By Jesse Masai
Ikolomani legislator Boni Khalwale would have us elect his Sabatia counterpart Musalia Mudavadi as president because, as a weekend news report had it, the latter “had proved himself as the best suited candidate because he did not court controversy and possesses national appeal”.
The merits or otherwise of Mudavadi’s attempt aside, Dr Khalwale would do the country a favour by explaining how the controversies of our times may be addressed by those who won’t court them.
I don’t know what a non-controversial president won’t do, but here is what I think a controversial one should do:
Nairobi: I want a president who will turn the city into our commercial capital, and initiate moves to make Isiolo our administrative capital.
forever absent
The latter is geographically at the country’s heart, is primed to grow on the basis of the proposed transport corridor linking Lamu to both Juba and Addis Ababa.
More importantly, such a move would shift lopsided investments into an already over-grown and poorly planned city and its satellites. Government, forever absent in Isiolo and surrounding counties, might also be felt a little more intimately.
Development without consultation: Closely tied to the Lamu project is what, for this purpose, we may refer to as “development without consultation.” Until the mainstream media picked up new messages, concerns from Lamu residents nearly always centered on having not been involved in what could easily be post-independent Africa’s biggest infrastructure project.
From Liboi to Busia, and Namanga to Lokichoggio, Nairobi coming down as the know-it-all has been the long-running cry for many. It has been suggested that devolution should help cure this shared, national experience.
Observers of ongoing, slow-punctured efforts to prepare for a Kenya beyond Mwai Kibaki may – however – be wise to ask for moral and institutional clarity on the proposed democratic and developmental state.
Are we evolving towards the desired devolution, or creeping back to the highly centralised State of the period between 1963 and 2010?
A controversial president should not have difficulty deciding on this.
Land: These past few days, Prime Minister Raila Odinga and Lugari MP Cyrus Jirongo have been making good-sounding noises on the country’s unequal development. Mr Jirongo wants grabbed lands at the coast reverted to local, peasant ownership.
Mr Odinga has been quoted as saying: “The ODM believes the economy must grow as much as the population. We wish (to) push for redistribution of resources and wealthy to ensure the gap between the haves and have-nots is bridged.”
I want a president who will go beyond mere words: create wealth, and give the poor their due, particularly when it comes to land. I want a president who will not cave in to special interests – most of them corporate, as well as what both John Githongo and David Ndii once referred to as the “securicrat” – and make this happen in our generation.
The rule of law: The “criminal State” is what author Daniel Branch believes we had become in the lead-up to the controversial 2007/8 crisis, as detailed in his book Kenya: Between Hope and Dispair,1963-2011.
daily battle
Journalists Mohammed Ali, Dennis Onsarigo and John Allan Namu often do a good job of reminding us what a criminal State may frightfully mean.
A similar debate is gaining currency in South Africa, thanks to an upcoming book, Cape Town: Who rules South Africa? Of the book, the Institute for Security Studies has noted:
“In this timely work, Martin Plaut and Paul Holden analyse the political elites that battle daily for power in South Africa. 2012 marks the centenary of the ANC.
It is also the year in which the ANC holds its five-year conference where Jacob Zuma and his allies will seek to hold the presidency while other factions within the Tripartite Alliance will attempt to unseat him.
Plaut and Holden argue that power does not reside in traditional institutions such as Parliament or even the Cabinet. Rather, power lies within the ANC-led Alliance, which, with no founding documentation and no constitution, is an unstructured and mutable political hydra with business and criminal elements in close attendance.
It is the interaction between these forces, which is the real story behind post-apartheid South Africa.
In a country where poverty is rampant and institutions are weak, the battle for power is set to intensify.
The authors unravel how the rainbow nation has reached such a pass. What are the origins of the Alliance and will it survive the current power struggles?
Who are the forces – some shadowy, some criminal – that operate within or alongside the Alliance? Most importantly, they seek to answer the burning question of whether South Africa is destined to become another African tragedy, or whether there is still promise of growth and a stable democracy.”
Kenya turns 50 next year; a controversial president should be in a position to make a clear call on this trajectory in our history.
Other Kenyans should step forward, with additional controversies.
The writer is a media consultant.
www.jesse-masai.com
