Jubilee would do better to shift from campaign to governance mode in 2014

PHOTO | FILE One of the Jubilee branded campaign vehicles loaded with public address equipment.  NATION MEDIA GROUP

In Summary

• The two must abandon the special pleading of asking Kenyans to be patient as they assemble what Mr Ruto called “the basics that we envisage to ultimately translate into the Jubilee legacy.”
• The issues we need to focus on must be those that concern a plurality of Kenyans. This can be satisfied with the current leadership, but only if the it prioritises fairness, justice and equity.
• During this trip, the Luhya were lambasted for their disunity with the rider that all their problems stem from their lack of unity. The time for this kind of rhetoric is up.
• It is now an established pattern that the Luhya have intentionally refused to ape the herd mentality that drives the politics of communities the Deputy President is most familiar with.

By Godwin Murunga
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I want to wish Kenyans a happy 2014 and hope that the year will be full of prosperity.

The one thing that might facilitate this wish is a new politics driven by a ‘new’ leadership. Unfortunately, we already have elected the leadership and are detained to have it for at least another four years.

This leadership has led by speeches, endless assurances, repeated scolding and dismissals, and a dose of threats and abuse in which words like ‘pumbavu’ are uttered with ease.

We need a new politics based on different leadership principles.

This new politics must come from the top, starting with the President and his deputy.

LATE CRITICS

The two must abandon the special pleading of asking Kenyans to be patient as they assemble what Mr Ruto called “the basics that we envisage to ultimately translate into the Jubilee legacy.”

This pleading is inducing pessimism in the country that now includes Jubilants complaining about the recent appointments.

Unfortunately, these Jubilants are late critics.

They are not unhappy with the appointments but by the fact they did not feature in the list.

They join an opposition that seems clueless in terms of how to frame an alternative agenda for Kenyans. They are unable to shift focus from personalities to issues.

The issues we need to focus on must be those that concern a plurality of Kenyans. This can be satisfied with the current leadership, but only if the it prioritises fairness, justice and equity.

The new politics must accommodate aspirations, views and expectations of all Kenyans irrespective of ethnicity, religion or ideological persuasion. The politics must anchor its examples in action.

The government can start by agreeing that our Constitution guarantees not just consent but also dissent by citizens and that all these aspects will make Kenya a healthy democracy.

In 2014, the President must abandon his desire to extract conformity from Kenyans.

Since the declaration of Jubilee Coalition as winner of the 2013 General Election, we have not seen progress the equivalent of the first six months after the defeat of Kanu in 2002.

AUTHORITARIAN TENDENCIES

In fact, we have seen re-introduction of authoritarian tendencies perfected over the alarming years of Kanu rule.

We have seen the return of draconian laws against the media, manipulation of ethnicity for political ends, the abuse and pliancy of Parliament for the convenience of the Executive, increased taxes, heightened insecurity, threats against the Judiciary, attempts to harass civil society into silence, a continuing turn towards gerontocracy and a lowering of expectations among Jubilee’s youthful supporters.

Draconian laws will not extract compliance from Kenyans, they will spark rebellion.

For umpteenth time, Jubilee needs to shift from campaign mode into a governance mode in 2014.

The Deputy President will do well to listen to this given the nauseating campaign rhetoric recently on display in his foray into western Kenya.

During this trip, the Luhya were lambasted for their disunity with the rider that all their problems stem from their lack of unity.

The time for this kind of rhetoric is up.

It is now an established pattern that the Luhya have intentionally refused to ape the herd mentality that drives the politics of communities the Deputy President is most familiar with.

They do not need ethnic bossmen whom they vote for irrespective of what they stand for.

They prefer to see their regional and national record. They are against tribal herding.

They want a politics that can easily transform this country from a collection of tribal fiefdoms at whose apex are pretentious politicians into a nation.

The Deputy President would do better to lecture other communities to learn this big lesson from Luhya politics