Kenya needs strong civil society for political balance and democracy

Civil society activists demonstrate against the Public Benefit Organisations Act (Amendment) Bill on November 21, 2013 in Nairobi. FILE PHOTO | EVANS HABIL |  NATION MEDIA GROUP

In Summary

• To survive what many civil society members believe is an onslaught on the sector, there is an urgent need for visionary leaders to drive civil society with zeal and new ideas.
• It is lamentable that civil society is today not even able to challenge government shots targeting its own survival.
• Ordinarily, when there is a functioning state, donors prefer to channel their support through the government since it has more elaborate implementation mechanisms and other vital systems than civil society.

By RAPHAEL OBONYO
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Kenya’s political system lacks an important component — a strong civil society that enjoys the confidence of Kenyans.

Although the country is facing a number of problems that deserve neutral intervention and debate, there is no hope of immediate resolution since there is no voice of reason to guide the process.

Left to themselves, politicians will always be intolerant and suspicious of one another, and fears of polarising the country remain real.

Since Mr Mwai Kibaki’s administration took power, civil society, which had played a significant role in opening up democratic space and was seen as a legitimate institution, lost its steam and strategy.

The government has been accused of excesses seen as leading the country to drift away from the gains it had made. Although civil society has sometimes opposed the government’s perceived repression by protesting in the streets, this has been seen in a political light, as taking sides in the political divide.

VIBRANT CIVIL SOCIETY

One of the key elements of a vibrant civil society is the extent to which citizens believe in its cause. Considering what we have today compared to what would have happened in the 1990s if such demonstrations were called, it is obvious that there is something seriously wrong with civil society.

Religious institutions remain the most legitimate mediation institution in the country. Calls for reforms in the late 1980s were mooted by clergymen and there was strong unity among the faiths.

Although the religious groups have also been accused of taking a partisan position in the political divide, all is not lost.

Donor funding to civil society has shrank significantly, therefore, religious groups are the only institutions that can mobilise sufficient resources to redefine and re-energise civil society.

The first thing to do to give civil society a new direction is to unite all faiths. Religious intolerance has been growing in the country. Faith leaders must come together to start talking.

During the clamour for a new constitutional order in the 1990s, different faiths, mainly Muslim and Christian, spoke in unity and shared many platforms.

It is lamentable that civil society is today not even able to challenge government shots targeting its own survival.

An example are the recent proposed controversial amendments to the Public Benefits Organisations Act 2013 that, if passed, would have seen foreign funding to non-governmental organisations reduced to a maximum 15 per cent.

VISIONARY LEADERS

Although civil society protested, compelling the government to retreat and form a task force to collect views from stakeholders on the proposed amendments, the process might only end up legitimising the proposed changes.

To survive what many civil society members believe is an onslaught on the sector, there is an urgent need for visionary leaders to drive civil society with zeal and new ideas to nurture a civil society that constructively engages the government, relates well with opposition parties and, most importantly, commands citizens’ respect.

Abraham Lincoln, in his address to the US Congress in 1862, a month before signing the Emancipation Proclamation, said: “The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion... as our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew.”

There are vital lessons to be learnt from the period Mr Kibaki took power to date.

When the government became structured and was seen as being more responsive to the needs of the people, civil society relaxed. Most of the NGOs that had proliferated to tap immense resources channelled through them by donors tired of funding a corrupt state closed shop.

Ordinarily, when there is a functioning state, donors prefer to channel their support through the government since it has more elaborate implementation mechanisms and other vital systems than civil society.

Another serious mistake was that the charismatic leaders who had pioneered reforms in the 1990s joined politics. A significant number of those who worked in civil society are either working for the State as employees or consultants and the vacuum they left has yet to be filled.

Mr Obonyo is the external adviser on the UN Habitat’s Youth Advisory Board