Shitemi Bright
This is the second post on my series on potential Presidents 2027 and beyond. These opinions are my own and are in no way associated with Kikao.
Senior Counsel Karua is a battle hardened soldier. She has an impeccable record when it comes to usher in Kenya’s second liberation. Two things stick out for me whenever her name is mentioned. One is a video of a lady defiantly walking out of President Moi’s speech, this at the time was the closest thing to suicide. I don’t understand why a President who would orchestrate an assassination at the slightest provocation would let her live to tell the story. It was 2001 and Moi had decided he’s going to retire is the only plausible reason, plus the fact that this lady was one of a kind. She stands on principle with friends and foes.
The second image of Karua is that of a hardliner at the peak of the post election violence of 2007. My brothers and I, 12 and 8 years old respectively, at the time would sleep in a ditch for fear of our home getting burnt down by arsonists. Our family lived at a small cosmopolitan center called Matunda that was at the boundary of Rift Valley and Western Province. On the backdrop of Raila Odinga’s loss in the election elements in the Kalenjin community had launched a fierce attack on Kikuyu homesteads and businesses, in response to this the Kikuyu community were planning retaliatory attacks. Rumours were rife that they had received ammunition from top government figures and the police were under instructions to support their cause. My father, a loud mouthed Raila supporter, who told anyone that cared before the elections of his political stand was now caught in the cross hairs. His home( our home) was a target, his life at risk. After spending the night outside we would sneak back into the safety of our homes at the break of dawn. We would find our father watching the TV after a night of little sleep, he had made up his mind to be killed in his home if Anton wanted to find him. A key figure in the Kibaki team was Karua, she came across as iron fisted and sharp as a needle. She dissected the opposition’s position meticulously, with an air of arrogant brilliance and contempt. She made the job of Koffi Annan, on the opposite side of the table were you guessed right your outgoing President Ruto, and the man with the same name twice Miguna Miguna. Karua was relentless and from my teenage eyes I just couldn’t understand why these men and women were willing to watch the country burn, I couldn’t understand why I couldn’t go to school, had to sleep outside and miss meals. I hated them.
Politics is a dirty game, in Kenya it is a filthy game. There’s no shame in this game of musical chairs, greedy mouths and devilish interests. For the hapless citizenry it provides hope, despair, comic relief and entertainment. The political establishment has its people by a string . To illustrate this , sworn enemies Raila and Karua in 2007 were running mates, team mates Raila and Ruto in 2007 turned enemies and now turned friends. Rinse and repeat.
Away from this sad reality that’s our politics Ms Karua strikes me as a principled person and straight shooter. She is now positioning to inherit the Murima vote basket and it looks likely that another Moi acolyte Rigathi will annoint her, or not? She might actually make a solid President if this revolution needed a buffer zone. The next President in Kenya will definitely need the support of these two . If stuck between the devil( Ruto) and the blue sea( Karua), I would advise for the blue sea (Karua) I hope that’s not a choice we have to make that’s why Kikao is here.
Kikao is the fastest growing people led movement engaging in National civic engagement and capacity building for the incoming leadership in 2027.
Join the movement www.kikao.live
This post was created with our nice and easy submission form. Create your post!
