George Saitoti and the philosopher kings of Africa
Posted Saturday, June 23 2012 at 20:27
At the funeral of George Saitoti a few days ago, eulogy after eulogy
described him as a man endowed with a great intellect.
Eulogies by their nature are suspect historical records. But the
brilliance of the late internal security minister is a documented fact.
He possessed a PHD in mathematics from a major university and, for a number
of years, taught the subject as a professor at the University of Nairobi.
I think it was Plato who opined that society would be better governed if
philosophers became kings.
In ancient Greece, philosophers were the most intellectually gifted people
men like Socrates who spent their lives reflecting on, and teaching,
subjects ranging from astronomy to ethics, logic to mathematics.
Platos assumption was that these men would bring their considerable
intellectual and moral endowments to bear on the socio-political
organisation of society, thus propelling it to a higher order of existence.
As I listened to the eulogies, I thought back to Platos contention and
asked myself : As a man who had held key positions in government, had
Saitotis brilliance impacted on Kenyan society in the manner envisaged by
Plato?
Tragically, the answer in my view is no. As a matter of fact, once he
entered politics, Saitoti sounded and behaved just like any other Kenyan
politician.
As vice president in the oppressive Kanu regime, he showed no special
understanding of the clamour for change.
In fact, his pronouncements had shades of the searing sycophancy of Oloo
Aringo ( Oh, the Prince of Peace; Behold, a Daniel come to judgement ...) or
the crude threats of a Shariff Nassir ( mpende , msipende like it or
not...)
Even the reform commission he headed at the height of the clamour for
democracy was really designed to buy time for the regime.
Asks Sunday Nation columnist Gitau Warigi: What I never could fathom in him
was why a man of his exposure could put up uncomplainingly and for so long
with the ramshackle enterprise we know as Nyayoism...
His oft-quoted statement There come[s] a time when the nation is more
important than an individual should have been spoken at the height, and
in support, of the clamour for multiparty politics.
Instead he made it without a sense of irony when his own presidential
ambitions were shunted aside by a party he had faithfully served without
complaint, even when it was clear it had no agenda beyond megalomania and
grand larceny.
In both the Moi and Kibaki administrations, Saitoti showed no particular
zeal to fight corruption. The multibillion-shilling Goldenberg corruption
scandal happened when he was in charge of the finance ministry, and its
equivalent in the Kibaki era Anglo Leasing while he was a key member of
the government.
But, of course, Saitotis situation that of a great intellect reduced to
mediocrity and worse was not unique to him. Since the return of multiparty
politics, brilliant men and women have made it to parliament or government,
but has their presence has injected moral and intellectual value in our
socio-political culture? It has not.
The quality of debate in parliament in terms of research, articulation,
sincerity has remained the same. Implementation of policy is still
characterised by ineptitude as witness, for example, the underutilisation of
the budgets of several ministries.
Tribalism, corruption, etc, still dog departments run by professors of
political science, lawyers of international repute, graduates of famous
universities.
This problem is not even uniquely Kenyan it would seem to be an African
ailment. Take, for instance, Robert Mugabe brilliant and eloquent, yet a
man now mentioned in the same breath as Mobutu.
Or Kwame Nkrumah, gifted polemicist, author of several books on philosophy
and politics, and the man who created an elaborate cult of personality
around which his dictatorship was organised.
Or President Leopold Sedar Senghor, who arguably is the best poet Africa has
ever produced, yet you would never have known it by looking at his misrule
of Senegal. Or Doctor Kamuzu Banda... you get the drift.
Clearly, Plato had not reckoned with the vexatious contradictions of Africa
when he proposed the transformative possibilities of philosopher kings.
Tee Ngugi is a social and political commentator based in Nairobi
Thé Mulindwas Communication Group
"With Yoweri Museveni and Dr. Kiiza Besigye Uganda is in anarchy"
Kuungana Mulindwa Mawasiliano Kikundi
"Pamoja na Yoweri Museveni na Dk. Kiiza Besigye Uganda ni katika machafuko"
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