Jubilee’s tyranny unmasked in BBI High Court ruling

 

This is a German word that refers to the process of Nazification, a system of totalitarian control and coordination over all aspects of German society. It was designed to turn Germany into a single-party state under Hitler and the Nazi Party. This followed the party’s seizure of power in 1933. At the time, Germany was a multi-party state led by a popularly elected representative government.

Once Hitler became Chancellor, he and his Nazi Party sought to synchronise all political, social, economic and cultural institutions with the Nazi state. This synchronisation was done in the guise of national unity.

However, rather than unifying, it enabled the party to extend its power by creating a single-party state. The state enforced a top-down approach. Everything from national and local government, professional organisations, social clubs, the economy and even leisure activities were subject to Gleichshaltung. The youth aka Hitlerjugend, and girls, Bund Deutscher Mädel, were not spared either.

Soon after ascending to power, the Nazi Party issued the Reichstag Fire Decree. This was a measure that suspended the protection of civil rights, free speech, and due process in the German Constitution. It also permitted the regime to arrest and incarcerate political opponents without specific charges, dissolve political organisations, suppress publications, and gave the central government the authority to overrule state and local laws, and overthrow state and local governments.

Hitler also succeeded in passing the Enabling Act that gave him the power to rule by decree, and the ability to pass laws without consulting the Reichstag or Parliament. He was able to do so even if those laws conflicted with the German Constitution. This effort effectively ended parliamentary democracy in Germany.

Mercifully, Gleichshaltung was not an eternity clause in German constitutionalism. The victorious World War II allies, which included Great Britain, France, Soviet Union and the United States, embarked on cleansing the German society of Nazi influences and effects and re-educating them on democratic values. Active Nazi Party members were removed from official public office and positions of influence, including the police force after the war. This was done through commissions, committees and tribunals called spruchkammer, comprising former resistance fighters, professional judges and ordinary individuals.

It has been philosophised that history does not repeat, but it does instruct.

Since the now infamous BBI handshake took place between President Uhuru and ODM Party leader Raila Odinga, the nation has witnessed our own rendition of Gleichshaltung. Similar to what happened in Germany, the handshake was touted to bring national unity. But all efforts point to an attempt to synchronise and corral the opposition, Judiciary, legislature, the state officers, provincial administration, electoral officials, media, military and the police force to propagate the political, social and economic ambitions and priorities of the current hybrid ruling regime.

Eerily similar to the Nazi Party, the present-day political regime also has Hitlerjugend, and Bund Deutscher Mädel, in the form of ‘youth for’, and ‘warembo na’ factions of the political parties respectively, thus ensuring that the Gleichshaltung permeates all spheres and demographics of life.

Fortunately, this tyranny of jubileefication was unmasked and put to a stop, albeit temporarily, during the recent High Court BBI Bill judgment that nullified and voided the Constitution of Kenya Amendment Bill 2020, terming it unlawful, illegal and unconstitutional.

Up until this point, the ruling regime had systematically managed to coerce and incentivise the legislature into approving the Bill at county, National Assembly and Senate; direct the provincial administration into collecting the mandatory electorate signatures; charge the state-appointed officers with drumming up support for the said Bill; utilise state resources towards funding all the phases of this constitution amendment process, and leveraged mainstream and social media platforms to publicise and keep the conversation alive. And going by the numerous expressions of disappointment coming mostly from the political class, it can be deduced that it also expected to curry favour with the court.

Begs the question, are we witnessing an enactment of Germany’s Reichstag Fire Decree through the attacks and threats on the five-judge bench from some of the Cabinet secretaries and MPs? Or through the proposals to usurp powers for constituency delimitation? and through the seemingly indefatigable drive of a state-led ‘popular’ constitutional amendment initiative? Is the inference by some of President Uhuru’s political advisors for him to disobey ‘moronic’ court decisions a reincarnation of Hitlers Enabling Act? And will the Judiciary be our last bastion towards terminating the ruling regime’s attempt at Kenya’s Gleichshaltung? You be the judge.

I submit that the ruling party has steadily but subtly applied salami tactics to extend its franchise towards Kenya’s Gleichshaltung.

Salami tactics is a political strategy of divide and conquer, where the application of threats and alliances are used to overcome political opposition. Resultantly, the opposition is eliminated slice by slice with the intention to delay the realisation of its decimation. Salami tactics are often successful because the aggressor keeps their true long-term motives hidden, while maintaining a posture of cooperation and beneficence, all the while engaging in the intended gradual subversion behind the scenes. Using this tactic, the aggressor, can influence and eventually dominate the political, social and economic landscape, piece by piece.

If you are in any doubt, all you need to do is to observe the coddling of the ODM party officials into government affairs, the voting patterns in Parliament, the formation and support of political alliances such as the One Kenya Alliance, the decline to field candidates in by-elections by the opposition in areas where the ruling party has a candidate and vice versa, or the sidelining, repression, denigration and overt slandering of once perceived political allies such as the UDA.

We must be eternally conscious that political parties that embrace the doctrine of Gleichshaltung are not omnipotent right from their formation. However, they abhor democracy and hence seek to weaken or eliminate it. They exploit salami tactics and finally capitalise on a historic moment to bring about an end to hard-won democratic liberties. This exposes us to the threat of oligarchic governance, where the will of the powerful minority is effortlessly imposed on the majority.

Finally, my unsolicited advice is to Wanjiku who claims she is not interested in politics. Life is political, not because the world cares about how you feel, but because the world reacts to what you say or don’t say, or what you do or don’t do. In the politics of the day, this counts for much. Wake up from your political stupor, and take notice of the signs of Gleichshaltung happening all around you. Do not look away. Do not get used to them. Because your acquiescence today sanctions your oppression tomorrow. The World War II allies enabled the denasification of Germany. What will you do?    BY THE STAR