Our only curse is 'smallness of politics'

"What is troubling is the gap between the magnitude of our national challenges and the smallness of our politics - the ease with which we are destructed by the petty and trivial, our chronic avoidance of tough decisions, our seeming inability to build a working consensus to tackle any big problem."

The expression of frustration by US President Barack Obama in his memoirs, The Audacity of Hope reads like a perfect diagnosis of the curse eating up Kenya and which stunts our desired growth and progress. In fact, from the diagnosis, the only prognosis is that we shall not progress an inch unless we initiate and execute a national surgery to cure our maddening mediocrity, obsession with trivia, and our penchant for self-destruction.

Perhaps, the current political posturing and positioning for next year’s elections is the clearest illustration of the smallness of our politics and stubborn refusal to conduct national affairs in a new way as circumstances demand. We cannot achieve new results and inspire a fresh hope if we continue in doing same old things in same old ways.

With a new Constitution and other institutional reforms, our politics must rise above trivia. It must be issue-based, content-driven and leadership must be motivated by selfless desire to improve the common citizenry, expand their potential base and provide opportunities for realisation of vast potentials. Basically, there must be fidelity between language of our leaders and their actions away from cameras.

Test of democracy

More fundamentally, next year’s elections will raise interesting questions about the nature of our society and how we wish to develop it. Shall we devolve political mediocrity and professional indolence? Shall we pass the basic test of democracy, which entails giving people the freedom and power to make sobre choices about how the society is governed, by whom and in whose interest? A progressive society cannot be built only on what the laws of the Constitution fix as rules of behaviour.

True, we appear to have made great strides in reforms, but we must remember due to the smallness of our politics, these changes were only triggered by the blood bath and killings that followed our bungled 2007 presidential election. However, even more appalling is the sad reality that our politics is even growing smaller. Will our national gains be lost in the mist of narrow selfish political interests? Will purveyors of impunity and lords of corruption succeed in torpedoing the national ship of reform by blocking law implementation?

The Commission on the Implementation of the Constitution has decried Parliament and Cabinet’s evil determination to slow down the process of implementation and dilute the value of the new statutes.

In its quarterly report, CIC says, "Although we acknowledge the Constitution contemplates the possibility of amendment, CIC is also aware unnecessary amendments made this early would undermine the Constitution. Any amendments must enhance, not claw back on the letter and spirit of the Constitution."

Admittedly, the Constitution is not cast in iron, but any amendments must be in the interest of the people and not for the fulfillment of selfish and myopic political interests. Even the US Constitution was amended several times in its infancy, but it was always for the good of the people. We must guard the Constitution against unnecessary mutilations and adulterations meant to fulfill callous desires, as happened with our Constitution of independence.

Even more disheartening is the obvious lack of a structured functional political leadership with the potential to take on the enormous challenges of the post-Kibaki governance. The ever shifting political alliances, the assemblies of self serving power seekers and myriad tribal political parties are symptomatic of a failed leadership and indicative of future failure.

Political wisdom demands that captains who would steer the vessel of national governance in the turbulent waters of the new constitutional dispensation hoist their sails in fair weather. Otherwise, real progress will remain elusive. But, who will take our politics to the next level?

Okillah Samora, Via Email}