Final Pre-Election Thoughts I

[OtishOtish]

* In reaction to warnings about the consequences of electing world-class criminals, we have all heard the usual nonsense about turning East, forming partnerships with others, etc. Anyone who thinks Kenya is (or anytime soon will be) independent of the West should carefully read the Forbes article and Macharia Gaitho's comment on the China connection. And keep in mind that before Kibaki headed off on his China-trip last year, the first thing he did was send in (to the USA) Kenya's annual begging request---around $500 million.

We keep getting told that the candidates will deliver this and that, that they will make us financially independent from the West, etc. etc. etc. The critical "how" and "when" are, of course, never specified.

People should think about these things and the warnings that have been issued. Forget the nonsense about "interfering foreigners". Left on their own in 2007-2008, Kenyans would have turned this place into the Standard African Basket-Case.

I will be writing extensively on this point shortly after 5 Mar, which is largely why I mention it. If you want to know why I have brought it up again, look out for my digital essay (as the other OO would call it).

* Since the 2007-2008 PEV, nothing has been done to hold anybody accountable. Indeed, the very opposite has been the case: After all those shouts about not being vague and going to the Hague, all sorts of attempts (led by none other than the government) have been made to hinder the quest for justice at the ICC. We even had a "Truth, Justice, and Reconciliation Commission" that devoted most of its time to infighting and still has to deliver even a 5-page report. And we still have IDPs in camps. (No, it won't do to claim that they are fake IDPs until you've seen the conditions people have been living in for 5 years.)

There does not appear to the slightest evidence that we have actually learned anything from the 2007-2008 PEV.

I know, you, my compatriots quite well: I am one of you. When have we ever had elections without mindless mayhem? I have few illusions that by the time the dust is settled (after 4 March and runoff), we'll have had a fair bit of the mindless mayhem on behalf of our "man!"). Perhaps the now much-reviled (in some quarters) ICC will be a present "shadow" that means we won't indulge in the same level of barbarity---women and children burned alive, women gang-raped, men having their members cut off with broken bottle, etc. ---but I should be very surprised if this time we did not do what we've always done in the last how-many-elections.

So, here is what I will say on that: Those who might be inclined to mayhem are your sons, brothers, husbands, etc. (Yes, this is a "gender thing"; it's always almost-entirely the men.) Tell them to knock it off. And, going by comments here, there are a few Jukwaaists that I expect little from. You too should knock it off.

* Our judicial system will be sorely tested. I have great faith in the Chief Justice, but, even with the recent Vetting, our courts still do not have the right people.

We have had a case drag through the courts for more than a year without a decision, because nobody wanted to be the person to tackle "popular" candidates and their more demented supporters. We then had a High-Court bench that decided it had no jurisdiction in the matter but which then went ahead to make all sorts of absurd but substantial comments, which, if you look at carefully, are more designed to "protect" them from potential future presidents than they are legally founded and are also intended to keep away beheading sort of elements. We have just appointed a Deputy Chief Justice who deals with "anonymous threats" by withdrawing from the case.

If we are serious about changing Kenya, then in this period we will have to give the strongest support to the Chief Justice and to help those below him regain some spine. If the courts fail, then we are doomed.

* I love Kenya, as the country in which I was born and grew up. But I also love my Other Country, as a place where certain standards are kept and certain rights are protected by the law. Really. For me, as much as I sometimes miss Kenya, a major consideration in my choice of where to live has been this: Which is worse---the racial-victimization I endure outside Kenya or the tribal-victimization I would have to endure in Kenya. (And there are other differences that I need not go into, because you know them. Some of them include the government of my Other Country having to do for Kenyans what the government of Kenya should be doing for them.)

I mention all this because in my Other Country the idea that a person who has been convicted of even petty crimes would have the cheek to run for public office would be considered astounding. Yes, I know ... "charged" and "convicted" are not the same. Well, here, even charges are considered serious enough, especially if they have had some preliminary test: our last representative to the legislature was kicked out solely because he had been indicted on fiddling his taxes (for an amount less that about $5000). And in Kenya, people charged with the most heinous crimes known to humanity are fairly close to being elected to lead the country. This also says quite a great deal about Kenyans!

Even if we were to accept the dubious notion that "integrity" means "anything goes before conviction", there's another thing to consider about Uhuru and Ruto: in turning their personal woes into community woes and causing sharp and harmful divisions in the country, they have shown that they will place their interests above anything and anybody else.

Today's Quizz: How many time have you heard Kenyans wail that "all those politicians!; they only care about themselves!"

Of course, obvious truth won't stop the tribal lemmings. You reading this "posting" may be one of them. If you are and are on that side, I know you will vote for this nasty pair, and nothing will change your mind. But when later, you reflect upon it, I hope you will have a sense of shame.

As I have stated in another "posting", if Kenyans elect this pair, then the first thing I will do is renounce my Kenyan citizenship. "Fwack off then", I hear you say. No, I'm afraid that even then I won't be fwacking off anywhere: I will put all my effort, however little they might amount to, into working against a government led by these two. Someone small here, someone small there, and before you know it the world is upside down.

* And then there's the Raila-Musyoka pair. There's little to be said about Musyoka---a smooth-talking but nevertheless slimy, two-faced [REDACTED]. A man I wouldn't trust to mind my goat. Still, as Vice-President, or whatever he has been, he's pretty good at cutting ribbons and running overseas on silly errands, which, suppose, could be his entire job-description. But, still! That plastic smile and all the slithering ... deferral mission, KKK, G7, ....

As for Raila, we need not revisit his history. Larry Holmes, the boxer, was once asked what he thought of an opponent. His answer: "He couldn't lift my jockstrap". When in comes to fighting for the rights and freedoms of Kenyans, i.e. the real kusema na kutenda, there is no one in Kenya today who can even lift Raila's jockstrap. Teddy-Boy Uhuru and Eternal-Manamba Ruto are nowhere near the same league; don't even know what leage is.

Unfortunately, even good men sometimes lose their way. Surrounded by worst possible courtiers, Tinga has lost his way. To my mind, a key example is the Maina Njenga business. It must be the height of hypocrisy to denounce some people for being charged with heinous crimes while at the same time supporting an alliance with their Chief Evildoer. And it is something nobody wishes to talk about: I have asked his praise-singers, here and elsewhere, and never got the first word of an answer. The courtiers do not appear to take a long-term view, but mark may words: this alliance, forged in Hell, will eventually cause serious damage. To cut to the chase: with the people he has around him---and he won't let them go---Raila cannot do what he otherwise be capable of doing. A tragedy, but there it is.

Going by the debates, Kenyans have quite a few alternative candidates. Say NO to the hyena. Say NO to the wolf.

... to be continued in an hour.

[jakaswanga]

Thank you Otishotish, I was listening with my heart. You know on Sundays, after my wife had persuaded me to be an example to other men, by stopping habitual late-night ahangla patronages on Saturday evenings, and instead going early to bed and waking up early, to prepare the family breakfast and walk them off to church, and the young ones to Sunday school, and I graduated into a popular bible-reader and usher, and lay preacher if need be, I discovered the art of listening to testimonials in church. Listening with my heart to the stories from the hearts of fellow Kenyans. ---Of course the church actually boasts more emm, how should I put it, more ravishing women than the bars of ahangla, and when it comes to 'ndombolo ya Mungu' their twisty movements with any anatomical part are no less wonders of joy than those commonly seen in ahangla joints. So on that score, the opportunity cost squared off.

Listening to your testimonial above, I can therefore discern your love for your country, but also the necessary alienation that comes from too much head. Your patriotism can not overlook the shabby politicians, the shabby choices they make, and the insane incompetence they bring to their jobs, even as the public ululates them as gods. Having lived elsewhere and having a surplus of data for comparison, you can no longer acquiesce to certain lowered standards ---not even for the sake of country love!
It is a painful place to be. And it shows in your writing.

I thank you too, for kind of restoring my faith in learned friends of Kenyan origin. To date I have managed to compartmentalise my mind, such that when I argue with Kenyan lawyers on the integrity clause, I feel the need to dumb down a bit. To recognise cultural specifics which dictate they be held to lower standards, lower than I would adopt when for instance I criticise Harvard Man Barrack Obama on his indiscriminate drones hits.

I have looked for a position paper by a Kenyan lawyer, to read and understand which concept of integrity is used in our constitution and jurisprudential discourse, which is so defined that men indicted by the ICC [for very serious charges] still have their integrity intact, intact enough to occupy the highest offices in the land.

--[innocent until proven guilty, so yes can run. is all I have heard and read]. In some instance as you quote, the High Court sitting at 5 esteemed Judges, did not even consider this a matter within their jurisdiction. A non issue.
So I have been relieved to see that you --I assume you are in that profession coz of the way you do ICC-- have recognised this discordance, thought about it and recognised the depths of mental rot it symbolises, not just within the legal fraternity [as much as it is lead by the god Mutunga], but also societal at large. So much so that even for his victims, Maina Njenga is now the hero. --[For today i wont do the psychology of victims who totally idolise their tormentor and torturer. But it happens with humanity sometimes, as now in our Kenya]

But well, that is why we are a developing country! Our future is still in front of us! and like children learning how to walk, we shall be thudding back on our bottoms many a time we rise, but we will get there, over the hills, to Canaan the promised land of perfection!

Tomorrow we take another step on the long journey, backwards or forwards. The people shall decide.

The future is bright, only the path thereto is winded! I say.

Do not discard ua Kenyan passport, we just had the double-nationality bill passed yesterday man! do not make it redundant even before a taste of the goodies. Would be like divorcing on the way from the church to the wedding bed of consummation! ---ala Khardasia farce!
============
After that powerful testimony from brother Otishotish, are there any other brothers and sisters in the hall, who will rise up to be heard! ---halleluya. Aaah, I see one coming to the microphone, let us all sing Yesu kende e yo [Jesus is the only way!] to welcome his/her testimony!

[furaha]

Mar 3, 2013 17:40:53 GMT 3 jakaswanga said:

Listening to your testimonial above, I can therefore discern your love for your country, but also the necessary alienation that comes from too much head. Your patriotism can not overlook the shabby politicians, the shabby choices they make, and the insane incompetence they bring to their jobs, even as the public ululates them as gods. Having lived elsewhere and having a surplus of data for comparison, you can no longer acquiesce to certain lowered standards ---not even for the sake of country love!
It is a painful place to be. And it shows in your writing.

Otishotish and Jakaswanga,

I recognize the pain, the anger and the upset. And it actually feel relieved that these are stated openly. Anger, if channeled correctly, can be a positive force for change. By my definition standards have to be high and have to be kept high. I cringe every time I hear someone say: "Oh well, this is Kenya. We cannot not accept high standards here. Our level of development needs a boost before our standards can be raised."

That is so terribly defeatist and so terribly unfair to future generations. Standards have to high at all times. You rob a people of their future if you deny them these. That does not mean high standards can be met immediately, but we have to be assured of a system that accepts these high standards as its ultimate and overriding goal. In other words, a system that is constantly in overdrive to make sure that a fair, just and equitable society is developed as quickly as possible. That gives people hope as well as trust in a system that works for all. And that is what is lacking in Kenya.

And the past five years have shown that Kenya has been doing some serious backsliding. Yes, Everyone seems to prefer to state the achievements rather than problems. And yes, there have been some achievements and these have depended on the sweat of many. But when you look at the political class, the greed, the corruption, the betrayals, the unreformed security forces, the blatant lack of integrity, the extra-judicial killings, the multiple efforts to undermine or ignore the hard-fought constitution, the dark forces (Kenya's 'opus dei' as Otishotish calls it) and so on, one can only be deeply, deeply worried.

So where will I look when the results are released? I am hoping that we will see a massive rejection of the old political class. In 2007 close to 70 percent of incumbent MP's lost their seats. Unfortunately, there are more spoils, more positions, to be dished out this time around. That being said I will be looking for new faces, for men and women of a new generation which no longer wants to he shepherded over the cliff. That's where the hope lies. And let's focus on what's happening in the counties, on the ground, where folks have high expectations but will probably struggle to hold their new leaders to account.

Furaha

[kamalet]

I am old enough to have gone through the regimes of Kenyatta, Moi and now Kibaki. I have seen the development of our nascent democracy. I remember as a young lad getting angry at the treatment of J M Kariuki in the 1974 elections as I grew up in Nyahururu next to his Nyandarua North constituency. Then he still had to come to Nyahururu to file his nomination papers with the then DC one Stanley Thuo. In order to make sure he failed, JM Kariuki was not allowed to organise and address any campaign rally. He did his campaign through posters hanging on trees and on Election Day the people of Nyahururu celebrated his election a lot more than that of GG Kariuki in Laikipia West where Nyahururu belonged.

I went through the sham of Mlolongo and enforced Kanu membership which was the idea of Moi's democracy. I have seen Kenya evolve as a very primitive multi party democracy and a lot more recently promulgate a constitution that is activist driven as to make it impractical to implement.

Working in the private sector virtually all my life and having travelled to very many countries in the world sometimes stopping to understand their ways, I am constantly convinced that we still have the most beautiful country in the world.

So when I read this part of your post:

* I love Kenya, as the country in which I was born and grew up. But I also love my Other Country, as a place where certain standards are kept and certain rights are protected by the law. Really. For me, as much as I sometimes miss Kenya, a major consideration in my choice of where to live has been this: Which is worse---the racial-victimization I endure outside Kenya or the tribal-victimization I would have to endure in Kenya. (And there are other differences that I need not go into, because you know them. Some of them include the government of my Other Country having to do for Kenyans what the government of Kenya should be doing for them.)

Several emotions go through my mind. The notion that you would rather go through racial victimisation than tribal victimisation just shocks me! As a I said, working in the private sector in Kenya has shown me that the scourge of what is called tribalism exists in the public sector. It has been a difficult attempt at ridding Kenya of tribalism but the bigger problem as I see it reversal of the vice where by virtue of you tribe, you will be denied a job despite being the best. Where I work my race or nationality has never been an issue when I compete with my colleagues the world over. When I recruit locally,the ability to do the job has been the criteria I used in recruitment. When I headed a department in South Africa,the blacks were surprised that I could employ a white person or an indian rather than a black person when a vacancy arose. As far as an am concerned it is your ability that should ever matter.

I cannot imagine that you would want to come back to Kenya to compete for jobs in the public sector where the vice is rife. I see many efforts at this thing called regional and ethnic balancing and wonder whether it is the solution for our country. You do appear to trust the constitution a lot, so I get surprised at your stand.

In a couple of years I will be calling it a day and going into retirement, but I can assure you that the best decision I eve made in my life was to stay in Kenya! We are not perfect but are sure working at it.

So tomorrow I will wake up my family to go vote very early and hopefully have all of us at the breakfast table at 8 am. Some friends will be coming over later in the day and with a couple of nice quality whiskies and some nice beef and pork rib roast, we shall await the first returns of the election results and sit and hope that come Tuesday evening we shall still be a peaceful nation and the world will hail out political maturity as relative as that term is!

God loves Kenya too much.....that is what my mum told me this morning.

[jakaswanga]

Abraham Lincoln, president of the Union and whose defense of the equality principle for all HUMANITY regardless of race, at a time when his country's prosperity and economic system was based on the slavery of one race by another, led to the American civil war and raised passions which led to his murder, is the man I will be thinking of as our people head toward this decisive election.

Edified he is now, as an extraordinary man. Did the right thing. Perhaps today, some of our countrymen will deem themselves powerful enough to do the wrong thing and get away with it. It is my hope some anonymous citizens shall thwart them, doing the right thing when most necessary, standing up for their country in whatever way, and even if not publicly recognised, playing the most pivotal role for a better Kenya.

it is ours to defend or loose! May the day break well, may the sun set well, and a morrow rise again in peace! And the ancestors smile.

Every love is for the motherland!

[mank]

I am thinking back, just over 5 years ago. Thinking how exciting it was at first, another election after Moi, an election with so much power in the hands of the people compared to the past when the incumbent would always be chosen "100% unopposed."

Then I recall the moment when the vision of what was coming changed! Complaints of fraud, candidates announcing results, et cetera! ... the moment I felt violence was coming. This, the latter thought, is what has me tense right now as I look forward to the unfolding.

I remember one night in Puerto Rico, watching the palms dance in the air, and the ocean beat its waves. What a beauty! But I could not enjoy it. I sat there welling up ... with the pain of my nation at self destruction. Let it not repeat, I will pray over and over.

We "aint politicking no more!" It is all about a love of a nation now. The candidates have muscled each other to the end, now they should let the people decide. And they all should take the verdict in a stride ... or, if necessary, raise any grievances better this time.

The people will decide their leader tomorrow, or, if not conclusively tomorrow, soon enough. Let no one act bigger than the people who will be deciding. Let's be humble, for the sake of our One Kenya. Let it be what we all decide by the vote - and if anyone should disagree, lets disagree at the courts. Not on the streets.

Selah.

[OtishOtish]

Mar 3, 2013 23:30:30 GMT 3 kamalet said:

Several emotions go through my mind. The notion that you would rather go through racial victimisation than tribal victimisation just shocks me!

Nowhere did I say anything of the sort. What I indicated was that I made certain choices based on where I would likely suffer less, and that decision took several things into account:

In particular: Here I have some protection in the law. I have gone to court over racial discrimination and obtained redress, and I have seen others do the same. With all the rampant tribalism in Kenya, can you tell me how often our legal system even attempts to give redress to victims?

As for "faith" in the constitution, that's only as far as it goes. It is a good start but a very tiny step. As I indicated in another thread, the Nigerians have a great one, and what good has it done them? The law is only good to the extent that people respect it and it is enforced. The biggest problem in Kenya has never been the mere lack of good laws but the lack of respect and the will to enforce them. At the low end, go around any town or city and see what people think of the "small" laws as they go about their daily lives. Then proceed to the national attitude we've had since 1963 that government property belongs to somebody nowhere and so people can just help themselves to it. Keep going and you get to see why we are in such a mess. Of itself, the constitution will change nothing in Kenya until Kenyans decide that they want change and are prepared to change themselves.

Another difference: Racial discrimination exists here, but it is not taken as the norm, nor is it considered acceptable; those who wish to indulge in it must be careful to hide it. On the other hand, in Kenya tribal discrimination is acceptable and considered perfectly normal. Get a "big job", and the first things people will want to know is "what have you done for your village?", "what have you done for your tribe?"

There are those who see racial victimization at the hands of others as being worse that tribal victimization at the hands of the compatriots. I am not one of them; as I see it, victimization is victimization. There is no kind that I prefer or "would rather go through".

There are those who have chosen to stay in Kenya and have been happy with their choice. Good for them. Likewise, there are those who lived outside Kenya, chose to return, and have been happy with their decision. Good for them too. For some us, it has not been that way. Even my last attempts at employment in Kenya hit the hard rocks of "toa something small" and "wrong tribe". Between starving and begging while on the tarmac in Kenya and being a "work unit" in some foreign place, I made the sensible choice. The practicalities of life, as opposed to "notions" mean that I cannot put my life on hold while Kenyans "work at it".

I too am shocked about the situation---that I cannot live in my native country because too many of my compatriots frighten the hell out of me. And that's even before they start slaughtering, raping, and indulging in other atrocities other over mere elections.

[emali]

Our socio-political culture defines the rule of law rather loosely, anyone can be above the law and ones wherewithal determines when or how they can be above the law, after all who really respects the law? Not our politicians, cops and certainly not most of us, the respect of the law only comes in when the cost/benefit is not in our favour which explains why the only people of means in our recent history who have gone to prison are political detainees! What a bunch of law abiding citizens we are, so I would like to trumpet the Kenya is the best country in the world mantra but I can’t because its common sense that we are not and because I have travelled abit in my time and seen other peoples socio-political culture and I see us wanting in many areas...

I see @ Kamalet is a Private sector man, I fully understand him because truth be told being in private business in Kenya is the best thing in the world, better than anywhere no matter how ‘developed’ the country is...the assumption being whatever business it is, it is profitable and if it requires some stringent laws to operate you have the ‘connections’ or rather you can ‘buy’ the connections because with a little ingenuity you can pay off cops, make deals with KRA folks & pretty much create your own rules (within reason) without stepping the toes of a more ‘powerful’ version of yourself in Mr/s X who will make you understand you aren’t all that after all...I’m not saying there are no honest business people it’s just that we have a ‘wild west’ mentality permeating the private sector and it goes back to the fluid nature in which laws are dis/ respected...

The same culture is what is fuelling Uhuruto to the presidency...all you have to do is ask around and see the views of Apolitical people about Uhuruto’s running facing ICC charges, you will be surprised or not because as a matter of law or Integrity or morality, they don’t think it’s a bad idea because they would do it themselves if they were in their shoes! And it has nothing to do with ethnicity...

The problem with this culture is that it won’t take us far in fact if you want to see where we are headed from a socio/economic perspective ...looking for a European equivalent, its Greece...notwithstanding their great historical past in virtually everything, today they are broke...dead broke! and how did they get their? Having very Kenyan habits that’s how...everyone has a business, no one pays their taxes, everyone thinks everyone else is ‘crooked’, overpaying public sector employees, playing around with the figures of the national budget and good old corruption...Well no one wants that comparison we would rather be compared to the brilliant Germans but why are the Germans the best because very simply put they follow rules! Nothing to do with the much fabled Aryan pedigree...

So going into the elections I hope anyone but Uhuruto win, because I know where this train is headed even if they beat the ICC charges their focus is bells and whistles nothing concrete and the benefits will be short term...because how they have run their campaign is as ‘Kenyan’ as it gets but they are not 3000 Meter steeplechasers which is the only discipline we lead the world...

Question to you @ Kamalet...what do you mean by ‘activist driven as to make it impractical to implement’…I see this ‘activist’ word thrown around a lot but I don’t quite get it…the CJ is an activist,XYZ is an activist etc I have never understood that & I see it a lot in the print media and it seems to always have a negative connotation…

[ebarasi]

Otishotish,

you are spot on. You just eloquently penned down some of the thoughts and apprehensions that run through my mind about our precarious Kenyan situation. The struggle goes through many phases. Meeting all kinds of challenges. Always spurred on by fear of the opponent. Historically, most of the times, those who fought for liberty and justice have internalized the methods of the opponent/oppressor. That to me, is the biggest challenge in this struggle for a better and just Kenya. I fear that Raila may be in bad company and despite all his good intentions, this revolution could be stillborn.The question is, who will own Raila should he win? True compatriots of the struggle or opportunistic "our time to eat" fellas?

[Fahari]

I believe that its Plato who once said that “One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.” so if we have not participated in the elections then we cannot complain about the results and if we did and couldn't influence the voters into electing our favored candidate then we should accept that, "democracy is a dictatorship of the majority" and if the majority decides to vote for Uhuru (an ICC indictee) then so be it, if they choose to elect raila (a man who consorts with mungiki leaders) so be it. That is democracy for you and we should respect it until we can come up with an alternative system.

My only hope is that Kenya survives this election season

[mwalimumkuu]

Mar 4, 2013 6:57:44 GMT 3 Fahari said:

I believe that its Plato who once said that “One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.” so if we have not participated in the elections then we cannot complain about the results and if we did and couldn't influence the voters into electing our favored candidate then we should accept that <b>democracy is a dictatorship of the majority<b> and if the majority decides to vote for Uhuru (an ICC indictee) then so be it, if they choose to elect raila (a man who consorts with mungiki leaders) so be it. That is democracy for you and we should respect it until we can come up with an alternative system.

My only hope is that Kenya survives this election season

Fahari,

I remain positive Kenya will survive this election. I will personally be very disappointed if Raila Odinga were to win as I know for sure the man has nothing to offer, zero. But if Kenyans decide he is the one, which is very unlikely, who is Mwalimumkuu to question their judgment? I will be prepared to live with his mediocrity for five years.

We must however, individually and collectively, remain responsible and tolerant to safeguard our one and only country, Kenya.

[Fahari]

Mar 4, 2013 7:09:59 GMT 3 mwalimumkuu said:

Mar 4, 2013 6:57:44 GMT 3 Fahari said:

I believe that its Plato who once said that “One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.” so if we have not participated in the elections then we cannot complain about the results and if we did and couldn't influence the voters into electing our favored candidate then we should accept that <b>democracy is a dictatorship of the majority<b> and if the majority decides to vote for Uhuru (an ICC indictee) then so be it, if they choose to elect raila (a man who consorts with mungiki leaders) so be it. That is democracy for you and we should respect it until we can come up with an alternative system.

My only hope is that Kenya survives this election season

Fahari,

I remain positive Kenya will survive this election. I will personally be very disappointed if Raila Odinga were to win as I know for sure the man has nothing to offer, zero. But if Kenyans decide he is the one, which is very unlikely, who is Mwalimumkuu to question their judgment? I will be prepared to live with his mediocrity for five years.

We must however, individually and collectively, remain responsible and tolerant to safeguard our one and only country, Kenya.

Amen to that!!

[b6k]

Mar 4, 2013 1:54:16 GMT 3 emali said:

Our socio-political culture defines the rule of law rather loosely, anyone can be above the law and ones wherewithal determines when or how they can be above the law, after all who really respects the law? Not our politicians, cops and certainly not most of us, the respect of the law only comes in when the cost/benefit is not in our favour which explains why the only people of means in our recent history who have gone to prison are political detainees! What a bunch of law abiding citizens we are, so I would like to trumpet the Kenya is the best country in the world mantra but I can’t because its common sense that we are not and because I have travelled abit in my time and seen other peoples socio-political culture and I see us wanting in many areas...

I see @ Kamalet is a Private sector man, I fully understand him because truth be told being in private business in Kenya is the best thing in the world, better than anywhere no matter how ‘developed’ the country is...the assumption being whatever business it is, it is profitable and if it requires some stringent laws to operate you have the ‘connections’ or rather you can ‘buy’ the connections because with a little ingenuity you can pay off cops, make deals with KRA folks & pretty much create your own rules (within reason) without stepping the toes of a more ‘powerful’ version of yourself in Mr/s X who will make you understand you aren’t all that after all...I’m not saying there are no honest business people it’s just that we have a ‘wild west’ mentality permeating the private sector and it goes back to the fluid nature in which laws are dis/ respected...

The same culture is what is fuelling Uhuruto to the presidency...all you have to do is ask around and see the views of Apolitical people about Uhuruto’s running facing ICC charges, you will be surprised or not because as a matter of law or Integrity or morality, they don’t think it’s a bad idea because they would do it themselves if they were in their shoes! And it has nothing to do with ethnicity...

The problem with this culture is that it won’t take us far in fact if you want to see where we are headed from a socio/economic perspective ...looking for a European equivalent, its Greece...notwithstanding their great historical past in virtually everything, today they are broke...dead broke! and how did they get their? Having very Kenyan habits that’s how...everyone has a business, no one pays their taxes, everyone thinks everyone else is ‘crooked’, overpaying public sector employees, playing around with the figures of the national budget and good old corruption...Well no one wants that comparison we would rather be compared to the brilliant Germans but why are the Germans the best because very simply put they follow rules! Nothing to do with the much fabled Aryan pedigree...

So going into the elections I hope anyone but Uhuruto win, because I know where this train is headed even if they beat the ICC charges their focus is bells and whistles nothing concrete and the benefits will be short term...because how they have run their campaign is as ‘Kenyan’ as it gets but they are not 3000 Meter steeplechasers which is the only discipline we lead the world...

Question to you @ Kamalet...what do you mean by ‘activist driven as to make it impractical to implement’…I see this ‘activist’ word thrown around a lot but I don’t quite get it…the CJ is an activist,XYZ is an activist etc I have never understood that & I see it a lot in the print media and it seems to always have a negative connotation…

Emali, well penned. Indeed KE does have a lot of the "Wild West" thing going for it. However, we still remain a relatively young nation, going on fifty years. Every nation will have its own unique history. In KE I believe we are now at the rule by the robber barons stage. This applies across the board be it to UK (pure breed robber baron) or Raila (an aspiring one as we have seen with molases, Triton, KKV, maize saga, etc ad infinitum). Will we break from this rule? As far as our leaders are concerned, it's a case of if it ain't broke, don't fix it. If anything we have expanded their mandate/ability to eat by devolving our KE habits deep into mashinani. The next 5 years will be telling, irrespective of who is in power.

As for the activists. I do not think one will make a good leader/administrator simply because they have an activist background. Look at Kiraitu Murungi. Apart from the fact that he even ripped off our admin back in the day, once in power he became pretty much one of the boys lapping up the goodies on the gravy train. In the same breath a revolutionary (read RAO) may not necessarily be the best leader/administrator. Like Moses he has showed us the way, but he may not walk into the "promised land" at the helm....