Broken Promise

BROKEN PROMISE

Mutea Rukwaru

Published by EUREKA PUBLISHERS

P.O BOX 1414 – 60200 MERU

Copyright Mutea Rukwaru 2019

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be produced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording or by any information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher and author except for the inclusion of quotations in a review.

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ISBN 978-9966-085-91-7

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONE -KENYA IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

CHAPTER TWO- GOVERNMENT STRUCTURES AND FUNCTIONS

CHAPTER THREE- ANATOMY OF POLITICAL PARTIES

CHAPTER FOUR- MAN AND SOCIETY

CHAPTER FIVE- MAN AND SOCIAL CAPITAL

CHAPTER SIX- THE KENYAN DREAM

CHAPTER SEVEN- ANATOMY OF CORRUPTION

CHAPTER EIGHT- LEADERSHIP DYNAMICS

CHAPTER NINE- PSYCHOLOGY OF POLITICAL LYING

CHAPTER TEN- KENYA’S ECONOMIC JOURNEY

CHAPTER ELEVEN- KENYA’S JOURNEY TO DEVOLUTION

CHAPTER TWELVE- KENYA NATIONAL DIALOGUE AND RECONCILIATION

CHAPTER THIRTEEN- CONSTITUTION AND CONSTITUTION MAKING

CHAPTER FOURTEEN- KENYA’S NEW CONSTITUTION – A RAY OF HOPE

CHAPTER FIFTEEN- BUILDING BRIDGES TO A NEW KENYAN NATION

CHAPTER SIXTEEN- CLAMOURING FOR THIRD CONSTITUTION

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN- HARD TALK

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN- THE ROAD TO A BRIGHT KENYA

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to all Kenyans, both of the past, present and future.

MR

PREFACE

The book the Broken Promise is Kenya’s journey from 1963 to 2018 in search of economic freedom and constitutional enjoyments. Kenyans have been keen to enjoy good leadership, constitutional rights and an environment free from public looting that is corruption. The book portrays Kenya as a dynamic country embracing changes and yet being a major player in African politics and global arena. The clamour for third Constitution or referendum is a manifestation of this dynamism and not a sign of a failed state. The book also gives the history of the country and also educates the reader on the functions and structures of the government. The book also discusses the psychology of political lying globally. The book also analyses on reasons as to why men cooperate with politicians despite the shrewdness in the arena of politics.

MR

CHAPTER ONE -KENYA IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

Introduction

Kenya is named after a mountain of the same name. The Kikuyu people who lived around the present day Mount Kenya called it "Kirinyaga", the Embu called it "Kirenyaa" and the Kamba called it Kiinya. The meaning of the three terms from the three ethnic groups or the three languages is "God’s resting place".

According to the Nairobi Railway Museum Curator, Maurice Barasa, the mountain from afar appeared black from the side and white on its snow-capped glaciers and thus the Kamba named it Kiinyaa (the place of the male ostrich) which is black and white as compared to the gray female. Other people believe the name Kenya came from Kirinyaga which means a place with white spots. Kenya was initially known as the British East Africa protectorate and it was not until 1920 that it was officially named Kenya. It is also important to point out that the name Kenya arose out of the inability of the Britons to pronounce Kirinyaga.

(https://www.standardmedia.co.ke>Busia,https://www.quora.com/where-did-the name-Kenya-come-from-when it-first-used)

Early Visitors to Kenya

The first people to settle in Kenya were indigenous African communities who migrated from various parts of the continent. Other visitors included traders, explorers and tourists who came from various parts of the world such as Portugal, Arabia, Roman Empire, India and Greece. They visited mainly the East African Coast from as early as the first century A.D while majority of the visitors went back to their countries, some settled and intermarried with the local populations giving rise to a new Swahili culture along the Coast. The civilization base of craft industries, farming, fishing and international trade gave rise to both coastal states such as Pate, Lamu, Malindi, Gedi, Mombasa and Vanga. Islam religion and Kiswahili language were also introduced. The traders from overseas brought such items as clothes, beads, wines, iron weapons, porcelain and handicrafts. These were exchanged for ivory, timber, gold, copper, rhinoceros horns, animal skins and slaves.

The first major Europeans presence in East Africa started with the arrival of the Portuguese in the East African waters in 1498 when Vasco Da Gama’s fleet made its initial forays (sudden attack) on its way to the East Indies. On the first Voyage his only negotiations were with the ruler of Malindi and indeed, for the next hundred years this alliance was the foundation of the Portuguese network in the region. Their quest was to control and dominate the innovative Indian Ocean trade, the conquest of several city states along the coast and the establishment of their dominance which lasted 200 years. Portuguese presence was hated and resisted and there were many insurrections against them. For example on the 16th August 1631, the Arab sultan of Mombasa called Dom Jeronimo Chingulia entered the Portuguese citadel of Fort Jesus with a band of followers through the passage of the Arches. He killed the Portuguese captain, Pedro leitao de Gamboa, and then gave the signal to the followers outside the fort to set fire to Portuguese houses in the town. There was no marked resistance and in the course of the next two weeks all the Portuguese were killed. The Portuguese were finally kicked out of the Coastal towns through a combination of local inhabitants aided by the Oman Arabs. To ensure the Portuguese did not return, Sultan Seyyid Said of Oman moved his capital to Zanzibar and ruled the entire East African Coastline until the establishment of British rule.

The arrival of the British and the Germans opened up trade between the East African Coast and the rest of the world, and began the process to abolish the dreadful slave trade. Whatever their aims in coming to East Africa, those early Western explorers, traders and missionaries opened a gate to one of the countries that was to become a shinning star of modern tourism in Africa-Kenya.

(www.visitkenya.com,visitkenya.com/html, https://kenyaplex.com/.../10549-name-the-early-visitors-to-the-kenya-coast-asp...)

Colonial Rule in Kenya

The scramble for colonies in Africa among European countries reached fever pitch in 1884 when the Berlin conference was convened to partition Africa amongst European colonial rivals. Among British acquisitions was the land we today call Kenya. A British Trading Company, Imperial British East Africa Company was set up to administer Kenya under the name British East Africa protectorate. When it was realized that the company could not contain Kenya’s hostile communities, the British declared the country a colony and protectorate. On 1st July 1895 the first Governor Sir Arthur Hardinge was sent to establish a formal British administration. The seventy years of colonial rule in Kenya were characterized by punitive economic, social and political policies. Most outstanding among these policies was racial discrimination. Huge fertile lands were alienated for white settlements and harsh labour laws were enacted to force the Africans to work at low wages on settler farms and public works. In addition, African political participation was confined to local government.

It was against this scenario that African protest movements began in earnest from the early 1920s, with the establishment of the colony of Kenya in 1920. The early years of the protectorate included several developments of significance in Kenya’s subsequent history. One was the decision to encourage settlement in Kenya’s temperate highlands by farmers of European origin (this prosperous region subsequently became known as the white Highlands). The intention was to provide revenue for the railway driven northwest from Mombasa to reach Kisumu on Lake Victoria in 1901. Most of the settlers did not come from Britain but South Africa. Short of assistance on their new farms in the relatively unpopulated highlands, they made strenuous effort to introduce the forced African labour which was common in many European colonies. ( www.historyworld.net/worldhis/plaintext)

Politics of Independence (1920-1963)

The establishment of the colony of Kenya brought in its train racial hostilities. New legislation on land tenure shamelessly favoured the settlers. In many areas, Africans were formally dispossessed of their land and confined in reserves. The Kikuyu who were the largest tribe were the main loosers. While the white highlands policy restricted the ownership of the best farming land to Europeans, these and other tensions were reflected in the developing political scene. From 1919 the white settlers were allowed to elect members to the legislative council. The other two communities of the colony, Africans and Indians, demanded similar rights. The Indians enjoyed a greater economic strength and so they were adamant to be controlled politically by Europeans. As early as 1920 they turned down the offer of two seats in the legislative council since this did not reflect the size of their community. Tension remained high until 1927, when the Indians won the right to five seats on the council compared to eleven which were reserved for the Europeans.

The Africans were also prompt in asserting their claims. As early as 1921 the Young Kikuyu Association (also known as the East African Association) was established to assert African rights and more specifically, to recover appropriated Kikuyu land. In 1925 the colonial government suppressed this first Kikuyu organization, but its members immediately regrouped as the Kikuyu central Association-of which, three years later, the young Jomo Kenyatta became General Secretary and editor of the organization’s newspaper, Mwigwithania (the Unifier). During the 1930s, campaigns focused on linked policies: land rights, access to education, respect for traditional African customs especially female genital mutilation and the need for African representation in the legislative council. Jomo Kenyatta’s methods were peaceful, but he warned that lack of progress on these issues would result into a dangerous explosion-they are things all sane men wish to avoid. But there was little sign of progress until after World War II.

In 1944 the legislative council in Nairobi (the capital since 1905) became the first in East African to include an African member as a single and lonely representative of the ethnic’s majority. The number doubled to two in 1946, to four in 1948 and to eight in 1951. But it is important to note that these were token politicians who were appointed by the colonial governor from local lists. In the early 1950’s these half-hearted steps towards reform were suddenly overtaken by a much more powerful and alarming challenge to the steady pace of British colonial rule. In 1952 a militant independence movement called MAUMAU made its presence and its demands painfully clear. In October 1952 there was a sudden outbreak of sabotage and assassination in Kenya. The colonial government reacted rapidly by declaring a state of emergency and arresting Jomo Kenyatta.

It is important to note that between 1944 and 1960 African political activity and pressure was intensified, and the climax of it was 1952 when the Governor Sir Everlyn Baring declared a state of emergency following the outbreak of the Maumau Rebellion whose major grievances included land alienations, racial discrimination and lack of political progress. The state of emergency however intensified political resolve for independence forcing the colonial government to come up with constitutional proposals. Under the Lyttelton constitution of 1954, Africans were allowed to directly elect their representatives to the Legislative Council (LEGCO). Elections were held in 1957 and eight African leaders were elected. They were Ronald Ngala, Tom Mboya, Daniel Arap Moi, James Muimi, Oginga Odinga, Lawrence Ogunda, Masinde Muliro and Jeremiah Nyaga. They stepped up agitation for widened representation to mobilize the people for the final assault on colonialism, hence the birth of Kenya African National Union (KANU). KANU was formed in March 1960 at Kiambu Town, and on 11th June 1960 it was registered as a mass political party. As the objective of freedom became evident, the smaller communities feared domination by the larger ethnic groups, and on June 25, 1960 they formed Kenya African Democratic Union (KADU). The first election on a broader election register was held in 1961 and was won by KANU. In another election in May 1963, KANU captured 83 of the 124 seats in the House of Representatives. On 1st June 1963 Kenya got its Madaraka (Self Rule) administration and the Independence (Jamhuri) Government was formed on 12th December 1963, under Mzee Jomo Kenyatta. In 1964 Kenya became a Republic. Kenya became a one party state in 1964 and the opposition leaders agreed to end party faction and cooperate with KANU.

The first government of independent Kenya immediately had to deal with some pressing economic and political problems and the very high expectations from Kenyans, and especially those who were freedom fighters who thought they would hold senior positions in the independent government though they did not have minimum education. Crisis of expectations was a problem at the onset. At independence the priorities were acceleration of economic growth, Kenyanisation of the economy and redistribution of incomes. None of these, however, could be achieved without political stability and it was felt necessary to neutralize those who supported extreme policies and who were undermining rather than building confidence in the new nation. Thus, Kenya embarked on the road to peace and stability which made it possible for the country to realize great strides in development.

By the year 2019, Kenya has had four (4) presidents since independence. Upon Jomo Kenyatta’s death on 22nd August 1978, Daniel Arap Moi took over the leadership. He retired on 30th December 2002 in line with a constitutional provision which limits the presidential term to a maximum of 10 years of 5 years each. This provision took effect in 1991 following the re-introduction of multipartism. Previously Kenya was a single party state. Mwai Kibaki took over from Moi on 30th December 2002 to become Kenya’s third president Kibaki and his National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) won with a landslide in the December 27th 2002 general elections, thus ending KANU’s forty (40) year rule. In 2013 Uhuru Kenyatta the son of the first president Jomo Kenyatta became the fourth president of the Republic of Kenya. The coalition of TNA party of Uhuru Kenyatta and URP party of William Samoei Ruto merged in order to win. During 2017 elections all the affiliate parties of those friendly to Uhuru Kenyatta and Ruto merged to form Jubilee party while the opposition party under Raila Amolo Odinga formed NASA coalition.

Kenya has played a leading role in the quest for peace and stability in the turbulent East African region, because of her stability and general neutrality. The country has held regular election every five (5) years since independence. The elections of December 2002 which was largely hailed as peaceful paved the way for a smooth transfer of power. However in the 2007 general elections when the results were announced, chaos broke. It was felt that the election process was tampered with. With the intervention of the international community the country went back to track after Raila and Kibaki signed a power sharing document called National Accord which created the post of a prime minister. It is of interest to note that this position was removed by the 2010 constitution. Kenyans are still on the search for elusive hope which has dodged them since independence. The new constitution 2010 was the hope of meeting their dreams. Has it?

CHAPTER TWO- GOVERNMENT STRUCTURES AND FUNCTIONS

What is a Government?

A government is a body entrusted by the members of the public to manage its affairs on their behalf. In Kenya, a government is contracted for five years and the Mwananchi evaluates it using the ballot. If it has performed well then it will be given another lifeline to continue for another five years. A government sets and administers public policy and exercises executive, political and sovereign power through customs, institutions and laws within a state. Based on its functions a government is a system or group of people governing an organized community often a state. (www.businessdictionary.com/definition/government.html, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/government)

Origins of Government

Political writers have invented various theories as to the origin of government, among them are the following:

Government originates in the right of the father to govern his child or children.

It originates in convention and is a social compact.

It originates in the people, who collectively taken are sovereign.

From God through natural law.

The rise of government developed as a result of a society becoming complex. When a society was composed of hunters and gatherers, there was no need of an organized system to control their daily lives. As society developed and roles became complex there was need to control relationships and various activities. There was need of order. It is for this reason that Hobbes said:

All human society rests on mutual understanding,

moreover, that it is solely on the grounds of some

covenant tacit or spoken, that man may be said

to owe anything to his fellow, or to be obligated to

him or to have any duty toward him.

Hobbes argued that it is very important to have a covenant. He argues that there can be no injustice where there is no covenant:

But where a covenant is made, then to break it is unjust and

the definition of injustice is no other than non- performance

of covenant. And whosoever is not unjust is just.

A covenant is also a contract. A contract is void if the other party does not perform his or her part. Note that in the state of nature there is anarchy and disorder. Hobbes had this to say:

The laws of nature such as justice, equity, modesty, mercy and in sum, doing things to others as we would be done to, of themselves, without the terror of some power, to cause them to be observed, are contrary to our natural passions that carry us to partiality, pride, revenge and the like. And the covenant, without the sword, are but words, and of no strength to secure a man at all. Therefore, notwithstanding the law of nature, which everyone hath then kept, then he has the will to keep them, when he can do it safely, if there be no power erected, or no great enough for our security, every man will and may lawfully rely on his own strength and act, for caution against all other men. Men left without an organized system will be chaotic and will be against all in the society. This organized system is the government.

Hobbes describes the "natural condition of mankind is what would exist if there were no government, no civilization, no laws, and no common power to restrain human nature… life in the state of nature is" nasty, brutish and short. According to Hobbes:

"The life of man in the state of nature is solitary,

poor, nasty, brutish and short".

In the state of nature, security is impossible for anyone, and the fear of death dominates every aspect of life. Being rational, humans will naturally seek to be rid of fear. The idea of a "state of nature" is the idea of life without government, without a state or laws. To imagine a state of nature, we imagine a state without a government, law, and police. Under the state of nature, people will be fighting each other, and everyone will be disposed or ready to fight if they need to, and will live in a state of continual fear and danger of violent death. Under these conditions, people will not work nor study nor create.

In such conditions, there is no place for industry, because the

fruit thereof is uncertain, and consequently no culture of the earth.

No knowledge of the face of the Earth, no account of Time, no Arts,

no Letters. And so, as a result our lives will be solitary, poor,

nasty, brutish, and short (Leviathian chapter 14).

Hobbes says that the uncertainty which arises from the fact that men are governed by passion as often as by reason is overcome by erecting a visible power (government) to keep them in awe and tie them by fear of punishment to the performance of their covenants and observation of those laws of nature. This power which keeps men in awe will also direct their actions to the common benefit. According to Hobbes, there is only one way to erect such an invisible power and that is:

To confer all (mens) power and strength upon one assembly of men, that may reduce all their wills, by plurality of voices, unto one will which is as to say, to appoint one man, or assembly of men, to bear their person, and everyone to own, and acknowledge himself to be another of whatsoever he that so beareth their person, shall act, or cause to be acted, in those things which concern the common peace and safety, and therein to submit their wills, everyone to his will, and their judgments, to his judgments

What Hobbes is in essence saying, is that man has to surrender his will to a group of men or to another man for the common good of the society. Every man should say:

I authorize and give up my right of governing myself, to this man, or to this assembly of men, on this condition, that thou give up this right to him, and authorize all his actions in like manner.

It is important to point out that though absolute power is vested in a person or assembly of persons, they are bound to show gratitude toward men by behaving modestly, judging equitably and generally behaving according to the laws of nature. Admittedly, the bearer of the public person enjoys an initial advantage over any who would unseat him, but no ruler can afford to either neglect his popularity or overlook the possibility that he may loose the loyalty of his subject to some military hero or other public favourite. If a government becomes complacent because it has been in power for a long time making it feel comfortable in a comfort zone it risks overthrow by either the bullet or the ballot. In Kenya, the citizen has the contract with the government for five years and the government is evaluated during the national elections through secret ballot. (Hobbes-Thmas-1660-The-Leviathan, www.sparknotes.com>sparknotes>philosophystudyguide>Leviation)

John Locke, on the origin of the government, argued that the reason why government evolved is because man wanted his property to be protected. He argued that the right to property is an original and indefeasible right, stemming from the ownership a man has of his own body. When a man enters the civil state, he does so with a view to preserving, as well as enhancing, what he already possesses. Locke argued that so long as the man refuses to respect the rights of his fellows, the life liberty and property of each man is insecure. Hence, each man has the right and duty to apprehend and punish violators. In civil society, where there are recognized laws and acknowledged judges, merely punishing a wrong-doer does not lead to war. But in the state of nature, where each man has to interpret the law and decide upon vengeance, the attempt of one man to punish another readily leads to counter measures, and war is the result. Fleeing from this condition, which has no remedy in the state of nature, man consents to be bound by political power. On this line of thought, Locke says:

For the end of evil society, being to avoid and remedy those inconveniences of the state of nature which necessarily follow from every man’s being judge in his own case, by setting up a known authority, to which everyone of that society may appeal upon any injury received, or controversy that may arise, and which everyone of the society ought to obey. Man being born, as has been proved, with a little to perfect freedom, and an uncontrolled enjoyment of all the rights and privileges of the law of nature equally with any other man, or number of men in the world, hath by nature a power, not only to preserve his property, that is, his life, liberty and estate is against the injuries and attempts of other men, but to judge of and punish the breaches of that law in others, as he is persuaded the offence deserves, even with death itself, in crimes where the heinous of the fact, in his opinion, requires it.

Locke in this assertion goes beyond the definition of property in the common usage; Locke argues that it is not right for the state to act arbitrary when dealing with its citizens. He says this:

Freedom of men under government is, to have a standing rule to

live by common to everyone of that society, and made by the

legislative power erected in it, a liberty to follow my own will in

all things, where the rule prescribes not, and not to be subject

to the inconsistent, uncertain, unknown, arbitrary will of

another man. (Locke 1689)

Memorable quotes by John Locke

The end of law is not to abolish or restrain, but to preserve and enlarge freedom. For in all the states of created beings capable of law, where there is no law, there is no freedom

All mankind……..being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty or possessions

The only task of the government is the protection of private property

Wherever law ends, tyranny begins

Man….hath by nature a power…to preserve his property – that is, his life, liberty and estate-against the injuries and attempts of other men

Liberty is to be free from restraint and violence from others

Life without liberty is like a body without spirit

Liberty is obedience to the law which one has laid down for oneself

All people have natural rights of life, liberty and property. Government was to protect these. If it did not overthrow it.

Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) was born to Isaac Rousseau and Suzanne Bernard in Geneva on June 28, 1712. His mother died only a few days later on July 7, and his only sibling, an older brother, ran away from home when Ronsseau was still a child. Rousseau was therefore brought up mainly by his father.

( https://www.lep.htm.edu/rousseaul).

Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a Francophone Genevan Philosopher, writer and composer of the 18th century. His political philosophy influenced the Enlightenment in France and across Europe, as well as the aspects of the French Revolution and the overall development of modern political and educational thought:

Rousseau sounded more of a revolutionary than just a

political thinker. Some of his slogans, for instance:

Man is born free and everywhere he is in chains

According to Rousseau, the only constant concern of almost all species including man is self preservation. After mating, the sexes have no natural need for each other, nor has the child need for its mother after it has learned to feed itself. Rousseau continues, in his earlier condition, man must have lived dispersed among other animals, relying on his adroitness to march their strength and speed. This way of life would hardly have been abandoned until pressures of numbers stimulated some individuals to develop their hitherto latent power of invention and industry, and of speech and cooperation. When this development took place, social emotions began to appear-tenderness and loyalty on one side, and pride and envy on the other. Soon men acquired ideas of beauty and merit, and diverted their energies by ornamenting their bodies and engaging in contests of strength. The loss of self-sufficiencies and the diminution of natural compassion which accompanied the changes balanced by an expansion of man’s hitherto undeveloped powers, and the "happiest and most stable of epochs" must have been that early period of tribal organization.

As long as no man needed to depend on another for livelihood, all lived free, honest, healthy and happy lives. But situation changed the moment one man began to stand in need of help of another. From the moment it appeared advantageous to any one man to have enough provisions for two: equality disappeared, property was introduced, work became indispensable, and vast forests became smiling fields, which man had to water with the sweat of his brow, and where slavery and misery were soon seen to germinate and grow up with crops.

According to Rousseau, natural inequalities did not embitter life until they began to be reflected in property differences, then natural differences were