Let’s rally around ideas, not ego contests

We could be wrong on this one, but East African nations do not seem to have  socio-economic and political philosophies to drive any agenda at the national level.

The last of them was the ‘Nyayo’ one. In Tanzania, it was the socialist one – ‘Ujamaa’.

Farther South, there is one referred to as ‘Ubuntu’ that is humanistic. ‘Uswahili’, from where Kiswahili crystallised to a culture, may also have started as a movement of sorts, which over time became the language we celebrate today.

There is something about a national philosophy that can galvanise and unite a people or even rally a nation together beyond tribes.

A national philosophy can create a unifying momentum to meet adversity or forge a common front, which unfortunately the two philosophies of the past miserably failed to do.

In military circles, it is common to have such calls as ‘operation desert shield’ et cetera. In other words, it has a way with the psyche and concerted effort.

One wonders, or even hopes, the chap vugu vugu can fit the bill. The Chap Chap movement of Machakos County Governor Alfred Mutua is becoming credible by the day.

It can be believed by the have-nots, particularly in Eastern Kenya. What we are not too sure of is whether it has an agenda to deliver beyond rhetoric.

In our view, it should start by appreciating that we are poor. To quote Prof PLO Lumumba in one of his popular speeches, we are poor if our gross net tax collection as a country is below the net profit of Walmart supermarket in the United States of America. Or that about 43 per cent of Kenyans live on less than a dollar a day. We are honestly poor.

Secondly, to quote from the most powerful orator of the last generation, Dr Martin Luther King Junior, “True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring.’

The edifice in our case is that the net effect of our population is consumer. To change it from being net consumers to net suppliers per unit e.g. per village, is where genius lies. The Chap Chap movement therefore should target this and in doing so divide us into units – like the villages of South Korea.

Pick a Chap Chap champion to organise us around a common strategy. Then, give us seed money like two hundred thousand. Once we are able to return that and ask for double around a ‘common project’, then we would be on track to real transformation.

This is even better if packaged around a community bank whose goal is not profit but to drive transformation. The nation seems to be holding its breath. Will this do, or will it just be another prank?

This is where political contestations should lie if Kenya should be something other than a nation of tribal superiority contests. So that even if we miss the eye of the Executive, we do not carry arms because we have something going.

The endless rhetoric by our leaders, who seem to oppose for the sake of opposing, must be discarded.

We need a principled Opposition that does not decimate new ideas that can propel this nation ahead at all times.

The opportunity cost of obstructing fresh and vibrant ideas is so high and retards the growth of a nation. The same applies to laws that are enacted in a hurry to serve short -term and transient interests. We need leaders who are truly selfless to run our political, social economic spheres and who are ready to quit when things go wrong.

How soon can we be like Ed Miliband, the UK Labour party aspirant for Prime minister in the last election; resign by being gracious in defeat?

After losing, he said: “Britain needs a Labour Party that can rebuild after this defeat so we can have a government that stands up for working people again. Now it’s time for someone else to take forward the leadership of this party, so I’m tendering my  resignation... I want to do so straight away because the party needs to have an open and honest debate about the right way forward without constraint.”

In Kenya, that never happens. How can a party owner resign after defeat? They hang on to the post like ticks do to a cow. They are ever in the media platform saying nothing worthwhile.

They should be told that it is just a philosophy that is lost, not them. Let others try it too.

This is how Kenyans can stop the leaders remaining at the helm in perpetuity. That culture would stop if it is a philosophical contest.