Will ODM ever learn from its past election blunders?

Nazi Germany’s chief propagandist, Joseph Goebbels once stated: “A dictatorship requires three things: a man, an idea and a following ready to live for the man and the idea, and if necessary to die for them. If the man is lacking it is hopeless; if the idea is lacking it is impossible; if the following is missing, the dictatorship is only a bad joke.”

Goebbels dictum reflects the modus operandi of the Orange Democratic Movement. Subject the party to any in-house election or nomination of candidates in an election or by-election and you will be a student of Goebbels political class.

The question is why? Without any cogent answer, our lingering questions would forever remain unanswered. Could ODM be misusing the fate of the “innocent potential leaders” for parochial, political and monetary gains?

After the 2007 shambolic party nominations that attracted hue and cry from unsuspecting candidates all over the nation, and the party leader’s charm offensive to cool tempers, one would have imagined that 2013 primaries were going to be better if not perfect. But that kind of expectation became a good joke, leading to acrimony that subsequently denied the party the most coveted seat in the land, the presidency. One wonders if it is their philosophy in life.

From all available evidence, ODM has adopted the most popular strategy in propping up despotism; the “Big Lie” technique of propaganda, which is based on the principle that a lie, if audacious enough and repeated enough times, will be believed by the masses.

Wheeler-dealers

Whenever we think of the party and relate it to elections of its own officials, nominations for candidates to run for general elections or by-elections, we inevitably remember the work, adventures and actions of its mandarins and wheeler-dealers. As long as power or its illusion is perceived to beckon, they will play the trumpet.

In February, ODM retreated to Kasarani to elect its officials. The exercise would abort amid chaos and violence meted on innocent delegates where ballot boxes were carted away and destroyed by the infamous “Men in Black”, in the public glare of the press, invited guests, party members, candidates, outgoing officials and armed police officers.

The party leader, Raila Odinga, would later retreat to America for three months to shed off pigments of humiliation, after setting up a commission of inquiry, “Nyikuru Commission.” Findings of this commission are yet to be released 10 months later.

Their antics suggest “politics have no relation to morals.” That is why even those who toil to pay nomination fees to fairly compete for nomination certificates, but fail the loyalty test, never get their monies back and no one listens to their plight. At least Machiavelli taught his pupils that for their strategies to be effective, the leaders had to be completely believable and trusted by the people.

With the sudden and unfortunate death of former Homa Bay Senator Gerald Otieno Kajwang, Kenyans expected that being a single nomination for the party and with the urgent need to cleanse its image and put its house in order, ODM was obligated to do a better job. But the ugly and orgy manifestations were bound to happen sooner rather than later.

Hopes of curtailing dissatisfaction by using universal suffrage in arriving at an ideal candidate, no matter how disagreeable the exercise might have looked, would have presented a cliché for the party. Homa Bay was later treated to flagrant abuse of the process by men in black “series two”, even after candidates parted with hefty sums to fund the nomination exercise.

After enough incoherent rumbling all over the place, findings of a purported survey, of course without questionnaire, researchers, methodology, how many people surveyed, derivatives and the findings, were released where a three-week-old member trounced the rest of the candidates in terms of party loyalty.

The party nomination certificate was handed over to Kajwang’s younger brother Moses Otieno Kajwang, a theory advanced and communicated as a fiat. The candidate would later be increasingly seen as Raila’s henchman rather than a capable candidate to propagate Homa Bay ideals.

I dare say that Homa Bay is a precursor to what awaits candidates with intent of running for various seats in 2017. Methinks Kenyans are waiting to teach all political parties one Machiavellian lesson politicians might be unaware of: “When you disarm the people, you commence to offend them and show that you distrust them either through cowardice or lack of confidence and both these opinions generate hatred.”

And when the people hate you, there will be nowhere to hide. Perhaps that will explain their suicidal political odyssey when we cross the Rubicon.