Stakeholders aren’t always steakholders

Okech Kendo

After about seven years of the Kibaki republic, this can be said: That stakeholders are not always the steakholders. The facts are so obvious it takes a steakholder to deny the existence of special publics, which are driving the country to another precipice.

This ‘special’ public does not want to be reminded of its failures and responsibilities. Sovereignty is cited to evade questions of responsible leadership and judges are whipped to provide constitutional references about their entrenched rights.

Now, the exchange of letters between Kenya and the United States is a good example of how irresponsible the local leadership is. It is a leadership that scouts for excuses to avoid being held to account for breach of promises.

This Government was formed, not elected, with one mandate on which its performance must be judged. Washington is telling Kibaki and his handlers that look here, Mr President, you promised institutional reforms within a timeframe. But nothing seems to be moving.

All reform deadlines have elapsed, as steakholders bury their heads in the carcass. There is no justice for victims of post-election violence and corruption still runs amok.

Expected police reforms have stalled, with those holding command responsibility for the conduct of security agents during post-election violence still in charge. State agents were blamed for most of the murders, rapes and other human rights abuses during the power-induced mayhem against the electorate, last year.

With the President and the Prime Minister working at cross-purposes, blame is shared 50-50, while executive power is hoarded to protect the status quo.

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The President reappointed Aaron Ringera director of Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission without consulting the Prime Minister. The appointment came within days of the PM launching a strategic vision for his office.

Vested interests

Kibaki nonetheless re-hired Ringera without consulting the Prime Minister whose docket includes fighting corruption. The PM was being told he could share the blame for soaring corruption in Government, but that the power to protect vested interests belongs to steakholders.

Joining steakholders in their indifference would be to lose sight of the horrors of post-election violence and possible recurrence. The murders of 1,300 voters and dispossession of about 600,000 people were results of a conspiracy against the electorate by leaders who want power to protect steakholders.

On February 28, last year, during the signing of the National Accord that created this blame-sharing Government, President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga agreed and signed a reform roadmap. They promised a new constitution within one year of the formation of the Coalition Government. But 18 months later, there is no new constitution. Neither is there political will to get this done.

Instead there is a Committee of Experts — facilitating constitutional review — that is divided the way steakholders want it. One commissioner has been accused of working for steakholders to undermine reforms. The same steakholders squandered the 2005 referendum that should have yielded a new constitution.

Eighteen months later, individuals accused of turning national institutions into agents of steakholders are still in office, behaving like their protector, the Executive, has veto rights over the country.

For as long as the Attorney General and the Chief Justice continue presiding over impunity, the hope and beacon of timed reforms will dim further. The two institutions, which personify impunity, should be targeted, in the public interest, once Parliament is done with reforming the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission.

Yet public interest is often cited to justify actions that serve steakholders. The latest appointments, and disappointments, illustrate the discrepancy between words and action.

For the anomaly, the buck stops with the President. For it is Kibaki who pledged by the Bible on December 30, 2002, in the hearing of millions of Kenyans who had elected him, to protect the public interest. He was then understood to mean he would represent the national interest. See the irony?

Kioko Mang’eli was sacked from Kenya Bureau Standards "in the public interest". Ringera was until yesterday in office in spite of huge public interest that he goes. Ringera survived on presidential interest.

Gone full circle

For Ringera and Fatuma Sichale to have resigned earlier in the public interest would be to spit in the President’s face. So the couple decided it was in their interest to spit in the faces of the public. For them, presidential support was all that mattered.

On December 30, 2002, Kibaki was sworn-in as president to serve the public interest. Now in protecting special interests, Kibaki has gone full circle: Moribund as the National Council of Churches of Kenya claimed.

The fortunes of Ringera and Mang’eli illustrate the divisive peak of the Kibaki republic. Now it can be confirmed stakeholders are not always the steakholders.

Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka may not be a steakholder after all. After crying in public, with MP Kiema Kilonzo, over the sacking of Mang’eli it was obvious he is an outsider whose say-so cannot reverse the sacking of a CEO from his village from a State corporation.