He who rides the tiger

When the 1963 constitution was revised by Kenya’s first President Jomo Kenyatta and his cronies to allow for the wholesale theft of land, resources and opportunities, the country mounted its first tiger in the shape of ethnicised governance, corruption and impunity. The title of 'professor of politics' of Kenya’s second president, Daniel arap Moi, was little deserved and had nothing to do with political acumen. In his deputy role to Kenyatta, Moi recognised systemic corruption as an effective way of shoring up political support and ensuring the continued subservience of parliament, judiciary and security units, and excelled at it. Where the KANU (Kenya African National Union) government displayed acumen for this theft of public resources, the subsequent NARC (National Rainbow Coalition) government displayed genius. The grand coalition has since discarded pretences to accountability and within 12 months has engorged itself on famine-relief maize, public assets such as the grand regency, and strategic energy assets to name but a few.

It was once easy to dismiss the now-dreaded Mungiki sect as a bunch of snuff-demented revisionists. Politicians took advantage of the abject poverty among the sect’s followers and used them to unleash violence on voters and political opponents. Armed gangs and our political leadership have since become inextricably intertwined to the extent that ridding the country of the Mungiki menace requires expunging the current political class. Highly unlikely. We now find ourselves a nation atop another beast we can neither control nor dismount.

If we recognise the equitable sharing of power by Prime Minister Raila and President Kibaki as the government business that can hold up cabinet deliberations, then we legitimise the relegation of government business from that of regulating business and providing services to that of handing out power and control like candy. Meanwhile, urgent and fundamental reforms that could avert ethnic violence and foster development and justice are treated as residual.

Tragic as the current clamour for power and control is, it is not the worst that can happen. It is very likely that under subsequent governments the clamour for power and control will override government’s business and responsibilities to the extent that it becomes the way our country will be governed. Permanent secretaries will be appointed on the basis of their political inclinations and be accountable not to Kenyans but to their political patrons, and where judges serve, it will be in the interests of their political benefactors, and not justice. Revenue officers will use tax waivers and exemptions to pay homage to their party leaders. That will be a tiger that is impossible to control and lethal to dismount. We had better rethink climbing it.

* Job Ogonda is the executive director of Transparency International Kenya.
* Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/.

NOTES
[1] On 6 April, Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga complained on national television about the lack of due protocol for his office, as demonstrated by a tattered carpet and the lack of a mobile toilet when he was on an official tour. On 17 April, Raila and his Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) counterparts declined to attend a scheduled cabinet meeting, urging President Mwai Kibaki to instead convene a coalition meeting.