FINAL WORD: 2021-2022 From the News Gang

AGEYO: We wish to end the show, our last show of the year 2021, in a slightly different way. So we won’t take or angle to punching or kicking or even issuing memos. We just want to jointly reflect with you fellow countrymen and women, over a year that has been, and even try to collectively envision a year that could be.

YVONNE: We start with the year that has been. And folks, what a rollercoaster that was! In about 15 days from today, the year 2021 will be coming to an end; and every Kenyan has a story to tell about this year. It was a year which just like 2020 was defined by the COVID-19 pandemic.

FRANCIS: Indeed. In a morbid way, COVID-19 continued to cement its place as humanity’s greatest global nuisance, complete with the emergence of seemingly countless variants. Today, Kenyans go to bed worried about the upsurge of ‘Omicron’, the sharp spike in infection statistics compounded by a strangely rampant ‘homa’ bug.

LINUS: And ‘homa’, that mere cold we Kenyans are used to dismissing we hope it remains even as we grapple with confirmation of the first cases of Omicron in the country. Coming deep into the last quarter of the year, Omicron gives the COVID-19 pandemic its latest sadistic twist; a virus-equivalent of mockery complete with that guttural, evil, sarcastic laughter.

AGEYO: Indeed; and how else could we describe the scornful emergence of COVID-19 variants at a time we are supposed to celebrate one of humanity’s greatest vaccination campaigns in history. With AstraZeneca, Johnson and Johnson, Pfizer, Morderna and even Sputnik among other vaccines, scientists across the world delivered, in record time, the swiftest fightback any virus has ever experienced since the Spanish flu.

YVONNE: Ironically, flu seems to be the way we shall close the year 2021, something we have to consider for what it is; a rather unkind full cycle on the viral front. We proceed to the festive season this Christmas 2021 just like we did in 2020. Our health authorities are back to warn us about the festive season with that now familiar figurative sign; ‘approach with caution’.

FRANCIS: And we agree, approach the festive season with caution; COVID-19 is real. For the celebrations Kenyans may be able to squeeze in during the season, mention should be given to the commendable endeavours of the country’s health frontline workers that continue to wrestle with the pandemic, one variant at a time. Sadly though, beyond fighting COVID-19 variants, our frontline workers have had to contend with variants of bad manners from fellow Kenyans.

LINUS: Bad manners indeed. We are talking about the protocols-defying political campaigns that literally converted Kenya into one huge open-air campaign arena, several months to the general election. In 2021, politicians, a majority of them obviously fully vaccinated, continued with social-distance resistant public gatherings, random roadside assemblies, market and street carnivals in complete violation of ministry of health COVID-19 containment protocols.

AGEYO: And so we close the year 2021 with the admission that COVID-19 protocols never worked for our politics, and we approach the year 2022 with a prediction that those same protocols won’t apply when campaigning resumes in 2022. But we must celebrate that which worked for Kenya in 2021. Our sports men and women, in their faithful regularity did  us proud yet again in 2021.

YVONNE: Indeed; our flag flew high, and our national anthem sounded sweetest in Tokyo Olympics where once again Kenya was ranked the number one African nation in the medals table. Our dutiful and ever diligent athletes delivered 10 medals that included 4 gold medals, four silver medals and two bronze medals to place Kenya as the best in Africa and the 19th nation overall.

FRANCIS: The sweet victory in the Tokyo Olympics was however dampened in October by the brutal murder of two-time world championship bronze medalist Agnes Tirop. The athlete who came 4th in the 5000 meters race in Tokyo was found dead in her house in Elgeyo Marakwet, a finding that set one of the grimmest seasons of mourning for the country in 2021.

LINUS: Tirop’s murder case is among several high profile cases that are now in the hands of the Judiciary. A judiciary which in 2021 wrote its own headlines, and one that is expected to make even more headlines in 2022. Twice in 2021 the Judiciary stood in judgment of the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI); and twice, judges declared the BBI process unconstitutional. Against all predictions, judges of the High Court and those of the Court of Appeal, withstood palpable political pressure and stopped the BBI process, sending appealants upstairs to the Supreme Court where judges must pronounce themselves in 2022.

AGEYO: And those judges include Martha Karambu Koome, who made history in 2021 when she became Kenya’s first ever female Chief Justice. Justice Koome took over against the backdrop of broken relations between the Judiciary and the Executive and the open warfare between the President of the republic and the President of the Supreme Court. Through 2021, Justice Koome has grappled with the unresolved question of judges appointed by the JSC but rejected by President Uhuru Kenyatta.

YVONNE: It is a dilemma Justice Koome walks with into the new year even as she prepares to preside over her first high octane politics–laden case; the BBI case. Will the judges duly appointed by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) take office in 2022 or will President Kenyatta walk into retirement without effecting what courts have always declared due appointments?

FRANCIS: That question and more will keep President Kenyatta in the headlines through 2022. In 2021, President Kenyatta formally graduated his 2018 handshake with former Prime Minister Raila Odinga into a high voltage succession plan. As recently as last Sunday, the president, in all except by word, has given indications that ODM leader Raila Odinga is his preferred successor; and 2022 could see the president go more direct than suggestive about his preference.

LINUS: Indeed, 2022 is the election year. But they say that a day is very long in politics, let alone months or even a year. We predict political gymnastics of a blend only Kenyans are used to. There will be dramatic defections, some of them stage-managed to great effect. We predict coalitions of the same mould that always shaped elections in Kenya since 2002. And based on varied factors, we dare predict a very peaceful transition from the 4th to the 5th president of Kenya.

AGEYO: That prediction comes with a disclaimer. 2022 is the year of the IEBC; the body with the onerous responsibility of running elections in kenya. In 2021, IEBC filled vacant positions and walks into 2022 as a fully constituted commission. We finish here not with a punch or kick, takes, memos or angles but just one solemn reminder to the IEBC: you must be the adults in the house come 2022. Give Kenya a good year. On that note, we here at the News Gang wish you a merry christmas…