Of character and steam engines

NAIROBI: The assassination of President William McKinley in 1901 propelled Franklin Delano Roosevelt to the highest political office in America. He became the 26th President when he was barely 43 years old.

A Congressman, he is remembered for many things; initiating the construction of the Panama canal, irrigation projects, mediating between belligerents Russia and Japan in August 1905, bringing about truce for which he earned a Nobel Prize for Peace and for driving an aggressive American foreign policy.

This notwithstanding, he came under heavy criticism to which he countered by stating: 'It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is mired by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows great enthusiasm, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at worst, if he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.'

This should, in no small measure, give comfort to those within, and sympathetic to, the government. It is not for want of trying that President Kenyatta and his foot soldiers have been in the cross-hairs of the Opposition’s gun sights for several months. But while President Roosevelt acknowledged failure, and believed the strength to push on resolutely emanated from the visible and evident errors of commission and omission, here the antithesis obtains. Not once have the self-appointed Government spokesmen acknowledged they could have come up short in some areas of governance, policy formulation and execution.

It is the holier-than-thou attitude that has invited wrath upon them, and for good reason.

Incidentally, Government and its mandarins are more visible than those in the Opposition, which simply is a watchdog. Citizen expectations lie in the Government, to which they pay taxes in exchange for competent services. Government is the custodian of all social, political and economic goodness that accrue to its citizenry; which demands that those pushing its agenda and selling its policies must be of impeccable character and of above average intelligence.

That intelligence is reflected in how they interact with the rank and file, how they perform their duties and how they react to diverse situations. Variously, tact and brawn are applied. The tragedy is that a majority in Government have a proclivity for brawn. It becomes easy to relate to Stuart Mills derision for the conservatives in Britain during his time.

In America too, Mark Twain had no kind words for Congressmen. Separately they opined “it is not that conservatives are generally stupid. I meant stupid persons are generally conservative. I believe that to be so obvious and undeniable fact that I hardly think any honorable gentleman will question it”(Stuart) and, “Reader, suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself”(Twain).

Such is the hardship of being in Government that extreme caution and restraint are virtues. But, do such leaders exist? Stuart Mills goes on to say, in what mirrors our situation, that “a person whose desires and impulses are his own, are the expression of his own nature, as it has been developed and modified by own culture, is said to have character. One whose desires and impulses are not his own, has no character, no more than a steam engine has character”.

How many leaders of character can stand up to be counted today? The 2017 elections are beckoning and the steam engines’ loud belches will assault our eardrums. We must be prepared to curb the imminent din. Leaders must not only articulate their socio-political and economic vision for this country, which is easy enough, they must demonstrate how this is obtainable.

Citizens must widen their perception horizons to spot cheats miles away. Ignorance has been a major undoing of the electorate. An aspiring MP promising to build a railway line must prove such responsibilities fall under the jurisdiction of an MP. While many would readily promise to deliver heaven, they don’t even have a fighting chance to enter the devil's outer sanctum.

Those seeking re-election must enumerate their achievements and be judged on simple measures like how often they visited their constituencies, did they interact and consult with their constituents? Do they relate with others to avoid situations witnessed in Makueni, Machakos, Kakamega, Meru, Embu and Nairobi?

The surest recipe for under-development and missed opportunities is leaders pulling in different directions. Party hoppers are ideologically challenged; they stand for nothing but everything. Members of county assemblies, especially, must be thoroughly vetted. In this regime, many have been a disgrace; avarice, short-sightedness, et all.