ODM's insatiable hunger amid plenty is dangerous

When celebrated Indian author Bhabani Bhattacharya wrote his book, 'So Many Hungers!' in 1947, he had no inkling that the Great Famine of Bengal would be a figurative mirror of so many hungers in a political outfit in Kenya some 78 years later.

The style, delivery and lessons in this book are profound. Every Kenyan with a sense of patriotism should see the parallels between the India of 78 years ago and Kenya today.
So Many Hungers! is written against the background of the 1942-1943 man-made famine in Bengal, India, when a few greedy people started hoarding rice. The result was the death of more than 2 million people.

The exclamation mark with which So Many Hungers! ends denotes the writer’s bewilderment at the multiplicity of these hungers and the ghastliness of the malevolent ones.
Hunger for political freedom, hunger for imperial expansion, hunger for money, hunger for food, hunger for sex, hunger for human dignity and the hunger as a spiritual weapon.
Hunger makes human beings inhuman. The ravages of hunger compel a mother to eat food, while her child is lying dead in her lap. Hunger impels a young girl to show her nakedness to men for the sake of getting food for herself and family.

So Many hungers! deals with many depressing things. There are vulture-like men and women who are greedy and rapacious. We have the spectacle of boys fighting boys and animals for morsels ferreted out of garbage bins. On the other side, we have glimpses into the hearts and souls of human beings and find there in abundance love, purity and strength. Devesh Babu, a prototype of Mahatma Gandhi, tells the people of Baruni: “Friends and comrades do not betray the flag. Do not betray yourself; there is violence in your thoughts, that is evil enough. Do not make it worse by violence in action. Be strong, Be true, Be deathless.” Thus So Many Hungers! portrays the triumph of spirit over matter.

I think one of the saddest episodes in the book involves a man, who had travelled hundreds of miles from the village to Calcutta where it was said food was plentiful, and that city dwellers were a generous lot. Of course not, and families had to scavenge for left-overs in dumping bins. 

They found themselves in refugee camps. While queuing for rations, a man who had not seen or had any food in a long time was waiting for his turn. As he shuffled weakly along to the “free kitchen” he was suddenly exposed to the sight of steaming food. The sight of so much fresh food was too much! He was overwhelmed by the appearance and proximity to a commodity of his ultimate desire; food. His excitement knew no bounds. In shock, he collapsed and died.

Like India of 1942, there are so many hungers in Kenya as exemplified by ODM’s place in the 'Blue Band Government' with Kenya Kwanza. ODM has been the permanent opposition party since it was founded after the 2005 referendum.  

The conduct and public performance of ODM “experts” donated to this administration has been comical. Like the hungry trekkers from Baruni village in India to Calcutta in search of food, ODM has been in the wilderness for far too long. They have not known comfort or peace. They have always been fighting for crumbs with mongrels in the streets of politics. Once too often, their tin god Raila Odinga would shake hands with the ODM oppressors and he would be rewarded with a strategic seat at the table and henceforth eat on behalf of ODM.

In the present scenario, Raila uncharacteristically remembered John Mbadi, Opiyo Wandayi, Hassan Joho, and a few others to broaden the eating to assuage their historical hungers. The excitement, eagerness and enthusiasm by these 'experts' to please President William Ruto is embarrassing, particularly to Kenyans who believed that ODM stood for democracy, accountable governance and zero-tolerance to corruption. The day Raila called a press conference to defend Adani, the general feeling was that Kenyans never knew the real Raila, or a brand new one had just been born.

Whenever Treasury CS Mbadi appears in public, wearing that face of a guy in shock, you get that feeling that things have changed. Listening to Wandayi tell us they will stick with Ruto till kingdom come, you wonder if this is the same chap whose trousers were ripped by parliamentary security as he protested bad governance, or so we thought. And Joho? Have you listened to another one called Samuel Atandi? His overzealous defence of KK would embarrass JJ Kamotho’s reverence of President Moi. Gladys Wanga, who literally threw water at pro-government MPs in Parliament, is singing her voice hoarse in praise of KK. My little neighbour opined that KK stands for “Kenya Kando”.
Simba Arati captured the mood: That ODM Secretary General Edwin Sifuna is urinating on their food.

And now, Millie Odhiambo, the self-declared “bad girl” of Kenyan politics. Like a hungry-rent-seeking villager, she is ordered by Mr Moneybags to dance for him. And her waist-gyrating skills pleased Moneybags. Not unlike the poor girl in India who showed her nakedness to men to get food for her family, or is it?

Peter Kaluma with toxic utterances is further proof of people who have been too hungry, too long. It was very unprofessional of Ruto, PhD, to abruptly expose them to so much food, so unexpectedly. These guys are in shock. They needed a series of seminars and workshops on nutrition, hygiene, table manners and general etiquette. Like the old man who instantly died in 1942 at the sight of and proximity to abundance, I fear we could soon lose some ODM guys to shock or over-eating.

There is hunger for wealth, hunger for power, hunger for fame. So Many Hungers! in ODM.