Thanks Nyang

My jubilation about your oversight was premature, and I'm not surprised you remembered the issue of the political dynasty in my statement: "To think that the son of such a person is banging at the gates of Kenya's executive mansion is itself an exemplification of the immaturity at the heart of African public life".

Even without Jeb, the Bushes are the purest political dynasty at the national level. The Roosevelts', Theodore, and Franklin, were distant relatives, and the Kennedys' were prevented from achieving national doubles, may be triples, by tragedy. Ted had to limit his horizons to the Senate, and Robert's presidential career was cut short by an assassin's bullet after winning the California primary for the Democratic nomination. The answer to your query lies in the career of Ted Kennedy, with the background, money, and connections to make a serious bid for the White House. He was involved in a car accident that killed his female partner and his post-accident behavior was far less than commendable. His rivals within and without the Democratic party would have a field day. The media would have buried him alive had me made any run for the presidency.

Fast forward to the Bushes. Senior is still well connected and as a former spy chief, he knew the locations of the skeletons. They are a more moderate family and are not as tragedy-prone as the Kennedys. And more critically, in the American context, I cannot say of the Bushes "To think that the son and brother of such presidents is banging at the gates of the White House is itself an exemplification of the immaturity at the heart of US public life". Although a one-termer, Bush Senior was regarded as a hero as the President who oversaw Operation Desert Storm, the US military assault that expelled Sadam from Kuwait.

The other president Bush was said to be clumsy and intellectually inept, but he too was a hero in the eyes of many Americans. He had the good fortune to be the 9/11 president, as well as the man who launched the mixed-fortune wars in Afghanistan, and Iraq. And they are the first presidents to catapult blacks to the top echelons of the US national security system through appointments to the top-tier positions of National Security Adviser, and Secretary of State (Powell, and Rice). No Democratic president ever did that!

In a nutshell, and from a public relations perspective, Jeb Bush is in better shape than Uhuru Kenyatta as far as antecedents. If the Senior Bush was a domestic dictator, a thief, and murderer of Americans in America, there would be no second Bush in the White House. I have earlier argued that the US is a domestic democracy and and international dictatorship, and Americans are generally happy with that arrangement. For the purpose of historical accuracy, it was the US Supreme Court that declared Bush as winner.

On the ICC, please see my response to Kejau. In my view, Kenyans are right to side with Uhuru as far as the ICC because I am not convinced the election cases are proper for the ICC. It was the Kenyan system that failed!

On Pan Africanism, you are aware its intellectual forerunners were Diaspora Africans fighting racism and discrimination in Europe and America. For a history of the Pan Africanist Congresses, I refer you to Halifa's book on that. In your readings, you are likely to encounter the likes of Sylvester-Williams, Blyden, Garvey and others. Continental giants, including Nkrumah, later embraced the ideology and became key Pan Africanists.

The only aspect of the Pan Aficanist logic arguably fulfilled by the AU (formerly OAU) is the formation of the continental organisation but self-reliance is yet to be achieved. His serious failings in governance notwithstanding, Nkrumah was a first rate thinker and clearly ahead of his time in understanding where Africa must be to take its rightful place in international affairs. At the government level, I cannot think of a spiritual home for Pan Africanism in today's Africa. Surprising? Not at all in that the values underlying true Pan Africanism cannot coexist in the same house with the type of autocracy that still dominates African governance. If African leaders are true Pan Africanist, they would not have permitted China to build the AU's new headquarters in Addis Ababa, nor for France to lead the fight against ragtag Islamist insurgents in Mali.

LJDarbo

From: Modou Nyang <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Wednesday, 6 March 2013, 19:42
Subject: Re: [G_L] Jombo Kenyatta's son Uhuru Kenyatta Possible New President - of Kenya???

LJ allow me to add this line that i forgot to include.

IS there any diference in the re-ascention of the Kenyatta clan to power to the Bush's here in the US? Consider that another Bush - remember the one that handed the presidency to the other Bush in Florida, is touting the idea of running for the White House in 2016.

From: Modou Nyang <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Wednesday, March 6, 2013 10:50 AM
Subject: Re: [G_L] Jombo Kenyatta's son Uhuru Kenyatta Possible New President - of Kenya???

LD,
Interesting take on Kenya and Kenyatta. I want to ask a couple more questions.
How did you interpret Kenyatta's ascending to the front runner position considering the dangling indictments over his and his running mates heads? Does it tell us anything about the Kenyan people's view of the ICC indictments?Also consider that Kenyatta was not the front runner in the previous election in 2007.
On the Pan-African question.
Do you consider that fact that Pan-Africanism today does not have a home in Africa as it used to do in Ghana during the days of the legendary Nkurumah?
Do you consider the AU as it is today with the current leadership in Africa, to be an organization that represents the ideals of true Pan-Africanism?

I consider my self to also be someone not entrapped by the romanticism of Pan-Africanism and everything else.

From: Lamin Darbo <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Wednesday, March 6, 2013 6:21 AM
Subject: Re: [G_L] Jombo Kenyatta's son Uhuru Kenyatta Possible New President - of Kenya???

Demba

Thanks, and you do have a very searching mind yourself.

Your query re Obama is significant in that the US President is the son of the man who was maltreated, blacklisted, and economically starved to a frustrating early death by the father of Uhuru Kenyattta, Kenya's potential president. Obama is aware of his father's plight in the hands of the elder Kenyatta, and actually included some of the narrative in his book Dreams From my Father (1995).

Uhuru Kenyatta, second son of Jomo Kenyatta by fourth wife and widow, and political heir of Kenya's founding Prime Minister, and first President, carries a lot of baggage. The Kenyatta name is well recognized and comes with tremendous prestige. The elder Kenyatta did some good for Kenya, and was a larger than life figure in the Africa and Kenya of the liberation struggle and early independent era. Nkrumah and other continental personalities were his political contemporaries. As you would guess, I am not detained by the romantic school of Pan Africanism for if that alone must be our source of pride, we will forever remain a childlike people (What do you think of China building the headquarters of the AU in Addis after some fifty years of the founding of the continental organisation? Or Frnce keeping the 'peace' in Mali when the AU is alive and well?).

Regrettably, he also represented everything you are fighting against in the Gambia today. He was an autocrat who gave himself extended powers and in the process indulged heavily in every type of repression and political criminality, including murders of dissidents and prominent opponents. He was utterly corrupt and encouraged the syndrome as a way of maintaining a tight stranglehold on Kenyan public life. His family is quite wealthy and Uhuru Kenyatta is himself reportedly worth some �350 million pounds. To think that the son of such a person is banging at the gates of Kenya's executive mansion is itself an exemplification of the immaturity at the heart of African public life, not to mention the dilemma, through time, of legitimizing the illegitimate, and legalizing the illegal. All of the elder Kenyatta's murders, and massive corruption, are now matters of mere academic interest.

Life can be quite strange!

LJDarbo

From: Demba Baldeh <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Wednesday, 6 March 2013, 0:11
Subject: Re: [G_L] Jombo Kenyatta's son Uhuru Kenyatta Possible New President - of Kenya???

Thanks a million LJD.. excellent perspective on the potential Kenyatta
election to the Presidency... I think you nailed the major points on
this... I would further wonder how President Obama will react to the
Kenyan people who freely elects a President with fewer or no violence
clashes reported as oppose to the case five years ago...

As you noted, his election will present a diplomatic nightmare for the
West but I think as we have seen they are very smart in ignoring
issues that favors their economic and political interest... even if
they disagree...

It is also interesting how US could hand over someone for prosecution
to the ICC that they don't recognize their citizens to be prosecuted
in the first place. I also ask could Kenyatta in fact be a US or
British citizen... I think Kenya allows dual citizenship???
Interesting diplomatic times for the UN governing body as well.!!!..

Thanks Lamin always for the enlightening take on issues.

Regards

Demba

On Tue, Mar 5, 2013 at 3:37 PM, Lamin Darbo <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Demba
>
> If Uhuru Kenyatta is elected president, his ICC indictment for crimes
> against humanity will present a diplomatic minefield to the international
> community. Kenya is quite a significant country and is home to one of the
> UN's four major global office complexes, and headquarters of its
> Environment, and Habitat, programmes.
>
> It is also a vital centre of operations against international terrorism,
> meaning that the US and its European partners are likely to tread very
> carefully in the event of Kenyatta's election. Given Kenya's strategic
> location and proximity to the 'terrorist' flash points in Somalia and its
> environs, diplomatic calculations will likely take primacy in western
> national security concerns.
>
> From a purely legal perspective, the Rome Statute does not recognize
> sovereign immunity, meaning that Kenyatta can be arrested and flown to the
> Hague to answer charges of crimes against humanity, one of the three crimes
> currently recognized by the Court. And this notwithstanding he was cleared
> by the Kenyan judicial system to contest the presidency!
>
> Kenyatta is unlikely to encounter any problems in Africa, the Middle East,
> and even some parts of the Far East as far as the ICC arrest warrant.
> Witness Bashir of Sudan who is still at large notwithstanding his indictment
> by the ICC some five years ago. The fundamental question is whether Kenyatta
> can be an effective President if he must stay out of the EU, and the United
> States, two regions where an ICC arrest warrant is likely be executed.
>
> If Kenyatta is elected, Kenya as a country will go against the ICC. The AU,
> and the Arab world, are already in that bracket in light of their opposition
> to surrendering Bashir of the Sudan. Although the law is clear that Kenyatta
> has no immunity, I cannot see him at The Hague if only because of the
> immense and critical diplomatic issues embedded in any attempt to transfer
> him, and his running mate, to the Netherlands.
>
> Kenya's election violence appear not to be a suitable case for the ICC, and
> it is quite regrettable we are at this point in that unfortunate
> transaction. We are here only because of Africa's governance deficit!
>
>
>
> LJDarbo
>
> ________________________________
> From: Demba Baldeh <[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Sent: Tuesday, 5 March 2013, 18:09
> Subject: [G_L] Jombo Kenyatta's son Uhuru Kenyatta Possible New President -
> of Kenya???
>
> Uncle Sainey,
>
> Was wondering if you or history students such as Dr. Jallow could put some
> light on the possibility of former Kenyan leader Jombo Kenyatta's son
> becoming new President of Kenya? Any recollection of Jombo Kenyatta's reign
> in Kenya, role in fighting for Independence in Africa and promotion for
> African Unity and Pan African-ism...
>
> It can be noted that Uhuru Kenyatta is currently allegedly indited by the
> ICC for previous crimes and killings in Kenya... Would this Jeopardize his
> potential Presidency and what would it mean on the credibility of the ICC...
> LJD any opinion on this????
>
> Thanks
>
> Demba
>
> --
> "Be the change you want to see in the World"
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