The Hague platform is divisive if we nurture it

By Billow Kerrow

The just concluded National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) conference revealed an urgent need to address negative ethnicity that is fast becoming cancerous.

It is imperative that we confront this monster if we want a better life by 2030, and more importantly a better future for our children. The conference exposed an uneasy calm among some key communities, of societies just tolerating each other. It reflects a societal relational devoid of love and neighbourliness and one that constantly mistrusts and despises each other.

The meeting further blamed political leaders for the negative ethnicity that manifests itself in hate speech and ethnic undertones in their political rhetoric. Clearly, the public knows politicians are spreading hatred in the land by demonising each other and consequently pitting their supporters, mainly from their respective communities, against each other. It’s foul, abusive politics of personalities, not issues. And personal attacks on a leader create resentment, anger and even outright retaliatory response from his community.

The recent altercation between the PM and the G7 leaders on trial in The Hague serves as a potent reminder to the nation that our political leaders ignore the larger picture, the national interest, in the quest to score political points. The alleged UK dossier on the ICC may have rubbed the PM the wrong way by holding him out as the bad guy, but his immediate response was equally provocative. His abrasive posture on such an emotional matter of an indictment elicited a wave of disapproval in social places, largely because most people viewed it as insensitive and coldhearted.

While the PM’s statement cast the G7 pair on The Hague list as the authors of the document because their supporters tabled it in the House, the reaction by the latter further heightened the bad situation. In particular, the assertion in public rallies that the PM instigated their indictment polarises communities these leaders represent. It is not lack of tack or naivety, but political brinkmanship and impunity that blinds our leaders to appreciate their audience. Their action is tantamount to shouting fire in a crowded hall. Already, various NCIC reports exposed that our leaders management styles openly embrace ethnic discrimination in resource allocation, not just financial but more importantly human resource. Ministers recruit from their ethnic blocks. MPs support or oppose motions depending on whose head is on the block. Political carriers and alliances are built on ethnic foundations. Political assault on a leader is twisted to mean an assault on his community.

We are headed towards a General Election and the political leaders are not creating an enabling environment. Of course, we often hear their rhetoric that never again shall Kenyans fight. But off the stage, the mindset is different and battle lines are being drawn. The communities have been psyched to reject certain leaders, and by extension their communities.

Leaders must focus on issues, not personalities, in order to drive this nation forward. And the PM must lead by example. He cannot pour vitriol on his beleaguered colleagues and expect them to take it lying down. Our G7 leaders must also focus their energies on building bridges between their communities and pursue issue-based politics. The Hague platform will push us off the cliff; let’s not nurture it.

This country has many challenges, the most important being to implement the Constitution. Most G7 leaders dillydallied on the Constitution Referendum and must now run away with its execution as a vital platform. Fighting negative ethnicity could be another essential political platform for a peaceful transition. The economy, especially jobs and food security, is another critical platform to campaign on.

And both sides could score highly if they did more to settle the IDPs rather than skirt around it, or feel pricked by their mention.

The writer is a former MP for Mandera Central and political economist