Free advice to Kibaki: Look around you for inspiration
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by Peter Thatiah No doubt, President Kibaki’s presidency, more than anything else, is epitomised by ironies of legendary proportions. Some analysts have even said that trying to crack what goes on in the mind of Kibaki the man is like trying to map out a sea route to Mars. In this regard, it is enlightening to note here that leaders who are economists by training do not seem to succeed with the masses anywhere, throughout history. The fall of Thabo Mbeki, an immensely brilliant economist, to President Jacob Zuma in South Africa is a recent example of this phenomenon. It is, thus, not amazing that our neighbouring leaders, most of who are dictators running countries with an economic blueprint that is inferior to President Kibaki’s, seem to wield more moral authority. But you need to look keenly at who these men are to understand why they are succeeding in a key area where President Kibaki has so far failed — the public arena. One fact stands out: all these men share one thing in common. Men who were professional soldiers before their ascent to the presidency rule Ethiopia, Uganda, Southern and Northern Sudan, Burundi, Eritrea, Somalia, Rwanda and Tanzania. Indeed, with the exception of Col Jakaya Kikwete, who first resigned his commission in the army before launching his political career through CCM, all the others shot their way into national prominence. Political tsunami Like most military leaders the world over, these men are deeply schooled in the art of strategic deception and the frailty of the human condition. And that is where Kibaki seems to have met his sinkhole. Before announcing an unpopular move, Generals Kagame and Museveni will first issue appropriate noises to all sides, pulling the wool over all eyes. That is how Kagame could succeed in banning the BBC early this year and still manage to be recognised as a progressive leader, something unthinkable in Kenya. Museveni gets away with such acts all the time. Kibaki cannot even dream of doing so in Nairobi because it would trigger a political tsunami of apocalyptic proportions. Unlike lawyers, soldiers and political scientists, economists are ruled by rigid formulas, which leave no space for manoeuvre. They are often impatient and scornful of howling mobs that cannot grasp the basics of the craft that creates and distributes national wealth. Diversionary tactics, which are crucial in politics, do not mean much to them. This is the reason economist Gordon Brown, under whose tenure at the Exchequer in Britain enjoyed a golden economic era, is on his way towards political oblivion. Another good example before him was Premier Neville Chamberlain, the man in whose hands the Second World War exploded in 1939. Like Mbeki, Kibaki and Brown, Jolly Old Neville, as his people fondly called him, had no solid communication strategy. Instructively, the world today is still Hegelian. Our civilisation of intercontinental missiles, Hydrogen bombs and the Internet is still guided by philosophical doctrines created by and for savages who lived in mud holes. The progress of mankind is still the result of the conflict of the opposites. These conflicts are energies that can only be brought into confluence through smart talk. Waving a brilliant economic blueprint on your way to office is a good intention that can be likened to a ripe kola nut. But in the final analysis, this kola nut will need equally good wine for the people to be able to swallow. President Kibaki has only less than three years left to brew wine with which the people needs to swallow his good deeds on our roads, hospitals, schools, etc. Mr President, you must invent a radical communication strategy and time is rapidly running out. The writer is a features writers with The Standard.