By Anderson Ojwang
History could be in the making with the development of a new political manual to override the old template where resignation after a fallout was the order of the day.
Today, the old template by the first vice president of Kenya has come under intense scrutiny and may soon become outdated in the new political dispensation.
Currently, the impeached Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua is out to make history by exorcising the ghost of resignation as was founded by the first vice president of Kenya the late Jaramogi Oginga Odinga.
Oginga set a precedent that became a political template and safe exit valve for besieged officeholders after a fallout with the power.
After independence and a fallout between the founding President the late Mzee Jomo Kenyatta and his deputy, Oginga opted to resign from the seat of the vice president and instead formed his political party, Kenya’s People Union (KPU)
Oginga’s template became the manual that subsequent officeholders who became besieged followed to the letter and it became like a tradition among the political class.
Fifty-eight years ago, Oginga set a precedent by digging a political pit that has turned out a graveyard for successive politicians who have walked in his path.
The decision by Oginga has continued to shape the country’s political landscape and left high-profile politicians in the obituary.
Former Vice Presidents the late Prof. Josephat Karanja and Prof George Saitoti all resigned and lost their political clout.
But currently, Rigath has defied the manual to walk through the National Assembly, the Senate, and currently the High Court to challenge his impeachment.
Rigathi before his impeachment said “I was elected by 7.2 million Kenyans; how dare you suggest I resign without public participation? I have no intention of resigning from this job… I will fight until the end,” he told journalists.
The self-confessed truthful man went ahead to say that those sending emissaries to him to resign were jokers as that was the last thing he would do.
“I will get justice and carry out my duties as DP. Anybody sending me messages to resign is a joker. I have done nothing wrong to Kenyans.”
Rigathi claimed that some of his friends have been persuading him to step down from his job to avoid impeachment.
“I urge those my friends who are coming to persuade me to resign to stop it because I will not resign,” Rigathi said
Rigathi wondered why he should resign saying “I have no intention to resign; I will fight to the end. How dare you suggest to me to resign?”.
“When I organized this press conference, I got reports suggesting that I wanted to resign. I want to say that I will fight until the end,” he laughed off.
For Oginga on April 14, 1966, he shocked and shook the nation by bowing to the pressure from his opponents and made history as the first vice president in a post-colonial era to resign.
“It is fairly clear that there is pressure and desire that I should leave the government, the authority concerned however, showed reluctance to say openly to the public.
If I thought there was the slightest chance to put things right from within the government, then the desire to remove me from the office would not worry me, as indeed, it has not done for the last year, however, Wananchi my honest opinion is that the present government has reached a point of no return. It can only do for the people the little that the underground master allows it to do.
I, therefore, find it impossible to be part of it and my decision, from now on I should be free and join wananchi that their voice be heard,’ Oginga said at his resignation.
And by that, Oginga opened the country’s pandora box to resignation and political grave that has destroyed and consumed the careers of politicians in the country.
Political Analyst Mr. Patrick Ouya says Rigathi has radically transformed the politics of the country by facing his accusers in the Assembly, Senate, and Court. This is a political milestone and a sign of bravery few politicians would walk.
“Rigathi has erased Oginga’s old script of political resignations and invented a new manual of fighting to the end. This is a new dispensation that will change the political landscape of the country,” he says.
Ouya says those who followed Oginga’s manual found themselves vanquished and in political oblivion. They became history the minute they resigned from the office.
“Look at the story of the late Kenneth Matiba, Martha Karua, the late Josephat Karanja, the late Achieng Oneko among others. They lost their political constituency and never recovered the prominence they enjoyed before resigning,” he argues.
Ouya says Rigathi has come out to tackle the curse of the office of the vice president and his action will ground the future occupant of the seat from manipulation by the president.
“In the future, those in elective posts either in government or political parties will not resign easily. They will take the battle to the next level. Rigathi has set a precedent,”: he says.
