Where did all the reform agents of the 1990s go?

By Njoki Ndung’u

On Wednesday, I watched as former President Moi pooh-poohed civil society organisations relegating them, as he has always in the past, as busybodies only of nuisance value.

In my time, read pre-2003, such an announcement would have led to a fierce and feisty engagement with the senior statesman, until he would either back off or give in.

There was no such similar response this week, so profound was the silence from those so accused, that the question came to mind, is civil society dead?

The decline in the presence and influence previously wielded by activists pursuing good governance and greater democracy should be a genuine cause of worry.

Collectively, these groups and individuals have been an important variable in the evolution of democracy and good governance in the country. It is fair to argue that without their input, the quest for multi-party politics for instance, would have been harder to realise given the intransigence of the Kanu regime and its hard-line contempt for "Western-driven" agendas.

But the array of home grown forces coalescing around religious organisations, non-governmental organisations and civil societies proved too formidable for the regime repressive tools of police bullets and teargas.

Indeed, it was the Ufungamano team that provided the necessary environment to force political will for Inter Parties Parliamentary Group and constitutional change.

We have since attained political pluralism and expanded democracy in the country. Yet as Kofi Annan noted this week in Nairobi, and as evident to well-wishers and critics, we still have much distance to cover to realise a well-governed, prosperous nation.

Gauging performance

There is still a yawning need for a third force to remind the Government to stick to the narrow and painful path of reforms. We still have much use for well-intentioned advocacy groups in such areas as promotion of human rights, fight against corruption and more open governance.

Vibrant activism is especially important in containing the homing instincts of a typical third world Government. Regimes are naturally uncomfortable with too much scrutiny of their activities. For them, the ideal situation would be what founding President Jomo Kenyatta believed: that serikali (government) was essentially siri kali (top secret) that therefore needed to be shielded away from public scrutiny.

Governing away from the public glare and pesky irritants is good for cutting deals that oil the corruption industry. It is the perfect environment for perpetuating illegalities such as abuses for human rights and for slovenly or non-existent public service.

In the peace and quiet afforded by a timorous or non-existent civil society, the delivery of electoral pledges can be comfortably forgotten because no one holds leaders to account on their promises. And without such scrutiny, it becomes difficult to gauge performance, an important consideration in making electoral choices in future.

gravy train

Government becomes a jolly gravy train for politicians and their cronies to gorge to their fill with the flourish of attendant ills of bad governance such as the spread of poverty, class inequities and ethnic-flavoured animosities.

An active civil society is therefore integral to a functional, maturing democracy.

It is a necessity that must be nurtured and encouraged. In our case therefore, it is worrying when, compared to Moi years, this particular group goes into hibernation during the Narc regime.

True, the void created from its limbo may have been partially filled by the media and lately, by Parliament. But these cannot suffice as measure-for-measure alternatives. To adequately keep the Government in focus, a kiss of life for yesterday’s religious groupings, civil societies and other activists is necessary.

To be fair, there still remains some residual presence among these cadres, indeed I congratulate activists pushing for key reform issues such as land policy and transitional justice.

But, there are no towering equivalents of the influential clerics and the so-called Young Turks. Many of these yesterday radicals are still alive. But the activism thunder has since largely disappeared from their bellies for a variety of reasons.

Chiefly, it is because some have since been co-opted into the Government with the coming to power of the then opposition in 2002 elections. Today, Raila Odinga is the country’s Prime Minister. Energy Minister Kiraitu Murungi and Land Minister James Orengo are in the Cabinet. Other like Mutave Musyimi, Martha Karua and Gitobu Imanyara are in Parliament.

Tainted messenger

Of those who remain outside the Government, sustaining fiery criticism reminiscent of the past is awkward now that yesterday comrades are in the belly of the regime. The onset of the President Kibaki regime also brought an informal moratorium on political activism. With majority of prominent democracy agitators having been largely created and sustained by aversion for Kanu, its exit took away the vigilance on Government performance.

Besides, religious organisations and civil society have since grown deeply divided along the same fault lines of political parties and ethnicity besetting the post-Kanu government.

The PNU-ODM biases are nakedly discernible in the selectiveness and passion of their areas of interest.

Objectivity and honesty are often the first casualties.

And when the messenger is tainted by association and prejudice, gaining broad respect for the message is a tough call. It is therefore important to encourage the resurrection of well-meaning religious and civil society.

—The writer is an Advocate of the High Court.