Certain observations should be made early in the ‘digital age’ that comes with two dynamos on the Executive block for the common good. And it must not be said that the more things change the more they remain the same.
It may be too early to be categorical on this, but it should be said to show the new administration that the national electorate is watching and judging the Jubilee promise of a new beginning for a ‘digital’ Kenya.
Patriotic Jubilee talk – of one Kenya one nation – has not been followed with definitive actions, even in nomination of Cabinet secretaries, which is still work in progress.
The ‘real face of Kenya’ would remain elusive if the appointments of principal secretaries follow the same plot of The National Alliance-United Republican Party pre-election power-sharing deal.
The promise to implement the 2010 Constitution in spirit and letter has also not been matched with actions, say, by giving public offices the overdue ‘face of Kenya’ hue.
Questions linger on what giving the Cabinet, for example, a face of Kenya, means in numbers. But framers of the 2010 Constitution had regional balance and ethnic diversity in mind. It has no room for a 50-50 power sharing deal between parties.
When leaders of the Maa community say they have no face in the Cabinet, they are stating a fact. When the Mjikenda express the same reservations, they base their claim on facts. When leaders of the Luhya community complain, they are raising issues that need no belabouring.
Asian-Kenyans, European-Kenyans, the Ogiek, and the Kuria have not spoken about being sidelined in nominations of Cabinet secretaries. But they may have seen another face of Kenya that may be hidden to the naked eye. It is such doublespeak and double faces that cause alienation, and ethnic discordance, particularly during General Elections.
Kenya, so to speak, has more than 40 ethnic communities. It is therefore not possible to have each one of these communities produce a Cabinet secretary, with only 18 such positions.
But balancing appointments should still be sensitive to this constitutional imperative.
It is true only 16 of 18 Cabinet secretaries have been nominated, but the deficit cannot right the obvious skew in favour of the two dominant Jublilee communities.
Five for URP plus six for TNA means 11 of 18 positions have been taken over by only two of over 40 ‘faces’ of Kenya. The President, Deputy President, the Attorney General, and the Secretary to the Cabinet are part of the Cabinet.
It is no longer in dispute that the Jubilee alliance won the March 4 General Election, at least not after the IEBC made the declaration, and the Supreme Court validated the decision.
But the 2010 Constitution tempers the winner-take-all mentality of the previous General Elections with ethnic and regional balance.
The rationale for this is to achieve national unity.
Electoral campaigns are partisan and divisive, but running country is a national duty that goes beyond choices and consequences as a senior counsel, who is gaining notoriety as an apologist for the status quo, claims.
Ahmednassir Abdullahi claimed in an article last weekend that the Cabinet skew is justified because Jubilee won. But he forgets that Jubilee won because the majority gave the alliance the mandate to set the country on the right footing.
‘Kusema na kutenda’
With such apologia for the status quo, Kenyans could still be talking of national reconciliation even after the 2017 General Election and beyond.
Former President Mwai Kibaki had the chance to ‘heal’ the country after the 2002 General Election, but the winner used the presidency to legitimacy skewed distribution and generation of national goodies.
By the 2007 General Election and post-election violence, the talk was about historical injustices, and national reconciliation, as part of the Agenda 4 deal that ended post-election violence.
This dream collapsed under the Kibaki presidency, with top national offices in security, energy, and finance falling to the allure of cronyism.
When the Jubilee twins arrived on the presidential scene, they had an agenda. But its actions so far, have been bogged down by indecision and procrastination — that notorious pilferer of time. The Cabinet is still in the making about a month after presidential inauguration.
There have been excuses for the slow motion: That the President could not nominate Cabinet secretaries and process them earlier than now because they had to ensure they had the right choices.
Authors of the Jubilee manifesto must have had men and women of character in mind to execute their vision for a better Kenya. They were not going to import Cabinet secretaries.
Time is running out, and still counting. Deadlines are beginning to be missed, like Budget proposal being presented in Parliament by April 30.
This did not happen.
A quarter of 100 days, the traditional test time for a new administration, is gone with no spectacular action from the Executive to demonstrate kusema na kutenda’is going to be the modus operandi of the first youthful administration since Independence in 1963.
Co-presidents Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta and William Samoei Ruto must rattle the status quo to reassure the public that things won’t remain the same even as they change.
The writer is The Standard’s Managing Editor Quality and Production.
kendo@standardmedia.co.ke
