Our politicians only care about power and wealth

To compound our problems, there is no sign that either side of the divide – the government or the opposition – is willing to give in and play the adult in the room. The government dug in its heels by ramrodding its preferred amendments without a single concession to the opposition; who in turn have called for street demonstrations beginning January 4. PHOTO: COURTESY

This week we were treated yet again to the ugly side of our political leadership. The scenes from Parliament, in which opposition legislators hurled abuses at President Uhuru Kenyatta, were anything but respectable. And equally deplorable was the manner in which Parliament passed amendments to the Election Laws (Amendment) Bill.

And so here we are, less than a year ahead of the General Election next August, with a complete intra-elite dissensus over the rules of the game. How are we going to conduct free and fair, and peaceful, polls without an agreement over the rules and the impartiality of the umpire?

To compound our problems, there is no sign that either side of the divide – the government or the opposition – is willing to give in and play the adult in the room. The government dug in its heels by ramrodding its preferred amendments without a single concession to the opposition; who in turn have called for street demonstrations beginning January 4.

Come January we should expect more Kenyans to die in the streets. We should expect more of our hard-earned shillings to be spent on tear gas and water cannon. We should expect to lose more money as businesses close or shops are looted. All this in the service of our self-appointed tribal chiefs who care about nothing but power and their own enrichment.

Forget the specifics of the Elections Laws Bill for a second. What is in it for the average Kenyan in the next election? Why is it that doctors can be on strike for a fortnight, less than a year from an election, with very little government action to alleviate public suffering? Why is it that the opposition only cares to call for demonstrations on matters related to their own quest for power?

The simple answer is because the only things that our leaders care about are power and wealth. From their perspective, we are merely means to these ends. They do not care that we are a poor lot, perennially exposed to dehumanising poverty and general precarity.

We die from preventable illnesses because our leaders steal from the Health Ministry and are unwilling to re-imagine how we live, including how to provide decent housing complete with running water and indoor plumbing.

 We die on our poorly-designed roads because our leaders steal from the development budget and our police are ever eager to accept bribes. We die from criminal acts because our thuggish politicians do not care about our security, and prefer to use our police officers for their own protection. We die because we are on our own.

The scenes from Parliament made me think critically about why it is that we have elections. Do we do this because someone in London, Washington, or Brussels expects us to have elections? Have we internalised why we choose our own leaders?

Have our leaders internalised the import of having the people chose who controls our government? Beyond the stealing, and general mediocrity that we see in the media, do those in power know what it means to run a country of 44 million souls?

I ask these questions because it is hard to understand why a group of men and women given the chance to lead a great republic like ours would chose instead to behave like there is no tomorrow. Like they do not want to be remembered by history. Like their conception of life is limited to their own personal consumption in the here and now.

Are we really incapable of understanding what government ought to be about? Even North Korea, with their misguided cast of characters, do better. They have a government that has a sense of destiny and direction. They act like individuals who stand on their conspicuous stage of history and who have a sense of purpose. What purpose do our leaders have beyond stealing from a poor woman in Ol Kalau?