William Ochieng'
21 April 2008
opinion
Nairobi — IN HIS AUTHORITATIVE MEMOIR on American politics and society, The Audacity of Hope, Senator Barack Obama says the problem with the American polity today is that most professionals and politicians who participate in policy debates and campaigns are people who tend to place a premium on winning arguments rather than solving them.
We in Kenya have caught the American disease. Our intellectuals and politicians write and argue superlatively, invoking great classical thinkers, around issues which could be technically solved overnight. Meanwhile our dilemmas continue to fester.
On their part, although our politics and politicians are democratically grouped in political parties, increasingly our national affairs are managed by cabals who have no time for political parties.
Throughout President Kibaki's first term, he never used Narc's administrative organs to help him make the various decisions which he and his immediate allies made.
THREE MONTHS AFTER OUR VERY mind-boggling December 2007 crisis, President Kibaki is behaving the same way, as if the management of Kenya is all done exclusively from his office. To him, PNU is a remote story.
But the same is also true with the Orange Democratic Movement. Today they behave as if the Pentagon was the party. One would have expected that after the election crisis, ODM leaders would immediately call their supreme governing body to seek advice on what to do next.
Not so. ODM's policies and decisions continue to emanate from the Pentagon. The elite, both in ODM and PNU, behave as if the majority of Kenyans who support their two parties do not exist.
The history of party neglect in Kenya goes back to the era of Mzee Jomo Kenyatta who had no time for Kanu's governing committees. He preferred to rule through the provincial administration.
At least President Moi now and again called Kanu's Governing Council to help him mastermind quaint policies, but Mr Kibaki never bothered at all to use the party that made him become president.
Honestly, our brand of democracy is vulgar. It lacks nobility of spirit. While historically and linguistically we emerged from different and remote social backgrounds, the Kenyan public today needs to be imbued with the sense of a shared destiny.
We all want peace and prosperity and the only way to achieve these is if we can overcome negative stereotypes that keep us apart.
Is it not insincere when we hear the cabals in both PNU and ODM claim certain rights and visions on behalf of the public whose wishes they do not genuinely know or feel?
Is it not absurd that the ordinary man and woman is only needed once in every five years to cast their votes? Is it not a pity that certain Kenyans die while demonstrating in support of leaders who have no interest in them?
Political parties are the conduits which link the people with the rulers. Through them, the leaders gauge what the people support and what they do not want.
National policies can only make sense if they reflect the aspirations of the people; and these aspirations can only be determined if there is a vertical and continuous dialogue between the leaders and the people, down to the grassroots level.
Of course, there is another story to be told - how our political parties are formed. Apart from Kanu, which was formed in 1960 by national delegates from all parts of the country, sitting together for days in Kiambu and going through its constitution clause by clause, most of our current political parties had their contents drawn in offices.
THUS THEY ARE NOT DESIGNED BY the people, but by the leaders, for the leaders.Despite this fallacy, the public should be integrated into them meaningfully. We need parties which truly represent Kenyans, that truly serve the people. They should reflect Kenyan lives as these lives are actually lived.
Prime Minister Raila Odinga has talked of the need to bring as many Kenyans as possible together, to discuss our nightmare of tribalism. If such meetings are ever held, they will require constructive thinkers to address them.
Our people must be told what, in fact ,they already know: that we cannot take unity for granted, because, as a people, we share common dreams, common hopes and a common destiny which God long time ago planned for us.
Prof Ochieng' teaches history at Maseno University.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 The Nation. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
