Post by Onyango Oloo on Sept 30, 2005 1:23:20 GMT 3
To Save This Country, Don't Vote
by MAKAU MUTUA
Publication Date: 9/30/2005 in the Daily Nation
English statesman Winston Churchill once said that democracy is the worst form of government except for all those others that have been tried.
It would be impossible for any thoughtful observer of the opposing referendum campaigns to reach a contrary conclusion. Even so, the difference is that the competing Kenyan political elites do not have the foggiest idea about the proper exercise of democratic freedoms.
Democracy is supposed to enhance citizenship and nationhood, not fragment them. Yet, that is precisely what the referendum will do to Kenya.
Kenyan political leaders are in dire need of a good dose of the country’s history. They seem to have forgotten that until 1896, there was no country or state called Kenya.
Significantly, they ought to be humbled by the fact that the project of Kenyan nation-building did not even begin until 1964, barely four decades ago.
In that historical blink of an eye, the country has mightily struggled to create one nation – and a national consciousness – out of some 40 disparate African nationalities and several races. Only a fool would think that Kenya has attained irreversibility as a country or state.
Rules of the game of democracy
Referendums assume a mature political class in which the contesting sides understand, internalise, and accept the rules of the game of democracy.
The bottom-line is that the exercise of democratic rights should not jeopardise the very existence of the state. Quite the opposite: Open political choices, when fairly and freely exercised, ought to forge a more stable polity.
A cursory look at the histories of Somalia, Liberia, Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo should remove any doubt about this fundamental truism.
Why is the referendum on the proposed new Constitution a curse for Kenya?
Stripped to the bone, the referendum is a contest, a game, just like soccer, with each side in search of a victory. Like soccer, the referendum must be governed by specific, incontestable rules to which both sides must submit. Otherwise, there is no game.
As we know, in soccer a player can neither pick up the ball and run with it, nor kick-box the opponent, or even play the game outside the perimeters of the prescribed official pitch. Ditto the referendum. Mayhem, chaos, and disorder are not values inherent in democracy. Nor are intimidation, unfair advantage, and tribal nativism.
Except that the national referendum on the proposed new Constitution is not just a game, like soccer. If one is not a maniac, the results of a soccer game are easily accepted. Nor are the consequences of victory or loss the stuff of life and death.
The party that loses the referendum – given the vitriol, outright lies, and destructive passions whipped up by both sides – will not accept defeat. Demagoguery has reached unprecedented levels, even for Kenyan politics. Each side now treats the exercise as a zero-sum game.
The hapless wananchi (the public) have been told that a victory for the other side is Armageddon for them. As such, our so-called political leaders now shamelessly and openly whip up tribal hysteria and animosity.
The appeal to the tribe is the most destructive germ that the referendum is feeding. It has always been a mystery to me why Kenyan political leaders cannot rise above the tribe.
Equally disappointing to me has been the gullibility of the Kenyan electorate. Why do most Kenyans vote for, and with, their tribe? Are Kenyans just a bunch of tribalists?
I do not think so. The problem lies with our political elite, a narrow band of opportunists and cynical hypocrites who preach Kenyan nationalism but practice bilious tribalism.
It is this political elite that poisons the minds of Kenyans and retards the creation of a Kenyan national consciousness.
I know political leaders will vehemently deny these conclusions. But do not read their lips. Instead, watch their actions. Each is desperately appealing to his "base", his tribe for support.
The tribe should remember that "its" leader does not really care about its welfare. Rather, he is driven by vanity, ego, ethnic exceptionalism, and the thirst for power.
Under normal circumstances, democracy is able to contain these cancerous human proclivities. But this is only possible where the political elite abides by a social contract with the citizenry as a whole, and where the political process is governed by the integrity of public officials. I am afraid this is not true for Kenya.
There is another reason why the referendum will hurt Kenya. The theory and practice of democracy are not supposed to ridicule the State and render it irrelevant. The idea of democracy is not to cultivate loss of faith by the citizenry in the State. Nor is it to neuter public political offices.
We still live in a State-centric world through which international relations are conducted. The State is particularly important in Third World countries such as Kenya, that do not have a strong military or multinational corporations to project its power and defend or promote its interests.
Protagonists in the referendum act as though the dignity and authority of the Kenyan State is not important, no matter who is in charge.
Dysfunctional States
Faith in a State is not easily retrieved once it is lost. Look at the examples of Colombia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Haiti, or many of the dysfunctional states on the African continent.
Campaigners on opposing sides of the referendum do not seem to fully appreciate this problem. They have not internalised the solemnity of leadership and the public trust bestowed upon them by Kenyans.
To be sure, altruism, nobility, and high-mindedness have not been the strong suit of the Kenyan political class. November 22, the day after the referendum, will be very bleak in Kenya unless the orange and banana factions wise up quickly and start acting like mature leaders.
Let me repeat what I have said before. I have no faith or expectation that the political class will suddenly see the light. I fear that it may be too late to avoid the train wreck called the referendum.
But Kenyans can diminish the importance of the referendum – and its deleterious consequences – if they refuse to vote for either the orange or banana teams.
Exercise your democratic rights by refusing to be drawn into a catastrophic contest. It is your democratic right to choose not to vote. Exercise your sovereignty and stay home to show the rulers who is boss. It may be the only sure way to save your country.
Prof Mutua teaches Law at the State University of New York at Buffalo and chairs the Kenya Human Rights Commission.