Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0208/02088.txt

Text File | 1991-06-25 | 35KB | 566 lines

$Unique_ID{COW02088}
$Pretitle{256}
$Title{Kenya
Chapter 4C.   Opposition Elements}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Donald P. Whitaker}
$Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army}
$Subject{government
political
moi
kanu
kenya
assembly
economic
national
press
kenyatta}
$Date{1983}
$Log{}
Country:     Kenya
Book:        Kenya, A Country Study
Author:      Donald P. Whitaker
Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army
Date:        1983

Chapter 4C.   Opposition Elements

     During the first months of Moi's leadership, scarcely any resistance
could be found to his conciliatory policies, reflected by the slogan "peace,
love, and unity." By 1981, however, the underlying stresses of Kenyan
political and social life had reemerged, and the government drifted
increasingly toward more authoritarian measures to repress criticism. The
relatively few "radicals" in the National Assembly and among university
professors, students, and intellectuals were not a cohesive group, nor did
they embrace a particular ideology, although many were socialist or Marxist
in outlook. The government displayed considerable sensitivity because their
charges of exploitation, favoritism, and misuse of political power struck a
resonant chord among the public. The government's propensity to align itself
with business and property interests exposed discontent that had previously
been obscured by prosperity touching all classes. Inflation, consumer goods
shortages, and unemployment accentuated the disparity between the mass of
society and the fortunate few at the top.

     A formal opposition party has not been sanctioned since 1969, when the
KPU was banned on a charge that it had planned the overthrow of the
government. It was formed in 1966 when 30 representatives and senators
resigned from KANU. In the ensuing by-elections, KANU won overwhelmingly, only
seven seats in the House of Representatives and two in the Senate going to the
KPU. By 1967 the government had adopted a much harsher attitude toward the
party after disclosures that it had been receiving funds from foreign
communist sources. The leading figure in the KPU was Odinga who, until his
resignation from the government in April 1966, had been Kenyatta's vice
president. Most of those who lined up with Odinga were associated with the Luo
ethnic group. Government suppression of the party and the detaining of Odinga
and others intensified the feeling of persecution among the Luo. Their
hostility was moderated, and political tensions in general were eased when
Kenyatta introduced reforms for the December 1969 general election decreeing
that candidates would be selected in primaries open to all KANU members.
Inclusion of a significant number of Luo in the cabinet helped further to
reduce the Luo sense of alienation (see The Kenyatta Era, ch. 1).

     Although excluded from the 1979 elections in spite of having been allowed
to rejoin KANU, Odinga seemed on the path to rehabilitation when Moi appointed
him to head a major government marketing board. Odinga's outspokenness plunged
him into new controversy, however, when he included the venerated Kenyatta in
an attack on "landgrabbing politicians." In 1981 an assembly seat in a Luo
area had been vacated to permit him to reenter the legislature after the
formality of winning a by-election, but he was forbidden to run, and he also
lost his post on the marketing board.

     In early 1982 Odinga's rhetoric became even more inflammatory. He charged
the government with inflicting on Kenya its economic reverses through
corruption, misapplication of foreign exchange, continued import of luxury
goods, misuse of foreign aid, and poor planning. Odinga condemned the military
facilities agreement with the United States and the failure of the Kenyan
government to obtain legislative approval for it. After mentioning the need
for a second political party in Kenya while speaking in London, Odinga was
expelled from KANU. Odinga was placed under house arrest after the August
1982 coup attempt, although suspicions that he was implicated were not
corroborated.

     In the absence of an opposition party, critical evaluation of
government policies has been voiced mainly by a small group of younger
members of the National Assembly. Labeled as radicals and springing for
the most part from the political left, they have attracted popular support
by their condemnation of corrupt behavior, favoritism in the redistribution
of land, and social injustice. The most outspoken of the group, Koigi wa
Wamwere, was subjected to detention in 1982; another, Waruru Kanja, was
jailed for foreign exchange violations. Two others, Chelegat Mutai and James
Orengo, fled the country to avoid arrest over purported discrepancies in
their official accounts. The government's growing impatience with its
critics apparently had a restraining effect on the six or seven radicals
remaining in the assembly. None of them ventured to speak against the
constitutional amendment for a one-party system, which passed unanimously
in June 1982.

     Apart from the assembly, the most persistent sources of opposition to
the government have been found among the students and university faculties
in Nairobi, a few writers, and some intellectuals. Student protests have
been a frequent occurrence at the University of Nairobi and Kenyatta
University College, induced for the most part by the government's inability
to rid itself of corruption and its intolerance of dissent. In 1979 the
debarring of former KPU leaders from contesting the election provoked a
series of demonstrations. The University of Nairobi was closed for two months
in 1981 as a result of unrest over a number of unpopular government actions
and again in 1982 over student demands that the multiparty state be preserved.
This precipitated a political screening of all faculty and students and the
arrest of several lecturers on charges of possession of seditious literature.
The government declared that "Marxist agents" were intent on bringing anarchy
and totalitarianism, but no real evidence of conspiracy or foreign involvement
was presented.

     The government's purpose in acting against its critics seemed to be to
deter professors having socialist or radical beliefs from indoctrinating their
students with ideas deemed subversive. The direct threat to the established
order from this source seemed limited. The politically active students were
said to number no more than a few hundred, and many of these would soon be
taking their places among the upper segments of the government and business
community. Nevertheless, the recurrent student unrest was regarded by some
observers as evidence of suppressed discontent among the important urbanized
middle classes over shrinking economic opportunity and the diminished scope
for political expression.

     No combinations have emerged among the discontented students and
disadvantaged groups in society, such as the poor peasants and urban
unemployed. The potential for political action among these groups seemed low
in view of their lack of organization and their tendency to respond on a basis
of self-interest rather than in a wider spirit of dissatisfaction.

     Kenya has a well-developed trade union movement, but its members have
constituted a privileged group within the work force. The government has
dominated the labor scene, beginning with the authority to register trade
unions. Collective bargaining has been permitted, but labor disputes had to be
referred to the Ministry of Labour for conciliation or arbitration. Almost all
strikes were illegal under threat of fine and imprisonment. The Kenya Union of
Civil Servants, the largest union in the country, was formally deregistered in
1980 because of its alleged political activity.

The Moi Presidency

     The transfer of leadership to Moi upon Kenyatta's death in 1978, effected
according to constitutional form, was a major accomplishment of the Kenyan
political order. Kenyatta had been a symbol of nationhood, a rallying point
for all Kenyans, and at the same time leade