Treacherous pitfalls Uhuru must avoid if he is to succeed

By Mwenda Njoka

 It took no less than the Chief of Defence Forces Julius Karangi to get local media inside the inauguration hall.

Power, they say, is often more intoxicating not to its wielders but those around the centre than the most potent of brews. Every time a new leader takes over, there is excitement with enormous dose of overzealousness. Newly appointed officials and operatives tend to want to display raw power at the slightest excuse, sometimes often rubbing others whom they should be working with, the wrong way.

On Tuesday, Ninth of April, Kenya and the world witnessed the inauguration of Uhuru Kenyatta as the Fourth President of Kenya since independence.

Everything was beamed on live television countrywide. Everything? Well, not quite. Behind the scenes and away from the glare of television cameras at the Moi International Sport Centre Kasarani, an unexpected exhibition of hubris was taking place.

Now, for purposes of guaranteeing smooth, decent and honourable handover of power – in broad daylight – from the outgoing President to President-elect, Parliament, in its wisdom, enacted the Assumption of the Office President Act.

The Act creates a high-powered body known as the Assumption of the Office of President Committee. This is (or was) an ad hoc committee chaired by Head of Public Service and Secretary to the Cabinet and includes the Chief of Defence Forces, Director General of Intelligence among several high-ranking public officials. The incoming President nominates three people to represent his interests in the committee.
President-elect (as he then was) Uhuru duly nominated his representatives to the Committee. That is when the drama started, because some, not all, of the new nominees appeared to have joined the Committee with the assumption that the top-level civil servants, senior military and Intelligence officers in the Committee did not know much about the task ahead.

According to insiders, name dropping and not so oblique threats such as “I have just come from a meeting with President-elect and he is categorical about this or that …” or “the Family (of President-elect) has made it clear that…” were constant parts of conversation whenever one of the nominees interacted with fellow members of the Assumption of the Office of President Committee.

In one incident that threatened to wreck the inauguration, one nominee wanted to bar media houses from filming the inauguration arguing this would be done by a private company (which was to be paid by taxpayers of course!) and the company would provide live-feed to television stations.

It took no less than the Chief of Defence Forces Julius Karangi to get local media inside the inauguration hall. Gen Karangi had to pull rank and declare in no uncertain term that the inauguration was not a private affair but a public military function of which media, he said, was integral.

In another incident, according to eyewitnesses, another nominee of then President-elect had a bitter exchange of words with Government Protocol Officers over procedure. The Government Protocol Officer was reduced to tears when she was told “after this function you have no job” by someone who was not – at least at that point in time – a known Government officer.

Those who work for the President ought to indeed must have respect for institutions; avoid showing Big Man syndrome and arrogance of having “powers from above”.

If President Uhuru and Deputy President William Ruto have shown great respect for other people and institutions, why should those who work for them behave differently?

These are dangerous trends, which if left unchecked, could grow into unbridled display of power-drunkenness and get the otherwise promising Uhuru presidency into a wrong start.

Those who know the President well say he is a down to earth person without a tinge of arrogance. But, and big but, a noble presidency and a well-meaning president can be destroyed by overzealous name-dropping operatives.

It is thus incumbent upon Uhuru and Ruto to muster, master and practise the art of statecraft to ensure no one uses their good names to intimidate, harass or berate innocent public servants carrying out their duties. These are, but some of the treacherous pitfalls the presidency must avoid.