I've never been much of a Kalonzo fan, I have never felt like there is anything that he has done that would inspire me into believing that he is a man who can provide Kenya with the visionary & decisive leadership that the country requires to move to the next level.
Last year this was an opinion that I held but which I found a bit difficult to justify. However as we ushered in the new year I felt highly vindicated in my opinion. Now I would say I believe Kalonzo definitely does not have the requisite qualities and I will be surprised if he surpasses the vice-presidency in terms of political achievements (unless of course Mwai is summoned by our maker prematurely).
So why do I have such a low estimation of this 'Son of Mwingi'?
As I observed earlier, part of it has been to do with the fact that there is nothing that I can point to in order to say, yes this is the man. But now I have no doubt in my mind that I can state emphatically, no he is not the man.
On a personal level I believe that you have to be a fool not to learn from history; more so when it's recent history. You fool me once fine, you fool me twice, damn me. And this is the key reason my opinion of Kalonzo has vanished to nearly a point of no redemption.
I look back to 2002, NARC, the hopes, the aspirations and the euphoria that came with it. How Kenya's dream was strangled by greed, selfishness and opportunism. The unceremonious manner in which LDP were shoved out of a government that they had fought for tooth and nail while Mwai was in a wheel chair. They do say forgive and forget but it pays to forgive but not to forget.
Kenyans forgave in as much as they did not resort to any unorthodox means to express their disappoitment as they watched in consternation as their dream was turned into a nightmare with arrogance & impunity. But they did not forget, they penned that critical date in their dairies, in late December 2007.
Because they did not forget they turned up in large numbers on that date and said we do not like dream snuffers. In many voices they said 'we are going to dream again'. But alas their dream was to turn into a nightmare sooner than they could say 'we have a dream'. Kenyans immediately said 'we forgave, we did not forget and we are not fools'. My post 'the crisis - what went wrong' suffices on my take on the events after Kenyans cast their votes. Here I want to dwell on the critical decisions that the 'Son of Mwingi' made.
Now back to the 'man of the moment'. Whilst Kenyans were forgiving but not forgetting I would imagine Kalonzo opted for the forgive and forget philosophy.
He chose to forget that Kenyans had high hopes for Kenya which were dashed by sheer self-interest, he chose to forget that this self-interest had resulted in the team effort of December 2002 being binned, he chose to forget that this self-interest had resulted in the breaking of an agreement.
Now how does he go ahead and canoodle with this same person? Okay, okay, you can't fault a man too much for having a forgiving heart, that would be too harsh though I do question his sense of judgement.
It is Kalonzo's right to chose whatever path he wants to take but my gripe is the circumstances under which he chose to forgive and forget.
Kalonzo had a unique opportunity to curve himself a place in the history of our country, it would have cost him very little yet it would have earned him so much. But he chose to conveniently hear no evil and see no evil. He made all the right noises but crucially made all the wrong choices.
Initially, I was a bit perturbed to hear that ODM-Kenya played their part in pressuring for release of the disputed presidential results. Kalonzo was clearly not in the race so why not just sit out and be neutral? But with hindsight it makes a lot of sense. Clearly this was pre-meditated support for Kibaki. I ask myself when did this man decide yet again 'Kibaki Tosha'? Was it when he realised he was a distant third? Was it when he realised he wasn't going to get the LDP nomination? Could it be earlier? I do not know. That is anyone's guess.
Still I do not fault a man for having a forgiving heart, it is the circumstances under which he did it, and the manner of it that disgusts me. Kalonzo decided to be politically expedient and take a position that would offer him the most political leverage. But in doing so he dealt a big blow to democracy (and his advocacy of it) by endorsing a manifestly flawed presidential vote.
Still I do not fault a man for seeking political leverage, it is the circumstances under which he did it that leave me hoping he ends up in political oblivion as a tribal chieftan.
The last straw came when he declared there was no question on who won the presidential election, this after the man who oversaw the election said he couldn't say for sure who won. Did he have so much ill feeling towards Raila to stoop this low?
Still I do not fault a man for wanting to get one back at his archrival, it is the circumstances under which he did it.
After this catalogue of short term, ill-advised decision making, I believe that the 'Son of Mwingi' has proved to me beyond reasonable doubt that he does not have the vision and decisiveness to lead Kenya out of the wilderness and into the promised land.
What does it benefit a man to gain the Vice presidency but lose all respect?
Amen.
