Kenya’s Political Turmoil Is a Tale of Fathers and Sons
Maina Kiai said that History is not exactly repeating itself,
In the end, Mr. Kenyatta set up a buyback scheme, which meant the land "went more or less to the political elites," said
Odenda Lumumba, the chief executive officer of the Kenya Land Alliance, a national land rights group based in Nanyuki.
The colonial rulers wanted Mr. Odinga to lead the new Kenya,
but Mr. Odinga had other ideas: He demanded Mr. Kenyatta’s freedom — and his appointment as Kenya’s first head of state.
The elder Mr. Odinga advocated sharing state resources — especially the land the
British settlers would leave behind — among Kenya’s many ethnic communities.
But they had a falling out over the direction of newly independent Kenya — especially over land and power — and became bitter adversaries.
And so, in 1964, when Kenya became a republic, Jomo Kenyatta became its president, and Jaramogi Odinga vice-president.
His government also cracked down on dissent, harassing
and jailing opposition figures and democracy advocates, censoring the press, canceling the passports of perceived "enemies" of his government — all moves the younger Mr. Kenyatta has reinstated, in these last weeks, as he battles with the younger Odinga.