The Heir Who Came From (No)Where?

In many ways, I am not qualified to 'comment' on Kenya politics but, surely, as a relatively recent guest in this country, I can ask a few questions ...

The main, over-arching question, for me, concerns the ‘legitimacy of political ascendancy’ in Kenya (if I may be a little verbose). I refer to events that happened some time back already. I have asked this question of a few people but so far haven't got a satisfactory answer. This leads me to wonder more ...

And the exact nature of this question is this:

In Kenya, what gave that group now known as the ‘political class’, their legitimacy? By what birthright, or other credential, were they able to ascend to the thrones of political control? From what I have heard, and from the little I have read, the families that seem now to control the mechanics (and substantial fruits) of the political-economy of Kenya are not descended from the ‘royalty’ in of old. And neither are the descendants of the real ‘freedom fighters’.

The ‘freedom fighters’ that really won independence for Kenya and liberated Kenyans from Colonial rule – the Mau-Mau – are today little more than a group of aged men and women, struggling (on their own) to gain some form of reparation from the old Colonial masters who incarcerated them, and tortured many in despicably inhuman ways. The names of these Mau-Mau fighters are hardly – if at all – known to the Kenyan people today. Their families live in the same poverty as many of their original number do.

And where is the pre- (or post-) independence 'tribal royalty'? Where are the blue-blooded descendants of Kenya’s 40 or so tribes (depending how you count them). Were these ‘kings’, ‘chiefs’, and ‘paramount chiefs’ somehow marginalized, just as Kenya’s freedom fighters were?

Certainly, among the rank-and-file Kenyans I know, there seems to be no knowledge AT ALL of who the members of Kenyan ‘royalty’ are, or were! For example, whatever happened to the families descended from Karen Blixen’s friend, Chief Kinanjui? He was certainly around ... I have seen pictures of him.

Where I come from, everyone knows about the Madiba clan and the 'royalty' status of those descended from the Tembu name. The Sigcau chieftainship, and royal house, is also quite familiar to many, as are many Venda, Sotho and Tswana royal families, running all the way to the great "Rain Queen" herself. The name Zwelithini is recognized as belonging to the legitimate leaders of the Zulu people. And in the cities, even the taxi-driver heir to a chief is commonly recognized and known by the general populace.

Further, those who played a genuine role in the South African liberation struggle have been – and remain - recognized by the State, and often hold significant positions in politics, or perchance in the economy. This applies not only to ‘people of colour’ but even to the waZungu 'freedom fighters', with the late Joe Slovo perhaps being the most prominent example (but not excluding others like Albie Sachs, et.al.).

Yet in Kenya, the 'chiefs' and the 'freedom fighters' seem both to have disappeared from sight! From the little I know, today's ‘political class’ - the ‘ruling elite’ - seem to have come initially from almost nowhere! I stand grossly corrected if I am wrong and I would like to be enlightened if I am, indeed, wrong.

Post-independence history books in Kenya don’t seem to deal with claims to power at all. Maybe for good reason? Am I over-simplifying the situation when I ask whether the 'royalty' and the Mau-Mau were not both perhaps deliberately excluded from claims to power? Both seem to have been submerged by a self-styled bunch of shrewd political operators who emerged quite suddenly ... But from where exactly?

So where did Kamau Wa Ngengi really come from (other than a British-run prison) and what role did he really play in the liberation of Kenya? How did he rise to power in the post-colonial Kenya? And what role did the changing of his name - to Jomo Kenyatta - have in gaining him (perhaps new-found) legitimacy? The new name, alone, would have given him legitimacy that would otherwise have been absent. Was it a very shrewd political ploy? Who exactly might have been behind it? To me at least, these questions are a mystery indeed.

The machinations, allegiances and connivances of Kenyan politics, past and present, are certainly something to behold, but nowhere do I hear claims of proper political legitimacy being made. Least of all do I know of any history texts dealing with this, either. And perhaps this is the most revealing fact of all ...

In South Africa, despite the stooges that were put in place by successive Apartheid regimes, the legitimate heirs to various ‘thrones’ were always known. And the ‘freedom fighters’ - however insignificant any of them might have seemed at the time - remain recognized.

In Kenya, nepotism - taken to a level of an enduring ‘nepotocracy’ - has existed to such an extent that successive generations of certain families have been politically 'empowered' to the total exclusion of others. This continues to be the case - to the extent that the youth, particularly, feel they have 'no right' somehow to be in politics!

How did this all come about? I certainly don't know. And I have yet to hear decent answers from those I would I expect to know. Those who have come through the Kenyan education system - those one would expect to know - certainly don't know. And I'll happily publish a decent answer here. If I can get one ...

With some confusion, amani na mapenzi brethren,

Until later,

B-)