Lucy Oriang'
29 October 2009
opinion
Nairobi — Have a heart for the top government officials who have been dragging their feet over the small matter of handing over their luxury vehicles. They are being asked to go against the grain, and who knows where all this giving up business will stop?
Next time, those who rigged their way into power may be asked to quit voluntarily or have their secrets exposed to the whole wide world. They could be asked to give up their warriors for trial. And then the noise decibels will rise to such ear-splitting levels that the latest political din -- everyone in every region wants more constituencies -- will be child's play.
Anyway, it is as traditional to upgrade from a VW Passat 1800cc to a Mercedes Benz, Land Cruiser or Volvo as it is to move from the slums of Kibera to a new high-rise building. Now here we are, asking top level managers to reverse the trend and do the unthinkable -- join the ranks of the motoring holloi polloi.
It makes nonsense of the hard work that it takes to get into leadership positions here. You lie, bribe and threaten. The man behind this business may not have intended to do so, but he is just about to turn the very idea of leadership in Kenya on its head. There's got to be a difference between the led and the leaders, for heaven's sake. Does he not know what it takes to get into top government positions?
To be a Cabinet minister, you must work your way through at least three tiers of political warfare. Each of those levels calls for a deep pocket, campaign machinery ready for any eventuality and enough bootlicking to put a sparkle in all the shoes in Kenya.
God forbid that you should just put yourself up on Facebook, come up with a catchy slogan, tell it as it is and capture the imagination of the voters. Some people bend more easily, of course, and those who have quietly surrendered their vehicles deserve a good word. But should there be lazybones who do not meet today's deadline, spare them the drums of war.
They are just doing what we have perfected to an art over the years. You go into political leadership because you want to have it all, not because of some silly higher motive. More often than not, you get into top leadership in the Civil Service because of whom you are related to, who owes you and which political forces you represent, not necessarily because you are the best on the market.
This new move is dangerous with a capital "D". It will tarnish the very idea of the leader as a breed apart from the rest. These fuel guzzlers are not just about comfort and getting some padding between you and the potholes. They are status symbols -- proof that you have arrived, that you are Kahawa Number One, and Number One full-time.
For all we know, this will not be the end of the conservation business. At this rate, the minister for Finance might get it into his head to ask MPs to take a salary cut. And then the true mystique of leadership will be shattered forever. Even in the old days, you could tell the difference between the chief and the rest by the number of wives and children and huts in his homestead.
Why would anyone in their right mind want to give up the good and glorious life for the humdrum existence that is the fate of an overwhelming majority of the population? Ambition, we are taught early, is what life is about. Those who keep yapping about the interests of the nation don't get it. All that talk about 1800cc is just so much gibberish when you have to contend with the inconvenience of rough terrain better suited to battle tankers -- and ordinary souls.
Old habits die hard, though. Get ready for the next battlefront which will, predictably, be about who gets which of the vehicles that will be up for sale. History is a good place to look for heroes who led a simple life and became immortalised for it. Our men and women in top leadership could read up on Gautama Buddha, who gave up the royal life to find the true meaning of life and became immortal.
Then there is the other political and spiritual force, Mahatma Gandhi, who dressed up in simple cotton and preached peace against all odds. Even though he was assassinated for his efforts in 1948, his message refuses to die. Those who want to see genuine change in the way Kenya is managed can take comfort in this particular quote from him: "Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it."
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