It is time we rallied against politicians

Without delving into details:

• Locust swarms have, for months now, camped in different parts of the country, deflating farmers’ dreams and promising Kenyans hungry months ahead
• Videos on social media Kenyans working in the Middle East either being tortured or even killed
• Companies are closing shop, rendering thousands upon thousands jobless
• The judiciary is at a crisis – in leadership, integrity, ingrained corruption and piling case backlogs
• Prices for basic food items are through roof
• The National Hospital Insurance Fund is about to crumble
• Unemployment rate stands at about 12 percent
• The economy is taking a beating with no respite in sight
• Public coffers have been looted dry
• In short, everything that could go wrong with our country has, and then some.

 Yet, the prevailing song is the BBI report; it continues to be used to humiliate certain politicians while it glorifies politically-correct ones. The report, and its proponents, it does appear to contain everything – it outlines what is wrong with the country today and calls for urgent measures by way of response. 

But on another look, its structure reveals an elitist approach to democracy that does not speak to the interests of the masses. Instead it is an attempt to sabotage democracy by prescribing governance roles to cater for the interests of individuals by creating positions that we have absolutely no use for. It is a document that has been doctored to, as ‘The Elephant’ puts it, create a return to an order unquestioned authority and obsequious citizenry.

BBI is the result of the same formula that has sabotaged Kenya’s democracy since independence – one of constantly amending objectives to conform to a given order. What issues then does is it meant to solve if it ignores the myriad issues affecting Kenyans daily?

While the initial aspiration was noble, in the end, the report has turned out to be a mass of hot air with no real content; neither does it capture the real aspirations of the Kenyan people, not does it propose anything so radically new or ingenious as to fan robust debate. Instead, it seeks to reward political sycophants with appointive seats — nothing more.

The one constant about the BBI process is the role of politicians — to lie to and manipulate Kenyans into submission. Thus understanding their lie, Kenyans must speak out against the hijacking of an initiative that was meant to unite the country, to turn it into something ugly.

The politicians who convene and attend BBI meetings have become full-time court jesters whose only job is to suck up to the President and Hon Raila Odinga, the drivers of the Initiative.

In elective politics, universal suffrage under Article 38 means that one must appeal to the “primitive” masses if they are to hold political office. This is exactly what is happening with BBI.

For presidential elections, where the winner has to claim a definite majority of all the ballots cast, he can only do so by forming tribal alliances. This elevates the importance of often-corrupt tribal kingpins, undermines constitutional values and perpetrates the culture of tokenism. This is the form that BBI campaigns have taken.

Liberal Democracy, the system we are grappling with, while ideal for governance, is actually counterproductive in a rural society such as ours. The upheaval is clear indication that time has come to rethink this model. Particularly we should remodel our form of Liberal Democracy.

And although they are a critical ingredient, on their own, good laws are not enough for the problems our society faces; we must also ideologically shift our political processes. For example, will the recommendations of the BBI task force yield a different outcome just because they are new recommendations? No.

The only initiatives that would matter at this point would be those that send thieves — of billions of shillings of public money — to jail, and ones which fish the economy out of the deep well in which it currently resides.

As it is, the BBI report offers nothing  new and substantive to warrant a constitutional amendment through a referendum. What it is, is a back-door for politicians to share power and political positions. 

Kenyans must discipline themselves to reject ‘good enough’; it is never okay to accept and move on. On the contrary, we must rise to the occasion and engage soberly and constructively. Most importantly, we must amend
our attitudes.