Managing national anger makes economic sense

Kenya is a land of angry men and women. In the last 50 years we have done little to dissipate this anger. It has been building up and every 5 years, more fury is piled up. Elections, instead of dissipating anger as new leaders are replaced and socio-economic issues sorted, fuel more anger. The national anger has deep roots; some based on reality and others illusion.

The first source of anger is exclusion from leadership, never mind that we have democracy which is about numbers. Many Kenyan communities are unhappy that only a few tribes have had a chance to lead since uhuru. The possibility of extrapolating that pattern to 2017 and beyond is another source of anger. This is probably why devolution was so popular, each community would have its own leaders, including his excellency. That created a sense of inclusion.

Each community would also get money unconditionally, irrespective of whether they worked for it or not. But that has not reduced the urge to get the ultimate price, the presidency despite diluting the position and distributing power to other institutions.

May be the symbolism attached to the presidency is the problem from motorcades, State House, inspecting the guard of honour and international travel. When devolution flowers leading to economic improvements, most communities will realise they do not need the President. Kenya’s most affluent communities have never produced a President. Surprisingly, exclusion based on your economic power is never frowned up. Few get angry that they take tea on Moi Avenue not at a 5-star hotel. Even dons from University of Nairobi rarely complain that they do not take lunch at Norfolk!

Closely associated with the feeling of exclusion is dynastic leadership with few families dominating Kenyan politics since uhuru. Some say we copied that from British royal family and Kenya has its royal families. Despite democracy, the same people monopolise political positions. Not surprising because political leadership and money go together.

The other source of national anger is land. Lots of people feel that some people own a disproportionate amount of land in Kenya. Never mind that I have never come across a young man whose ambition is to become a farmer. It is no wonder that a clause requiring minimum acreage got into the constitution. Joblessness is the other source of anger. We raise expectations of the youth through school but dream jobs are rare. Unfortunately, we drill into them that only education, espoused by a degree separates them from a good job. We even brought universities closer to their homes. We rarely remind them that employers do not employ people, they employ skills. The mismatch between the reality in the market and our schools is a source of anger. Too many youngsters get into humanities with diminishing job prospects.

Hypocrisy is the other source of anger. In our homes, school and church we are brought up believing in fairness, integrity, reward for hard work and care for one another. Once we leave school, we find that fairness is a fairy tale, and networks often matter more than your skills. Hypocrisy is everywhere; in work place, in churches, in schools. May be that is why corruption is doing so well; after realising that no one cares about ethics and values, you join the corruption bandwagon, out of anger. International community has been another source of anger. Did you see the celebration over the end of ICC cases? That anger was aimed at the international community. Interestingly, that was occasional; the anger towards international community, including our former coloniser has reduced drastically. In fact, the younger generation look at foreigners more favourably than the generation that sang “God save the Queen” courtesy of globalisation and media.

National anger is manifested in crime, mob justice, domestic violence, inter-communal violence, corruption, drug and alcohol abuse, apathy, social media toxic exchanges and in some cases, immigration. We have reacted to national anger in a very narrow way, coming up with more laws or blaming the victim. It is no wonder our national problems never get resolved. Year 2017 is not far and national anger is likely to rise, stoked by politicians. One of the biggest worries for our politicians is getting an issue that will make voters so angry to vote in one way or the other-like ICC in 2013. Corruption is being tested.
National anger must be managed. I suggested we convert national cohesion and integration commission into commission on national anger management. It will come up with short term and long term strategies to manage national anger.

From use of sports, forums for people to talk themselves out, more interactions across communities and governments, international travel and telling the truth, even when it hurts. Managing anger has lots of economic dividends. Remember the economic growth after Kanu left power and national anger was dissipated? Where would our economy be without anger leading to Post Election violence in 2007/2008?