered Odinga senior who decided to quit and form an opposition party Kenya Peoples Union (KPU).
It is said that Kenyatta was so un-thankful to the people he owed much for fighting for his release at independence.
Odinga, Mboya and Ronald Ngala spoke out for the release of Kenyatta jailed for leading Mau Mau rebellion at the remote semi-arid Kapenguria jail.
Odinga and Mboya turned down British colonial government that wanted them to form a government without Kenyatta.
But once Kenyatta was in power he is believed to have authorized high profile assassinations of Luo leaders starting with Tom Mboya in 1969.
Only three communities; Kikuyu, Luo and Kalenjin have been at the centre of power in Kenya but only two tribes have led this former British colony that is East Africa’s largest economy..
The political powers and opposition have revolved around the aforementioned communities. The alliances that have been made have seen Kikuyu work with Kalenjin and Luos with Luhya to boost their numbers during the election. The results have always been the same the Kikuyu side always win and Luos have to accept their opposition roles.
This kind of political posturing has seen Luos hate Kikuyu with a passion with the feeling being mutual but this appears to have changed overnight. The pattern had kept recurring since 1966 up to 2018 when Raila-Uhuru struck a political deal to work together for the sake of the country like their dad did at independence in 1963.
Uhuru and Raila had been bitter foes as Raila sort to defeat Kenyatta twice in deeply divisive ethnic driven political clashes that characterised campaigns in 2013-2017.
In Nairobi Luos clashed with Kikuyu, the bad blood, sometimes affecting business which all changed with the March 9, 2018 handshake.
But some Kikuyu hardliners in mount Kenya refuse to accept the Luos can forge an enduring political alliance and bleieve the Uhuru-Raila deal will soon flop.
They claim that their dads were once the closest of political allies at independence including the likes of Mboya and Argwings kodhek. Once Kenyatta was in power he used one against the other and sort to dismantle Jaramogi whom he kept under house arrest several times.
Jaramogi who claimed to have stepped aside for Kenyatta despite the British urging him to form the first government launched Kenya Peoples Union (KPU) in 1967 as an opposition party.
Odinga senior would then go on to clash with founding president several times including a near exchange of blows during the opening of the Russian built provincial hospital in Kisumu in 1969. It was Kenyatta’s first and only visit to the lakeside town where he came face to face with hostile angry Luos lining the roads.
After a bitter exchange with Odinga Kenyatta found himself in serious trouble when hostile crowds pelted his motorcade with stones forcing his bodyguards to open fire. Several were killed and others injured.
That would be the climax of the bad blood that have spanned generations and which now appeared to be on the threshold of a major turn-around.
That is if the two sons of Kenya’s most outspoken political families succeed in uniting their two feuding communities who have hated each other with a passion for decades.
It has been in the nature of African politicians to use tribe as a tool for political mobilisation in classic colonial divide and rule.
To a greater extent Kenyatta senior was comfortable exploiting this and isolating the over-assertive proud Luos who over the decades symbolised the political opposition in Kenya.
Even when Kenyatta died August 1978 and was succeeded by Daniel Arap Moi a Kalenjin, the Luos remained the symbol of political defiance against the establishment.
Yet now with the coming August 9, 2022 poll Raila who was detained in 1982 over involvment in the failed Kenya Airforce coup attempt, is seen as a “state project” the preferred heir of the Kenyatta dynasty.
History appears to have been turned full circle when bitter foes become bosom buddies a proof that politics is never about personal enmity but only permanent interests.
Still this bad blood is still simmering among the holloi polloi, the rank and file Kikuyu – Luos, how far they can be integrated into a lasting alliance that has dominated politics of East Africa’s largest economy remains to be seen.
Kenya has 47 ethnic communities but only four have been outspoken on the political landscape – Kikuyu, Luo, Kalenjin and Luhya. Only two Kikuyu – Kalenjin have occupied state house in 60 years of independence.
For more than three decades the Jaramogi used his ill – fated KPU to try and wrestle power from Kenyatta senior and later Moi. He was denied a chance to even sleep for “one day” at state house as many widely claimed in Luo-land.
Yet here is his son on the verge of making political history, aided and backed by a scion of Kenyatta, the man Luos had grown to hate with a passion. Will Odinga achieve what eluded his father? Will the two succeed where their dads tumbled and fumbled?. Time will soon tell ■
