The missing link in the legislature, executive, Judiciary

By Ken Opalo

twitter@kopalo

What is happening in the Judiciary should be of grave concern to all patriotic Kenyans. It is increasingly becoming apparent that the reforms in this key arm of government that we had pegged our hopes on were merely a mirage. Instead of having a cleaner institution all we got was a heavy bill for sitting allowances and endless drama on national television.

This is a travesty. It is the equivalent of the middle finger to hapless wananchi who had placed great hopes in the one institution that could check any tyrannical tendencies from the Executive, Parliament and the wenyenchi class. What a couple of years ago appeared as a significant coup by the genuinely reformist elements in civil society (by having progressives appointed to the institution, including the Chief Justice) has left us with buyer’s remorse. This raises the question: what more can we do? What is the missing link in Kenyan institutions? The answer is simple, bordering on simplistic and naïve. And it is the lack of active citizen engagement.

Following the birth of the Second Republic in 2010 most Kenyans expected things to change. Fast. Critical institutions such as the Judiciary, the Kenya Police Service, Parliament and the presidency were all slated for makeovers to make them more sensitive and responsive to the wishes of Kenyans. Indeed the country poured billions of shillings in vetting and the creation of independent commissions to facilitate the cleanup and subsequent dispersal of power that had previously been concentrated in particular institutions under the thumb of vested interests.

Despite the scattered “teething problems,” for a moment it seemed like things were really moving in the right direction. Kenyans then sat back as if everything was on autopilot. The fight was over. Following the election, civil society, too, receded considerably from the public sphere. This left the new institutions and those that staffed them totally disconnected from the public mood.

The last six months have served to disabuse us of the illusion that things can run on autopilot. To use a Star Wars reference, while we were away the empire struck back and won. Corruption is back in the Judiciary. Parliament has gone rogue and abrogated their duty to be the representatives of the people, instead choosing to be a puppet and concentrate on political sideshows that will do nothing to increase the number of sufurias in Wanjiku’s kitchen.

The Police Service still is one of the most corrupt and dysfunctional institutions in the country.

Despite the country’s heightened state of insecurity, Vigilance House prefers to focus on journalists reporting on police ineptitude.

They want us all to accept their mediocrity and move on.

The presidency too is distracted by “personal challenges” that have since transmogrified to national and even continental challenges.  As a student of Legislatures in Africa, I will tell you that we have the strongest Parliament in all of Africa, at least on paper. Our Judiciary is also designed to be an independent self-propelling institution. But for these institutions to adequately play their prescribed role, the public and civil society must remain engaged.

Otherwise we will continue to have the sorry reality that Africa’s strongest parliament is slowly turning into a den of jingoist sycophants, not very different from the fifth Parliament – which was arguably the weakest, “rubber stamp” assembly in our history.

The 2010 Constitution is a good document that could do wonders for Kenya. Our problem is that despite our remodeled institutions we have retained the political culture of yesteryear. As soon as public servants find themselves in office they forget whom they are supposed to serve. Many fall back to the “it is our time to eat” mentality. This is a challenge to civil society and the wider public to reengage.

It is singularly absurd that even though we have a freer media that reports on mega-corruption and the state incompetence and thievery in government no one gets prosecuted. Our public officials know that there is no one watching and they can get away with it. Meanwhile the cancer that is eating our body politic continues to metastasize, forcing disillusioned Kenyans to lose even more trust in state institutions, making the problem worse.

The writer is a PhD candidate at Stanford University