IEBC Chair Erastus Ethekon.
The presidential election in Kenya is gunpowder. Whenever it is touched off, the blast rocks the country. It did so, 19 years ago. It could do so again, provided that the electoral authority elects to repeat the mistakes of history.
Election panic is in the air, now that the constitutional election date is one year away, tomorrow 10 August. Sundry itchy fingers are all over the place, testing all manner of tactical electoral keyboards. In State House, President William Ruto is receiving one massive delegation after the other in an electoral charm offensive.
It is instructive that Prof Kithure Kindiki is conspicuously absent from these State House jamborees. But this is a side matter for another day. Ikulu Nairobi has become the home of largesse and good words. The air is rife with confidence building and mutual assurances between the President and his visitors.
The buoyancy exuded in State House is itself a paradox of sorts. For, when the commander relocates operations from the field to the garrison, something is grossly amiss. And President Ruto has withdrawn his head from the searing battleground, into the ostrich sands of State House.
Such retreats indicate that the troops are getting outwitted on the battleground. They pull back from the field, into the safety of fortified walls. They get time to rest and heal their wounds. They fix the military gear and trust that the stronghold’s fortified walls will keep the enemy at bay.
It is the same in politics. A besieged leader in the political battleground retreats to the assured space that is State House. It is a safe sanctuary with little panic. It saves the troops from total elimination. Besides, the selected visitors will not heckle and shout out unsavoury things like, “Ruto must go”, “Wantam”, and other pesky stuff.
The chief resident of Ikulu is solidly in charge. People can only sing music into his ears. That done, they go away with assorted gifts; happy to have been hosted in these corridors of power. Whether they will do what they were told to go out and do is another matter. For now, the big man has good music, and a break from a tedious outside world.