The Cabinet is meeting today to discuss the contentious Waki Report, with the Waki envelop threat hanging over some of their heads. I for one, I am very sceptical about the cabinet taking any risks that would put their careers on the line, but I beleive that this matter must somehow be brought to a close if this country is to move ahead. And especially those whose names are rumoured to be in the envelop, it helps to sort out this matter once and for all with 2012 still far away. Raila has already intimated that he is ready to quit the Government if he discoveres that ODM leaders were victimized in the report....question is, can this report bring down the coalition government?
But did this report really tell us anything we did not know?
ReplyDeleteWell, for one, i think the Waki Report has been much hyped. The fuss surrounding it is reaching near-circus proportions that is usually associated with most things in this country. We as a society have perfected the art of glossing over issues or just approaching them with too much ceremony, which largely ensures that the issues remain ceremonial. When reports are presented, the stage is set as if it is a wedding reception, complete with ribbons and balloons. When exam results are presented the same atmosphere abounds despite the numerous challenges facing the very administration of the exams, and which recur every year, almost with clockwork precision. So sadly we have become a circus nation, with the so called principals taking the lead as MCs. Everything is a ceremony. So when Waki or Kriegler present their reports, whose raison d'etre are so grave to the future of this nation and whose outcomes are crucial for national healing, the political class don their party clothes complete with hats and proceed to "ceremonise" the occasions of presentation while knowing that they wont amount to much.
ReplyDeleteOf course Kriegler and Waki told us what we already knew, and sadly it will remain business as usual until 2012 rears its ugly head again. Already we are hearing such crass statements like the Kikuyu and Akamba should form an alliance to rout the ODM or whatever will be remaining of it come 2012, yet we have added to the docket of Karua, something called National Cohesion or some such ceremonial title!!Agenda #4 which should tackle the historical injustices and inequity issues, and the emotive land issues which were some of the root causes of the PEV, as well as the much needed constitutional reform have not received the due attention that it deserves. Why? Because these are the real non-ceremonial issues that everybody seems scared to touch.So my take is that these reports, while very important, do not tell us much about what we have not already realised ourselves. The only thing worth smiling about, especially about the Waki report, is that at some point in the near future, there will be closure either by ICC or local tribunal. And when that time comes, we will know whether the coalition government will remain in place. Chances are, it might not. And that might not be such a bad thing. There is this famous saying by one of the many dead philosophers, that the difference between a statesman and a politician is that one thinks about the next generation, while the other thinks about the next election.a