Why Jubilee Government Is Unable To Serve All Kenyans by Koigi Wamwere First reason why Kenya is moving in the wrong direction is that the priority of leaders is not to take people to the promised land but extricate themselves from the Hague cases. While it was hard to discern the shape of the Jubilee government immediately after elections, nine months down the line, the government of Uhuru and Ruto has now taken shape and it looks like Kanu. Like Kanu governments before it, Jubilee is a government with contempt for opinions of people communicated to it through newspapers which the President says he does not read and Ruto wraps meat with. Because President Uhuru was elected, he argues he has an absolute mandate to do what he likes in the next ten years of his reign after which he will leave the ship of the state to Ruto for the next ten years. According to him, 40 million other Kenyans, whether they voted for him or not have no business telling him how he should govern them. The second Kanu feature in the Jubilee government is that, while President Uhuru and Deputy President label themselves digital, their actions are completely analogue or old fashioned. Third, Uhuru’s cabinet is as uninspiring as Kanu and Moi cabinets were in the worst of times. Recent appointments of chairmen to state corporations demonstrated clearly that Jubilee government cannot accommodate Kenyans outside their political fold even when they are more qualified. Already, Jubilee government has enacted several anti-people laws like VAT and Media bills and emasculated chapter six of the constitution giving Kenya a Parliament with least integrity ever. Moi used to crudely but rightly say: Every government has its owners. Despite our claims that we have a democratic government which people elected, our government and country are owned by Uhuru and Ruto, landlords that are not ready to reduce rents, taxes and prices for us. The rest of us are their tenants, squatters and subjects. While we all voted, if Uhuru, Ruto and their financiers paid Sh100 billion to win elections, their government is a bought plutocracy and those who paid nothing or were paid to vote cannot claim to owning it. Our government is not a government of the people, by the people and for the people or democracy. It is a government of the rich, by the rich and for the rich or plutocracy led by Uhuru and Ruto. When we see octogenarians given state jobs or unheard of business people winning or complaining they did not win multi-billion tenders, it is because they bankrolled or helped to purchase the Jubilee government. Plutocracy is the genesis of the presidential phrase “my government” and hubris of dismissing public protestations against unproductive state appointments as noises of frogs that don’t stop cows from drinking water. Jubilee government belongs to two leaders – Uhuru and Ruto, two communities – Kikuyu and Kamatusa and two parties – TNA and URP. Despite Uhuru and Ruto assurances, 40 communities plus Kikuyus and Kamatusa who are neither TNA nor URP have no share in the Jubilee government and can expect no jobs or business opportunities from it. Because Jubilee exits for itself, not the country, when its supporters are given state jobs, it is not as opportunities of service but rewards for party and ethnic loyalties. When Jubilee government gives out jobs, it is not as tools of work but cash cows to milk. When old or young rich persons get jobs, it is not because of job qualifications but their co-ownership of government whose birth they dearly paid for. Even those who seem qualified are not given jobs in corporation boards that meet once a year to work but eat, reminding one of Malcolm X: “We are trapped, double trapped, triple trapped and every solution that anybody comes up with, is just one more trap.” But many don’t want to hear this truth. They have already made the President their god as they did Kenyatta, Moi and Kibaki before him. Yet they want their deity to give them service which it is created to receive, not give. Personalising ownership of government, state jobs, business tenders and country is not democratic. It is also unacceptable because all taxpayers deserve to co-own government and its resources with whoever is in leadership, political affiliation notwithstanding. Unfortunately, Kenyans are currently thinking like hunters. When they kill a buffalo – government – every part of it goes to owners of the dogs that killed the prey. Earlier, the whole village would share it. When people complain of exclusion, Uhuru says next ten years are his turn to eat and those who don’t like it can wait another 20 years. The system Uhuru and Ruto have inherited is for individual, not national development. Even if people have tasted its bitter fruits before, Uhuru insists on giving them more. A Swahili proverb says: Once bitten by a snake, the sight of a rope will make one jump. Already people are fearful. 70 per cent of them say life will be tougher than last year. About 64 per cent of them say Uhuru and Ruto are not leading Kenya in the right direction. They feel Kenya is marking time in the desert or heading for colonial Egypt, not the promised land. The first reason why Kenya is moving in the wrong direction is that the priority of leaders is not to take people to the promised land but to extricate themselves from the Hague cases. Second, the vision of Jubilee government is not to facilitate all those who can to serve, transform and develop Kenya. It is to eat Kenya. Third, Jubilee government is not propelling Kenya into first world but entrenching it in growing poverty. Fourth, Kenya has no Joshua taking it to the promised land. Fifth, because of the evil ways of our generation, God might disqualify us from reaching Canaan.
Posted on: Mon, 20 Jan 2014 12:15:41 +0000
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