Kenyans won’t go to hell over rhino deaths, buck stops with Balala

Listening to Tourism and Wildlife Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala address the media early in the week on the death of 10 of the 11 black rhinos—estimated at 5,000 worldwide and just over 700 in Kenya, I was shocked.

More shocking was when I listened to him dismiss his critics on the handling of the matter, and then told all of us to “go to hell”.

At this point, I felt and strongly believe that the good Cabinet secretary should quickly check into an anger management clinic. This is chiefly because he allowed anger to consume him and quickly forgot that he is on public duty and cannot dismiss his employers by telling them “to go hell”. The little that I know is that all public officials are accountable to the people of Kenya. He swore to serve them. Therefore, to dismiss them as he did is in bad taste and an affront on the very mandate conferred on him by the Kenyan people.

Second, the good Cabinet Secretary has clearly violated provisions of our Constitution, especially on leadership and integrity. He cannot therefore vent the frustrations of his underperformance on ordinary Kenyans when he fails to perform what Kenyans expect of him.

What I know is that we all get angry sometimes and somehow. However, great leaders learn to express anger. They do this in healthy, direct, non-aggressive and non-toxic ways. Great leaders simply and powerfully say, “I feel angry.” More often than not, some leaders, like our CS, mistake anger for power, and fear for respect.  We all know the truth that angry bosses are rarely effective.

Fleeting passions

Having a good yell may feel cathartic at that moment, but it creates a toxic environment and erodes your standing among the team. That’s why it would have been prudent for a leader of Balala’s stature to be patient and rise above the fleeting passions of the moment. His choice should have been to simply let the anger pass. But he didn’t.

The second choice would have been to be truly slow to anger. What was required of him was to be firm, clear, and concise with his expectations without ever flying off the handle. He didn’t. Instead, the CS chose to openly be quick to anger and use very inexcusable words to accuse un-accusable folks, thereby falling short of integrity. He should be ashamed.

Third, the country is at a critical time in the fight against corruption. If there was a time Kenyans needed answers to anything ‘smelly’, it is now. And the rhino deaths are quite smelly. In this sense the CS can only be described as obstructionist in nature and meant to conceal the truth about Kenya’s wildlife, which is critical to the country’s economy. Save for the accusations and counter accusations, Kenyans do not even know what went wrong during the translocation of the rhinos, which is quite telling. All said and done, the buck stops with the Cabinet Secretary. He cannot apportion blame. 

Public affair

Fourth, CS Balala has violated his very own oath of office as a Cabinet Secretary. When Mr Balala took office, he swore to truly serve the people and the Republic of Kenya. “I undertake to hold my office as Cabinet Secretary with honour and dignity; that I will be a true and faithful counselor to the President for the good management of the public affairs of the Republic of Kenya”, he promised. Now, unless he swore and immediately forgot, I’m here to remind him that he has chewed his own words and that he has fallen short of serving Kenyans; worse, doing so in an un-dignified manner. Further, he can boast of being answerable to his appointing authority — the President —when we all know that even the head of  state draws his mandate from the people. What the public wants are honest ministers who can live up to their promises and deliver on mandate.

Last and more critically, his comments are unfortunate because as CS for wildlife, he remains the face of the country where matters of tourism and wildlife are concerned. It is a great privilege to serve in this capacity. Essentially, Kenyans have bestowed upon the CS the job of standing in on their behalf. And truly, a good deal of ministerial time is spent on relationship management. But poor relations with internal or external stakeholders mean negative image and a lack of support for what the Government is trying to do. For all we know, the reputation of the sector is like a watch that has been in the family for generations: you just hold it for the next person in line, and you want to hand it over intact – or even increased in value.

On the rhino deaths, I am not going to hell, literally!

Prof Mogambi, a Development communication and social change expert, teaches at UoN.