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TheEastAfrican.co.ke: Do not forget Saba Saba in the heat of the current demeaning ethno-political debate

Posted by: Berhane.Habtemariam59@web.de

Date: Tuesday, 06 August 2019

A bus burned during the 1990 Saba Saba riots.

A bus burned during the 1990 Saba Saba riots. FILE PHOTO | NMG 

TEE NGUGI
By TEE NGUGI
Tuesday August 6 2019

Twenty-nine years ago on July 7, 1990, Kenyans finally shook off the fear that had ruled their hearts since Independence and took to the streets, calling for a return to multiparty democracy.

Hundreds were killed by security forces and regime militia. To this day, no one knows the exact number.

It is a great betrayal that those who perished so that we could regain our freedom from fear will remain faceless statistics, unremembered, for with every passing year, Saba Saba, the greatest day in Kenya’s post-Independence history, fades into the dim recesses of our collective consciousness.

The ruling elites, many of whom were intractable supporters of the Kanu dictatorship, will not mention Saba Saba, much less make any reference to the hundreds who lost their lives. They view history through an ethnic prism.

In their rendition, Kenya’s history is a series of contests between different ethnic groups for exclusive rights to national resources. So they argue that it is now “our turn to eat.”

Debate is derailed from considerations of policy, ideology, corruption, governance, etc, and turned into vitriol-filled outbursts of thinly veiled threats against individuals and groups.

When challenged about their suitability for the leadership positions they hold, they claim that there is a conspiracy to stop their ethnic group from ascending to power.

Our radios, TVs, newspapers are inundated with tribal calculations of which way this or that ethnic group will vote.

Instead of talk about sacrifice, heroism, democracy, all we hear about is “Mulembe (Luhya) consciousness,” the next Mount Kenya tribal chief, pastoralist party, Kamba unity, and so on.

In such a context, ideas of commemorating Saba Saba and its heroes, or thoughts of reawakening the vision the day represents only exist outside the fringes of public discourse.

So it was gratifying to see the gathering in Limuru of battle-hardened reformists of the 1990s and “Young Turks” in civil society to remember Saba Saba and, just as importantly, assess the state of the nation and figure out how to carry forward the ideals of Saba Saba.

Unlike tribal talk by the political elite, debates at the conference were scholarly and inspirational.

Speakers decried the state of the nation, the existential threat posed by corruption, and the poverty of ideas caused by the small ethnic visions articulated by the political class.

The conference resolved to reawaken the spirit of Saba Saba in order to ensure full implementation of the 2010 Constitution.

In the coming months, there will be many proposals on amending the Constitution. Already, the Punguza Mizigo Constitutional Amendments Bill is making its rounds.

This is an opportune time for alternative voices in the constitutional amendment debate.

The reform movement, driven by the ideals of the 1990s, would help re-appropriate the constitutional discussion from the political class and return it to the people.

Left to their own devices, politicians will only change those sections of the supreme law that will advance their interests.

There is a need for a full civil society-led audit of the Constitution to see what has worked and what has not.

For instance, Justice Mumbi Ngugi’s opinion that governors should step aside when charged in a court of law has sparked heated debate.

Many in the political class feel that this could lead to hounding of elected politicians from their positions.

However, many in civil society argue that the opinion will now strengthen the intentions of Chapter Six of the Constitution on integrity and leadership.

It is crucial, therefore, that a strong reformist movement uses its democratic orientation and intellectual advantage to shape debate on these and other issues.

The period leading to the Independence of Kenya was characterised by much debate among players in the freedom movement.

The colonial government, though still powerful, did not shape the debate or drive the agenda.

Likewise, though the Moi regime was powerful, it did not control or shape the reform agenda in the 1990s.

For an array of reasons, civil society activists relinquished the driving seat of reform to the political class.

The result has been the watering down of many provisions in the Constitution and the reduction of national debate to the question of which tribe should be next at the feeding trough.

Engaged in this demeaning debate, the populace fails to see how its destiny of freedom and prosperity, as promised by the Constitution, has been deferred.

This is a historic opportunity for the reform movement to regroup and once again shape the national future.

Tee Ngugi is a Nairobi-based political commentator.


6ይ ክፋል: ማዕበል ስርሒት ፈንቅል - የካቲት 1990 - ሰነዳዊት ፊልም| sirihit fenkil 1990 - part 6 - ERi-TV Documentary

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