The National Assembly in session. FILE PHOTO |
NATION MEDIA GROUP
Why do I feel so close to Monica Juma? Because she is my
compatriot and sister. Being a human being, she has committed many sins
that I have committed.
Among the most mortal ones is that she has once dared to censure an institution which is above criticism.
I
can report that this, exactly, is the sin which even I have committed
against Parliament. Ever since the Nyayo professor panel-beat Parliament
into a contraption for rubber-stamping all presidential policies and
activities, no matter how heinously anti-social these were, I have
criticised it a plethora of times.
That is why I have
never lived in any illusion whatsoever that the House will endorse me
should the President nominate me for a public office requiring
legislative approval. In a country whose intelligentsia is so rotten and
shameless, that is one vital lesson that you must learn quite early in
your career as a critic.
It is that, as an individual,
you do not chastise the self-styled “august House” if you ever hope that
the same House will one day be called upon to endorse your presidential
appointment to a public service position constitutionally requiring
legislative approval. That is what makes Kenya’s law-making elite such a
tragic lot.
They are victims of the infantile disorder
which psychology calls narcissism — the self-admiration, self-love and
self-importance which once overwhelmed Narcissus, the legendary Pelasgic
Greek character who once knelt to look down a well only to immediately
fall deeply in love with what he saw down there — namely, the reflection
of his own face.
INFANTILE DISORDER
To
be sure, there are those Kenyans — especially in the political arena
that subsumes Parliament — who criticise merely with the purpose of
destroying the spirits of those whom they criticise. But an infantile
disorder pervades our ruling class, which daily expresses itself only in
our intense aversion to any mere caution.
Ours are
Lilliputian minds which react to criticism only with a keen desire to
wreak revenge upon even those whose purpose is merely to inspire you
into better service. I have not seen the full text in which Ms Juma
uttered the alleged word which has stung the “honourable” ones into such
self-righteous wrath.
But the point is that she may
not be the only sufferer from such parliamentary pollution. No, I am not
familiar with Ms Juma’s personal abilities. So I cannot stick my neck
out for her. But what if the qualities for which President Kenyatta
latched onto her are rare in Kenya? What if she is the near-unique
possessor of certain skills?
How can we go on
tolerating the terribly debilitating situation in which the childlike —
even childish — self-interests of members of the legislature are what
dictate to us the kind of personnel we are to invest in various key
development and service situations? This, I think, is among the burning
questions posed by our new Constitution.
Those who
drafted it assumed, apparently, that some appointments are so vital that
they cannot be left to the executive branch alone and that, therefore,
the legislative branch must be involved. B-right-o! What seems misplaced
is the assumption that — because they are elected — something is
sacrosanct in the legislators, which the executive does not have.
But
our experience shows that — because both come from the same rotten
economic class — Parliament can be as venal and as dangerously
high-handed as the executive can. As long as our Parliament remains
composed of run-of-the-mill intellects, they will respond to personal
and tribal interests much sooner than to national interests.
But,
clearly, the legislature just cannot serve as our final
ethico-intellectual arbiter as to whom the President can or cannot
appoint to discharge vital national tasks. The answer must lie in an
urgent revisit to the Constitution to find a place much safer than
parliament for approving or rejecting all presidential appointments.
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