Time to ditch divisive politics for posterity

Friday’s ceremony to mark the 50th anniversary of the death of Tom Mboya, one of the most illustrious politician of all times, was a solemn moment to reflect on the evolution of Kenya’s politics and make a determination for the future. Mboya’s contribution to the freedom struggle, which started with trade unionism and later political activism that culminated in political independence in 1963, is well documented.

Joining the Cabinet at independence, he was to emerge as one of the most influential thinkers, economic planners and shapers of the destiny of a nascent nation. But his was a short stint, as he fell so soon to the assassin’s gun; only six years after independence.

Earlier, in 1965, Pio Gama Pinto, a firebrand politician, had been gunned down at the gate of his residence in Nairobi’s upmarket Westlands area. These were to mark the start of a long chain of unresolved political assassinations. JM Kariuki, a populist and flamboyant politician, was killed in 1975 under mysterious circumstances. And later, in 1990, Foreign Affairs minister Robert Ouko was to meet the same fate. To date, these deaths remain unresolved and represent dark spots in the country’s post-independence history.

In recent weeks, claims of a plot to assassinate Deputy President William Ruto have dominated the political landscape. Investigations are undergoing and already an official at the DP’s office has been charged with circulating a suspicious document on the planned murder scheme.

It is worrying that the subject of political elimination continues to feature in our national discourse. It underlines levels of mistrust and perverted conception of politics. Although politics is about competition of ideas, ours has been reduced to a matter of life and death, which should not be the case.

The country must dispense with the narrative of political assassinations. Politics must be cleansed and moved back to the original purpose, namely, public service marked by sacrifice and selflessness. Speaking at the Mboya’s memorial yesterday, Catholic Bishop Alfred arap Rotich called for national reconciliation and tolerance, stating that vicious contest for political positions was tearing the country apart. That it does not serve the interest of the political contenders to have a divided nation because that is unmanageable.

With a long history of political deaths, our leaders must sober up. Talks of political assassination and ethnic mobilisation risk taking the country the path of violence, which we must avoid at all costs.