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WHY THE ABAGUSII SHOULD AND WILL INDEED STAY PUT IN THE ODM.

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Published on Friday, 30 October 2009 19:50

President Kibaki, retired President Moi and education Minister Prof. Sam Ongeri were among those who attended the burial of the mother of former cabinet minister Simeon Nyachae yesterday. The symbolism of the event could not escape the attention of any keen observer of the political scene in Gusii. Watching the rich old men congregate to condole one of their own, one could not help comparing it to a similar event that took place in the neighbouring Kitutu Chache about three weeks ago – the burial of the area MP’s grandmother. The two burials represented the opposite ends of the political, economic and generational divide of Kenyan politics in general and Gusii politics in particular. More significantly though, it brought to the fore the oft asked question “which of the two camps serves the interest of the Abagusii best?”

About three weeks ago, Prime minister Raila Odinga led several ministers and MPs mostly from the ODM to attend the burial of foreign affairs assistant minister Richard Onyonka’s grandmother. This visit to Gusii came barely two weeks after the PM had addressed a campaign rally for the ODM aspirant in the Bomachoge constituency by-election and just over a month after a prior visit to the area. These visits must have left many observers baffled as to why the PM is so eager to court a community that is generally considered so numerically challenged that it does not warrant such attention from any presidential aspirant. There is no doubt that Raila Odinga is a master tactician but this one, I must say, was one of the smartest moves he has made since 2007 – a master stroke indeed. Raila Odinga’s Luo community share a symbiotic relationship with the Abagusii that cannot be ignored by any Kenyan politician when building alliances, a fact that seems lost on the politicians from outside the province aspiring for the top seat come 2012 and one they’ll painfully wake up to as 2012 approaches by which time the PM is likely to have the entire Abagusii vote block tightly under lock and key.

The unfortunate incidents early last year after the bungled elections woke many politicians, parties, voters and communities to some painful realities. The greatest lesson that the the Abagusii must have drawn was that unlike in the past when a politician’s personal ambitions or personal differences with other politicians could determine the community’s political alliances, now these decision must be driven by the community’s strategic interests. At the height of the violence, as ODM youth barricaded roads in the Rift valley and in Luo Nyanza, it became apparent that no Kisii owned vehicle – or Kisii for that matter – could safely leave Gusii in any direction. Although majority of the Abagusii had voted Raila and the ODM, here they were surrounded and hunted down by their fellow ODMers simply because one Simeon Nyachae had created the impression that the Abagusii were violent, intolerant and anti-ODM. However, that is all water under the bridge now but the questions that we still must ask are ; Had we voted as a block, whom should we have voted? And in 2012 whom would we rather vote? Which political party should we support, and why?

There are three types of interests on which all voters in Kenya base their decision to vote for a certain candidate or political party, these are national, ethnic and personal. Ideally national interests should be the only consideration because what is for the collective good of the whole country would be good for every ethnic community and every individual but because our system is not ideal, then the other two automatically come into play. But even in our flawed system, ethnic interests are also national interests.
An end to corruption, tribalism and impunity; promotion of good governance and accountability as well as equitable distribution of national resources would all be for the benefit of every ethnic community. However, for academic purposes, let us dwell on the ethnic interests of the Abagusii in isolation and determine which political party, presidential candidate or ethnic community the Abagusii would be wisest to align themselves with.

Just like in international relations, economics must almost always determine inter-ethnic relations. The Luo and the Abagusii are each other’s biggest trading partners. The largest volumes of farm produce that leave Gusii end up in Luo Nyanza. Infact, one of the most common expressions in markets in Gusii is “we feed the Luo”. The transport sector in the province is run mostly by the Abagusii. The Luo on their part provide skilled labour to the Abagusii. A large number of the mechanics, fundis and doctors among other professionals in Kisii Town are Luo. On a market day at the Daraja Mbili market in Kisii Town, a stranger would not be sure if he or she is in Gusii or Luoland. In short, the Abagusii and the Luo depend more on each other economically than they do on any other community. The Kalenjin are the second most important trading partners of the Abagusii. Being an agricultural community with very little land, the Rift Valley is the second – and in some cases the only – home for a large portion of the Abagusii. It beats logic therefore that Simeon Nyachae and his FORD-People MPs could ask the community to vote against these two important strategic economic partners. Thankfully, the community’s electorate was a lot wiser than that.

Demographics and population patterns are another important consideration when deciding where to belong politically. The Abagusii are the largest “immigrant” community in Luo Nyanza. More Kisiis live, work and do business in Luo Nyanza than any other community. The same is the case in Gusii, the largest population of “non-Kisiis” in Gusii are the Luo. Similarly a large number of Abagusii are either permanently settled in the Rift Valley or own farms there. Another significant portion of the community’s population reside in Western Province. On the other hand, there are hardly any Kisiis living, working or doing business in the Mt. Kenya region. Infact, the community considers it a “no go zone” as there are tales about the locals there snubbing any business owned or run by an “outsider”. Much as everyone has a right to vote for whomsoever they choose and to belong to whichever party they deem fit, it is considered discourteous – even rude – to actively and visibly support the host community’s political opponents. Unfortunately, that is what Mr. Nyachae and the PNU put the Abagusii in the diaspora through.

Because our political system is driven by raw, undisguised ethnic competition, it’d help to consider which side of the bread is buttered. With a population of slightly more than three million people, numerically, the Abagusii are an insignificant detail that can never have a realistic chance of bagging the top seat and may not attract many suitors when building tribal alliances. The community’s best shot at having their rightful share of the national cake therefore lies in forming a strategic alliance with their more populous neighbour. This is helped in no small measure by the community’s hardworking and resourceful nature. Pairing up with the Luo will ensure that the two play complementary roles in an ODM government to improve the lives of the people of Nyanza. This would be through providing the Province with the infrastructure that it has been starved of since independence so as to realize the region’s economic potential which will consequently improve the national economy. In a sense, the Abagusii should consider a Luo presidency the same way the Meru, Embu and the Akamba consider a Kikuyu presidency.

On the same note, the fact that the ODM is the party that is very vigorously pursuing the system of government that devolves power and resources to the grassroots, it becomes an automatic choice for the Abagusii who have since independence, received far fewer national resources than they deserve. The fact that the region under that system will be receiving resources proportionate to its contribution to the national coffers will mean that the practice of using the wealth generated by its hard working farmers and businessmen to develop only the president’s backyard will cease.

Further, the Abagusii – against all odds – have throughout Kenya’s history had political ties with the Luo in general and the Odinga family in particular. From the sixties when Jaramogi and George Anyona defied Jomo Kenyatta to form the KPU and turn Nyanza into a solidly anti-Kenyatta block to the advent of multi partysm when even with the “nyayo” machine’s stranglehold on our national politics, Jaramogi’s FORD-Kenya always managed to grab two or three seats in Gusii in addition to the impressive results that he posted in 1992 in which election he beat Moi in the presidential votes cast in Nyamira district and scored impressively in the only other Gusii district, then Kisii. Even now, the fact that seven out of the ten Gusii constituencies - 70% or nearly three quarters of the total – are either ODM or ODM allied speaks volumes about the community’s political attachment to their neighbours.

The fact in particular that the ODM captured the Bomachoge constituency by-election inspite of a “do or die” campaign mounted by the PNU in a bid to recapture the seat is in itself quite telling. It was a campaign in which PNU’s strategy sometimes involved the use of such “below the belt” tactics as playing up the differences that the community had early last year with the ODM, bribing voters, creating new divisions out of locations and upgrading a dispensary to a district hospital all of which counted for nothing. This was a statement by the Bomachoge electorate that such tactics no longer work and that the Abagusii community knows which side of the bread is buttered.

Finally, and perhaps most significantly is the role that the community has played in the development of the ODM. Unknown to many, businessmen and professionals from the community are among the party’s top benefactors. Up to date, few Kenyans are aware that Kenya’s most famous car, Raila’s Hummer, was actually a gift he received from a young Kisii businessman in the run-up to the 2007 election. Even a casual perusal of the ethnic composition of the ODM secretariat and other top party organs at that time would reveal that the Abagusii were seemingly “over-represented”. This was not by accident. In a manner of speaking therefore, ODM is of the Kisii, by the Kisii and for the Kisii.

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