When will our leaders ever learn that Kenyans are an educated lot?
Unfortunately, some of President Kibaki's assistants sometimes imagine that the Kenyan masses they address do not think, do not listen or are half deaf. Take for example the Justice and Constitutional Assistant Minister, Robinson Githae and his deadline on wealth (or is it poverty?) declaration forms to be filled. He has been an irritant on this; in deed, he has been pugnacious and puckish.
Mr Githae had been warning civil servants to fill the wealth declaration forms long before the forms were ready. And he has kept repeating that warning in very harsh and threatening language, as if he is talking to thieves. Those who do not fill the forms in time, he says, will be heavily punished, will be sacked or their property will be confiscated.
I have singled out Mr Robinson Githae as an example of the Narc leaders who many Kenyans think are uncivil. But there are many such others. The question is, do these leaders know that they are running a democratic system, with five yearly elections? Do they know that in a democracy the public must be woo-ed, caressed and made to think they are the masters?
But let us get back to Mr Robinson Githae and his forms of wealth. Kenyans had agreed long before Mr Githae had appeared in the scene that there was need for wealth declaration in Kenya, given that certain individuals miraculously became multimillionaires overnight. How did they acquire their wealth? And how come that their wealth kept growing at the speed of lightning? We really wanted to know, but not through brute force.
Let Kenyans, particularly the civil servants, fill the forms, but please do not harass them. And please do not insult them or frighten them. We will fill the forms, and really must, but please give us a break. And as the many civil servants have reacted in the Press, particularly teachers, about 90 per cent of them have no wealth anyway to declare. Most of them were never � and are not � in positions where money and goods are stolen. They will fill the forms, yes, but the forms will indicate the most disturbing truth � the gross poverty that has engulfed the Republic.
The world today is very different from what it was a decade ago. With the internet, faxes and mobile phones, what is happening in Kenya is common knowledge, daily, in New York, London, Paris, Washington, Tokyo � name it. And what people know and think about Kenya, abroad, is disturbingly unhappy. A lot of people out there, including investors and donors, are already whispering and asking � what is this we hear about Kenya? What is happening?
It might be too late to go back to the Jomo Kenyatta era � when the Press and telephones were monitored and critics detained. It might be a little too late to run an uncouth and murderous regime. Not only will our big brothers, out there, intervene, as they have done in Iraq and Afghanistan, but even our funders, donors and well-wishers will stand aside. The end result? The Zimbabwe type of debacle is that what we want?
Today we seem to have only one clear option � to run a transparent, responsive, friendly, seductive and people- centred democracy. And this is what Kenyans voted for last December. It does not matter whether we have what type of mafia � Mt Elgon, Lake Victoria or any other. What Kenyans voted for is clear, and if they cannot get it, five years is not a long time. Kenyans will vote again!
Kenyans, as we noted earlier, are today highly educated. They know, for example, that since last elections the Narc government has not made contacts with them. They are still waiting for relevant economic and development plans in which they are participants. They are not interested in a few key posts given to their tribesmen. If you gave the Abaluyia five cabinet posts � well, that sounds nice, but how does that help an ordinary Luyia family in Luanda or Bungoma? The Luo know that four of their sons are members of President Kibaki's cabinet � but how does that benefit a local family in Bondo or Rangwe? If Minister Kalonzo Musyoka or Minister Raila Odinga becomes a prime minister � how will that help an ordinary man in Kitui or Kibera?
The above are questions which ordinary Kenyans are now asking, and they are questions which mock the delusions of today's leaders. We did not elect leaders to be given big posts. We elected leaders to bring development and opportunities to the people. All the on-going power struggle and tribal cock-fighting at the top are completely irrelevant to Kenyans. The Narc government, if it has ears, should listen.
But then politicians all over the world do not listen. And that is why President George W. Bush is in trouble. That is why Tony Blair is in trouble. And that is also why President Robert Mugabe is in trouble. Politicians chase their fantasies when power is put in their hands, and remember so late that they were doing wrong things.
Prof William Ochieng is a former permanent secretary in the Office of the President.
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