Salary tantrums elicit resounding recall drumbeats

By Angela Ambitho

NAIROBI, KENYA: Once upon a time, monkeys ruled humans. As kings, the primates were domineering, cheeky, deceitful, greedy and outrightly incorrigible. Every year the humans gathered to complain bitterly about their jumpy leaders. But because they knew no better, they begrudgingly persevered until the day one of them pointed out that there was a way to oust the apes illuminating that humans had superior mental faculties. Initially, few were convinced; many couldn’t fathom a life free from their unreasonable rulers. But more people tested the superiority theory and realised the secret of their liberation lay in unlocking the mental blocks in the mind. Soon, all humans felt empowered enough to revolt against the Monkey Kings and were victorious.

This tale teaches that if we conquer our fears and unlock our minds, the possibilities are infinite. Indeed, our nascent Constitution is the clearest manifestation of what we can do when we put our minds to it.

Realising the need to have a government of the people, by the people and for the people, we created laws that demanded greater accountability from leaders. So resolute were we on the importance of integrity that we included recall of our elected representatives before the expiration of their terms if they contravened Chapter Six of the Constitution or were found guilty of committing offences under the Elections Act.

 Unfortunately, amendments by MPs on the original law on recall makes removing them from office as difficult as trying to get a camel through the eye of a needle. First, an MP can only be recalled 24 months after serving and 12 months before the next General Election. Secondly, the petitioner must garner support from 30 per cent registered voters in the constituency. Thirdly, the petition must be taken to the High Court to determine merit of the case. In all likelihood, by the time any efforts to recall an MP see the light of day; the subsequent General Election would be knocking.

The law pales in the shadow of Michigan State where an average of 38 state and local government elected officials face a recall election annually. Over the past decade, recall elections have been successful 42 per cent in townships, 52 per cent in cities, 61per cent in villages, 41 per cent in school districts, 29 per cent in counties and 50 per cent at State level. According to the Michigan Citizen’s recall report, the process has helped keep elected officials from losing respect for the power granted them and from disregarding the electorate in deference to their political party or own conscience.

You see, the people of Michigan, just like we originally intended, expect their legislators to operate under the same set of laws as ordinary citizens. They understand that an employee who is unproductive or insubordinate gets fired; a spouse who is disloyal or promiscuous gets divorced, a priest who is blasphemous gets excommunicated, a student with poor grades gets deferred. Society has no place for non-conformity.

The MPs’ demeaning utterances and threats not only makes many of us foam in the mouth but also sick. They invoke in us the same kind of negative emotion that inclines us to want to divorce them.

That our politicians have developed selective memory is disheartening. But as in the tale, the humans will soon feel like they did in the Monkey Kingdom; trapped, helpless and hopeless. 

The fact that petitions agitating their removal are gaining ground indicates that tables may turn. Perhaps then our MPs will realise that “when the monkey is destined to die, all the trees get slippery”.