Why 2022 talk undermines peace, stability and progress

Were it not that 2022 is a calendar year, visitors to Kenya would be excused to think that 2022 is the name of a popular person or place. Yet 2022 is just a year.

In the country’s electoral cycle, 2022 is the year for the next scheduled elections. Most importantly, these are the elections that will decide who becomes Kenya’s fifth president after Uhuru Kenyatta.

But then our politicians speak as if 2022 is next week or next month.

Though we cannot even for a moment assume that the interim period before 2022 is a bubble where politics is not spoken or conducted, it is the rancour that 2022 is causing to the country that is worrisome.

At the centre of it is the race to succeed President Kenyatta. Inevitably, Mr Kenyatta must exit the stage when his second and final term ends in 2022.

The jostling for his succession is exposing the tenuous nature of our democracy and the brittleness of all political pacts; it is also exposing the powerful forces grinding against each other to the detriment of the country; and also, a failure by the political class to adequately plan for the future.

Quite clearly, panic has set in and those in the political arena want to determine their future by whatever means. In spite of the debilitating effects of last year’s prolonged electioneering period to the economy and the very fabric of our society, the politicians are throwing the country back into a campaign mode with four years to go.

The underlying problem is the lack of strong parties with a clear strategy for the country. In truth, rather than serve as vehicles for the emancipation of the masses and instruments to foster the national good, parties are vehicles for self-glorification and self-aggrandisement.

It is not hyperbole to describe parties as the bane of our politics.

Kenya’s political shenanigans can be solely traced to the weakened political structure in our parties. Parties have become personal property devoid of any national ideology.

Over time, they have submerged a corrosive culture of tribalism, nepotism and corruption. Indeed, our political formations have exaggerated the differences between our leaders by creating rancorous disputes that feed off irrational prejudice against those who don’t belong to our groups.

What to do? Because our political parties have constantly undermined peace, stability and consequently held back our progress, it would be wise for the politicians to step back and tone down the political rhetoric and let the country heal.