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Kenya: Politicians Shed Sheep Skin
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Business Daily (Nairobi)
EDITORIAL
24 March 2008
Posted to the web 24 March 2008
Two weeks of lobbying by politicians for positions in the yet to be formed grand coalition government is bearing fruit in unexpected quarters.
It is giving electors a clear peep into what is the real driver of the ferocity with which our politicians fight for public office.
After all the promises of change that market the campaign banners of all the major political parties in the run up to last December's general election, the chickens have come home to roost.
Politicians some of who shed tears at campaign rallies bemoaning the burden that the ordinary Kenyan bears in financing the fat packages of public office holders have now shed the sheep clothing they wore then to reveal their true hyena character.
They are demanding that the principals in the coalition, President Kibaki and ODM leader Raila Odinga, take into consideration an ever changing list of parametres that are only aimed at ensuring their inclusion in the Cabinet.
With a minister taking home an average of Sh1.2 million a month in salary and allowances even before factoring in the cost of running their offices, cars, and homes, the push for a bloated Cabinet to accommodate partisan interests can only amount to gross insensitivity by politicians to the plight of millions of poor Kenyans they purport to represent.
This push is even more ridiculous when judged against the fact that the country's economy is only emerging from a serious battering that its expected to take more than one year to recover from.
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Ordinarily, anybody who is holding office in the interest in the public would at this point be contributing to the debate only ideas that would ensure less public expenditure with an eye on stimulating economic growth.
But all the country is seeing is an unashamed abandonment of all the promises made to the public during the last campaigns - including a decline in the cost of essential commodities such as bread in pursuit of personal gain.
It is our hope that Mr Kibaki and Mr Odinga will resist these moves and keep their eyes on the greater public interest in their formation of the new government.
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