History beckons Uhuru, Raila to do the right thing for country

It would seem that with the election now behind us, all our worries about the country breaking apart are over.

Not so.

The fundamentals holding the country have been stretched to breaking point and there is a real risk of things coming apart at any time. Listening to National Super Alliance (NASA) leader Raila Odinga and his former ally-turned-political-foe spat on CNN at the weekend, it is not lost on many that it will take more than an election to get the country together again.

For one party, an election took place despite the boycott by the other side. And to them, that should bring closure to the agitation for fair representation and fair play.

To develop a national agenda of unity, peace and stability, it is imperative that President Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila step back from their hardline positions and give sobriety a chance.

Last week, our prognosis for the week ahead was dire, even cataclysmic.

Mercifully, we have come out unscathed, but then there is more to fear. Indeed, it would be foolhardy to bury our heads in the sand as if all was well.

Last week we wrote about Peter Hennessy’s “emotional geography of power” that all leaders ought to adapt.

Hennessy, a professor of Contemporary British History at Queen Mary University of London, argues that a leader should not just be decisive but also ready to bend over backwards to cut a deal if it is for the common good. That leader must be willing to take risks by seeking alternative opinion and accepting dissent while persuading and co-opting an opponent to one’s side.

We exhorted Uhuru and Raila to muster this skill, if nothing else. At least Uhuru has signalled that he is willing to talk with Raila. Whereas the nature and subject of discussion has not been revealed, this is the first crucial step to addressing the cause celebre of what is threatening our statehood.

At the heart of this is the fiercely exclusivist politics where the winner takes it all. Our politics is an end in itself; it is the avenue for growth and opportunity in Government contracts and State largesse. And so the politicians know that should they lose, they face long periods out in the cold. This kind of politics fosters the survival of the fittest mad rush like happens in the wild.

Unless the losers feel they lost fair and square or are made to understand that losing is not the end of the world, this cycle will keep repeating itself.

In other words, we should be prepared for another bout of electoral-induced economic lulls, tribal tensions and skirmishes here and there five years down the road.

But why should we let that happen again? Why should Kenyans pay a high price for democracy? A cure must be found sooner rather than later.

Kenya’s predicament is captured by Paul Collier, a professor of economics and public policy at Oxford University.

Collier warns that “on their own, unless they are held in the context of a functioning democracy, elections can retard rather than advance a country’s progress.”

The fear is that over time, elections become a charade held only to legitimise the ruling elite’s hold on power.

“As with elections and reform, democracy is a force for good as long as it is more than a façade,” says Collier.

Kenya is a land of incredible promise. But corruption, tribalism and nepotism that feeds off bad politics are holding the country from attaining that promise. Uhuru and Raila hold the key to that promise.

It is up to them to open up the politics. Besides that, they will have to be the true spokesmen of the common man; they will have to make Government an enabler of growth and progress by dismantling the political networks that prop up the corruption cartels and by disrupting the business-as-usual attitude in the civil service.

They will have to devote energy to building confidence in the economy to create more jobs for youths; they will have to reassure our apprehensive neighbours that Kenya is a dependable ally.

Yet it would be too much to expect them to challenge and overhaul a system in which they are beneficiaries.

The damage the political acrimony between these two has caused the country is so massive that any benefits accruing from the political structure will be rendered mute were Kenya to implode.

And so history beckons Uhuru and Raila to do the right thing for Kenya.