Our crisis isn’t posts, it is a lack of values

President Uhuru Kenyatta at the Jamhuri Day celebration at Nyayo Stadium, Nairobi, on 12/12/2020. [Boniface Okendo,Standard]

President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Jamhuru Day speech revealed his honest feelings about the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI). For him, BBI does not offer the knock-out blow to all our problems, it offers the country a first step. That raised my antennae: If so, why care so much about it when a sizeable population – including his deputy – aren’t convinced about it? Isn’t ‘creating beef’ with a half of the country troublesome?

The key words he used to amplify his rooting for the BBI are the ‘spirit of inclusion, co-creation and justice’. As he zeroed in on the pros of BBI – which he termed the First Amendment of the 2010 Constitution – one got a sense that like most of us, he, too, had wearied off the five-year ritual of ‘123 days’ of fear, anxiety and violence. That something needs to be done urgently is not in question. The question is: Are the BBI proposals the antidote? In a small way, yes. The bigger part has nothing to do with curing the real problem; that of poverty, unemployment and destitution, which evolve into a fight for survival at every electoral cycle as those ‘outside government’ fight for their turn to eat.

Was it by design or default that BBI does not place much premium on wealth generation and sustainability? It assumes that five new posts–the highlight of the president’s speech, will lead to wealth creation. Which is like putting the cart before the horse, as Harvard University professors Clay Christensen, Efosa Ojomo and Karen Dillon have cautioned: “Neither the cart nor the horse will move.”

The thing to consider is how what was billed a progressive constitution could be so toxic 10 years later. In their book Prosperity Paradox, the professors try to answer the question why institutions – including Constitutions – in the emerging world “end up being ineffective, or worse, corrupt.” Their conclusion is that you “cannot fix problems with the law, systems and institutions by simply adding another law, system or institution.”

They say institutions are about culture… “at the core, institutions reflect what people value.” The professors also conclude that societies that adopted market creating innovations in the end are harmonious, peaceful and successful and thriving. Who cares whether their tribesman is president if their bread is assured?

Research students are often cautioned that a wrong problem statement yields the wrong results and thereby leads to wrong conclusions. Proceeding from the 2017 imbroglio, did the architects of BBI fail to diagnose the real problem or ignored the real problem?

President Uhuru Kenyatta and DP William Ruto at Nyayo Stadium, Nairobi, for Jamhuri Day on December 12, 2020. [Elvis Ogina,Standard]

Why isn’t the need for core values–ethos–given much prominence as the expansion of the Executive? BBI does little or nothing to remove the obsession with the ‘Ultimate Prize’ syndrome, which creates a frenzy and conviction that anything but a fight to the death amounts to nothing. Those five positions get close to resolving the issue, but aren’t good enough. We can’t be a country of good enough.

An egregious sin was committed in 2013. Instead of being beneficent in their 2013 victory, President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy went about to run government as if it were for only two tribes. Corruption – our biggest problem – and inefficiency feed off state capture and the old boy network.

Jubilee’s first term was run seemingly devoid of the “spirit of inclusion, co-creation and justice”. It was bound to breed resentment and bitterness.

Jubilee’s inadequacies

The thing is, BBI was designed to cure Jubilee’s inadequacies, which are more to do with human nature – ethos if you like – than the Letter of the Constitution. What’s more, did the ‘dynamic duo’ of 2013 need a new Constitution to appoint other people besides members of their tribes to the Cabinet? By the time 2017 came around, one half of the country was ready to walk out of what renowned economist and political activist David Ndii termed an abusive union.

Ideally, in a democracy, elections are just one of the “checks and balances that constrain greed and ambition and protect the rights of the citizen”.

Besides its failure to transport our imaginations beyond the President, his deputy Ruto and former PM Raila Odinga, BBI has been fashioned as inviting more eaters to the table to silence the noises and jostling for two existing posts.

Now, there is no problem with that: There is food being cooked in the kitchen, alright. The problem will arise when we realise the kitchen store is empty and that nobody minded to ensure that some people were left to produce the food to bring to the kitchen.

Again, a question of our core values – is eating just enough and ensuring more goes around beyond those seated at the high table a lot to ask for?

Mr Kipkemboi is an Associate Editor, The Standard