Come on, let’s face it, Jubilee’s performance is but woeful

It’s been four years since the Jubilee coalition took office and nine months since the Jubilee Party (JP) was formed. The coalition, which was elected purely on an ICC platform, promised Kenyans a revolution.

A revolution that would put food and clean water on every Kenyan’s table, ensure that every child received a quality education, create wealth, ensure that every Kenyan gained access to quality and affordable healthcare, empower Kenyan women, keep Kenya safe and secure, and develop a cogent foreign relations and trade policy for Kenya.

Taking recent events into account, including a ravaging drought for which the Government was woefully under-prepared, followed closely by a dramatic spike in the cost of food, the Kenyatta administration has not done too well on the first promise of its seven-pronged manifesto.

In fact, it can be argued that it has failed spectacularly. And yet, State House Spokesman Manoah Esipisu still sees a victory in last week’s importation of duty-free maize despite suspicions that it may have been more of a profitable business venture than an exercise in humanitarianism.

Mr Esipisu has been staunch in his defence of the Government’s handling of the maize affair. “The bottom line for us is that unga is affordable again to the ordinary Kenyan,” he said. “No matter the amount of debate or the amount of inquisition, there is likely nothing that can be done to change the fact that a two-kilogramme packet of unga costs Sh90. That is just a simple fact.”

Bottom line, indeed. For the millers who imported the maize duty-free, the sellers in Mexico, South Africa, Eldoret, or wherever, and the entrepreneurs who are benefiting from a Sh6 billion subsidy, the bottom line is looking pretty good.

Jubilee promised a food and clean water revolution. But after a season of water rationing (plus the simple fact that 17 million Kenyans do not have access to clean water) and this latest series of maize-related debacles, Kenyans are experiencing the opposite.

So if you are wondering if the coalition has an ideological leg to stand on beyond this lukewarm attempt at a revolution, it is this: The end justifies the means.

This is the notion - that an acceptable outcome justifies unacceptable methods, a notion similar to the doctrine of consequentialism, which allows the morality of an action to be judged solely by its consequences.

As long as unga can be bought at Sh90 in the supermarket, don’t worry about where it came from, who is selling it, and how much money was made. Also, don’t worry about the little people who are not part of the supermarket economy, the ones who purchase their maize on the open market.

Dragging the scraggly, ordinary man into a picture-perfect public relations coup is bad for the optics. He can take care of himself; he always has. Indeed, the freshly minted Jubilee Party says that it is “inspired by the indomitable spirit of the people of Kenya in their daily struggles to create a modern, just, united, and prosperous Kenya”. When your struggles are a source of inspiration, chances are that you might be struggling for a long time.

It is a simple fact that when the going gets tough, the man on the street gets tougher. He hardens his heart when he hears politicians talking about visions, mission, and manifestos. His eyes glaze over when he hears talk of a revolution. He turns his neck to the side when he hears them say they will “actualise the hopes, dreams, and aspirations of the people of Kenya from all walks of life”, which is one of JP’s blanket promises.

Hopes, dreams, and aspirations mean nothing to a hungry man. And a promise to give him food and water become an insult when his empty stomach doesn’t carry any weight when measured against the bottom line.

My bottom line is this: Our government needs to do better. Thus far, the Kenyatta administration has been mediocre, excelling only at grand corruption and a shocking mishandling of the economy.

If the current office holders are serious about a second term, they have just about three months to show Kenyans what a revolution really looks like.

Ms. Masiga is Security and Peace Editor at The Conversation Africa.