By Dr Willy Mutunga
Starehe Boys Centre is the very embodiment of that truism in policy
research: that education is the greatest equalizer. It is the one instrument
that rudely but happily interrupts inter-generational transmission of
poverty and inequality traps, as well as dismantling inherited class
barriers.
We must rescue talent from the graveyard of disadvantage or poverty. The
gift of giving, the duty of serving living for a cause larger than self,
are the true marks of achievement. And talent without ethics; skill without
values; and knowledge without conscience are the greatest curse that can
ever befall an individual, society or nation. Just like natural resources
have wrought immense suffering to undemocratic societies, so have natural
talents to unconscionable individuals and communities.
The crisis facing this country in its governance and development agenda is
the crisis of the elite, and the rather grotesque inversion of values: where
truth is subverted, relative and even identity-driven; evidence is gutted at
the slightest hint of inconvenience (Hilary Clinton has lately called this
operating on an evidence-free zone); heroes and heroines become villains
those who do right are made to play defence rather than offense; and spivs
command a disproportionate voice and space.
An elite or a society that rises on its feet to applaud the disregard or
dishonour of an agreement and praises it as strategy, instead of condemning
it as betrayal, is both sick and bankrupt. There is an over-supply of the
elite, and an undersupply of values, ethics, or conscience. Whereas
monetized measurements put 45% of Kenyans below the poverty line, I guess
ethical instruments would have well over 90% of Kenyans living below the
poverty line of values, our renowned, yet evidently suspect claim to
religious piety as a nation notwithstanding. Our elites suffer from an
anaemic inversion of values: constantly deploying their enormous talent,
skill and knowledge to aid and abet national regression projects.
Our educational system, particularly national schools such as Starehe,
continues to produce the countrys political, economic, judicial,
administrative elite. You are part of Kenyas figurative talented tenth.
This is the elite that runs this country and therefore must take
responsibility for the countrys not-too-impressive development and
governance outlook that we see 50 years after independence. The quality of
our development and governance, as with all other countries all over the
world, is directly a reflection of the quality of our elite. Tribalism,
corruption, underdevelopment the main scourges that afflict our country,
all products of institutional dysfunctionalism is not a creation of the
masses. They are the political, economic and social toys invented by the
elite for self-promotion and private gain. The unholy alliance between the
two occasionally exists, but the architects, perpetrators and beneficiaries
in chief are the elites.
We have elite that speaks in tongues civil in the formal civic space,
but quite native in motive, values, ambition, and operation. An elite that
is as vernacular as the next opportunity permits, but one which cloaks its
irredeemable attraction to the natal centre with sophisticated gadgetry
and technology talk. Elitism that is ephemerally modern but innately native.
In times of crisis, and in times of opportunity; when principle is on trial
or when opportunism is on offer, these elite always gravitates to the womb.
You cannot build a modern, democratic society if a societys elite has not
risen to its historical mission and realize that societys transformation is
usually led by, figuratively speaking, by a talented tenth the elite.
Thinking about our situation today, the immortal words of William Butler
Yeats in the poem, The Second Coming, come to mind: Things fall apart; the
centre cannot hold
the best lack all conviction, while the worst are full
of passionate intensity.
Who are the best? In this room, ladies and gentlemen, are Kenyas elite.
They have not only had a great education but have also been raised in a
place of great culture and tradition. Whether you walked to school,
travelled by train or bus, only flew home once a year on the armys charity
Christmas flight, you learnt to treat your classmate as your brother, your
dorm mate as your confidant, your club mates as your friend. You were all
treated as equals, regardless of tribe, home region or economic standing. By
virtue of your high school education, you all entered into the 33 per cent
bracket of those who have attained that level of education (according to the
Kenya Bureau of Statistics Report, 2013). Many of you had the door to
university education opened up as well, and the Starehe name continues to
open many other doors to this day.
We always argue that it is the masses that choose tribal and corrupt
leaders. However, how can they choose differently when that is the only
choice they are practically given? I see it in the Judiciary where the
ethnic leadership of a public or private institution is becoming a fairly
accurate predictor of the ethnic identity of the lawyer that will be on
record prosecuting the case! In most cases these two would have attended
some national school, and I am sure those were not the values that they were
taught. Isnt it depressing, shouldnt we be embarrassed, arent we naïve to
expect us to progress as a nation when the leaders of the country, the
academic, economic, legal, business and political elite of this country,
cannot trust anyone outside their tribes in the most sensitive of cases?
Peter Ekeh, a Nigerian Professor of Political Science, has described the
problem as one of the crisis of the two publics. The first public is that of
family, clan and tribe; the second, the rest. We set different standards for
different publics. Looking at the problem of corruption, how do we as the
elite react? If it is someone from the first public, we look for all sorts
of reasons why they should be excused. If it is the rest of the public, we
rightly call upon them to carry their own crosses. Principle is variable and
malleable, depending on the ethnic identity of the culprit. Identity has
become the new penal code on the basis of which guilt and innocence is
determined and pronounced.
Most of you think this is only a vice in the public sector; it isnt. The
private sector is even worse in terms of employment, promotion, and award of
bonuses. Ethnic favouritism is rampant, ethnic concentration in recruitment
prevalent and we must own up and style up.
These inverted values play out even more when we look at how we treat
whistle blowers in this country. One who exposed the countys largest
corruption scandal, David Sadera Munyakei, died destitute in 2006, after
being sacked from Central Bank of Kenya and remaining largely unemployed
afterwards. Another was hounded and subjected to investigations for buying
cheaper cars. One other was exiled both from country and community for
daring to raise corruption issues. Many in the private sector have been
sacked, denied promotion and bonuses for doing the right thing. Very close
to home, we have seen a maddening rush to seek ethnic refuge whenever a
corruption matter is raised. We cannot allow a country to have corruption as
the fourth arm of government the most powerful and the one that controls
all the other arms. And corruptions corrosive effect on democratic
institutions and a countrys development become even more vile and
pronounced when it intersects with ethnicity.
The Constitution of 2010 created many institutions that are now fighting for
space in the public sphere. The Salaries and Remuneration Commission has
sparred with both the National Assembly and the County Assemblies;
Parliament has fought itself and reportedly, continues to do so with
Senators and Members of the National Assembly openly differing about the
importance of the two Houses. The Judiciary has also not been spared and has
seen its independence threatened by many forces.
All these institutional contestations may be a necessary messy part of our
democratic evolution as institutions attempt to establish the right
constitutional equilibrium in their relationships under the new
constitutional order. However, these contests must take place within and
under the law for we are a country that professes the rule of law. No
institution, no individual and no agency is above the law, and as
Montesquieu, the French philosopher, memorably proclaimed several centuries
back, Be ye ever so high, the law is above you.
We must choose whether we want to be a country governed by the rule of law
as written in text and as pronounced by courts, or rule by man and might as
is exercised by men. The former is what I see in the Constitution, 2010 and
in Vision 2030. You, as the elite, must speak out when the rule of law is
threatened. You must not let ethnicity or private gain colour your
principle, professional calling or values. Principles and values, and on
issues so central and so clear on humanitys historical advancement such as
these, have no vernacular editions. The Judiciary learnt in 1988 that even
after so many years of ingratiating with those in power, the gift was the
removal of the tenure of judges and the Attorney General. The ethnic
identity of those judges did not matter. And neither did their business
relationships. So principle pays; absence of it is costly to all.
What have we done as the elite in this room, as old Starehians? Those in the
public sector have either shied away from the discussion or gone back to the
two publics for answers. Others have dodged the public interest and policy
questions and chosen to create private solutions for public problems. When
the health sector fails, we go to private hospitals; when public education
systems fail our children attend private schools and universities.
Remember always the engraving on the Assembly Hall door: To those to whom
much is given, much will be required.
The forces of social evil and inequality today are so strong that we need an
equally strong voice in the opposite direction. That is what the masses need
a constant dissenting but progressive voice, a clarion call for greater
social change and transformation. We need to join forces for good. That is
why the focus of such alumni organisations as this one must change. We must
start banding together for public social change, not only for private
endeavours such as exchanging business contacts.
Raise your voices above the din, on the podium of an esteemed institution, a
respected institution. Speak up against the culture of crises that we have
all become so accustomed to. Eliminate the poverty of ambition and values.
Reframe the definition of achievement beyond self and personal to concern
about your constituency, your county, your countrys achievement. The
talented tenth like you are not ornaments for ethnic display and
admiration in exchange for ethnic legitimacy and ethnic patronage; you are
national gems needed in the civic space. The talented tenth, like you, are
not expected to navel gaze in self-satisfaction, but must see yourselves as
the instrument and force of good for social transformation. Reverse the
inversion of elite values as a precondition for societys and personal
development. In the words of the Starehe motto: Natulenge Juu! Note the
plurality: it is not Nanilenge juu society is your business.
Willy Mutunga is the Chief Justice of the Republic of Kenya. A speech he
delivered recently at the Annual Old Starehean Association meeting.
We stand to emphasize the truth, truth is one!
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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