Mutuma Mathiu
11 May 2008
column
Nairobi — The ongoing hearings by the Kriegler commission into the election fiasco serves to focus the mind of Kenyans on the costs of this cursed election and the wanton lawlessness that attended it.
Those who have visited the affected areas will no doubt have reacted with shock at the scale of the physical damage, the buildings that were torched or brought down in some fashion and the many people from all over Kenya who have been living in hardship away from their homes.
The human suffering is simply intolerable. The economic damage is bad, livelihoods have been wiped out, our own confidence in our economy has been shaken.
But the most debilitating effect has been on the concept of Kenya itself. We are asking ourselves: Is Kenya worth all this suffering and death? Shouldn't people who can't live together in peace just go their separate ways? Shouldn't we have a meeting at Uhuru Park, dissolve the union and let tribes go and find their happiness with whomever they find they can live with without resulting to machetes?
I AM VERY CLEAR IN MY MIND THAT ORDInary Kenyans need to network with a shared resolve to ensure two things: First, that there should never be violence in this country, ever again. Violence, in my definition, includes the rigging of elections.
Secondly, that we all need to realise that basically, there is nothing wrong with Kenya but there is plenty that is wrong with our corrupt, tribal and power-mad politicians. Our job as Kenyans, therefore, is to protect our country from politicians.
An army fights on its stomach, a nation survives on its institutions. The protection of national institutions from political interference and influence becomes a matter of national survival for Kenyans.
First is the Electoral Commission of Kenya. An electoral body which, through incompetence or collusion allows or participates in the rigging of elections, is a threat to national security. It is also a threat to democracy and quite intolerable.
The Kriegler commission, it is hoped, will find out exactly what is wrong with ECK and propose mechanisms for fixing it. Our job as ordinary people is to insist that the recommendations are implemented to the letter. Politicians might resist this because perhaps they would like a weak institution that they can manipulate.
Second is the Judiciary, which has been the subject of reform talk and unclear management. First, the fiction that the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs manages the Judiciary needs to end. It does not, it couldn't in a democracy. And the apparent involvement of that ministry in the promotion of judges and magistrates is a threat to our nation and to democracy.
The Judiciary and the Executive must be totally separate; their relationship should not be a cozy scratch-my-back-I-get-you-a-promotion sort of thing. The only way to ensure a high level of integrity and professionalism is to have an independent, well-funded Judiciary.
Third is the police, as poorly resourced and generally demotivated a group as you will find anywhere. Police procurement has traditionally been a magnet for politicians out to make a dishonest shilling. And there has been an almost pathological reluctance to sufficiently finance police training and equipment. The police themselves don't take care of the resources they have been provided with, if the misuse and abuse of their vehicles as well as the dilapidated state of some of their stations is anything to go by.
AS KENYANS, WE NEED TO BE MORE POSItive about the police rather than constantly accusing them of incompetence and corruption. We must find a way to take care of them and to be proud of them and the job they do of protecting us.
An independent police service commission and legal protection from political interference coupled with pressure on the government to provide realistic financing for policing would be a pretty good place to start.
Finally, the military and the security intelligence services. Many Kenyans have been wondering why the military did not do more at a time when the country was in crisis. There have been rumours that both the military and the intelligence services were divided during the election troubles.
I remember a soldier once telling me that there are two kinds of people who by law are not welcome in the barracks: Journalists and politicians. Journalists are unwanted because they might expose military secrets, I presume. Politicians are unwelcome because they divide soldiers whose loyalty to the Republic ought to be united.
I think it should be an offence very close to treason for a politician to try and win over members of the armed and intelligence services. I think we need to regard these security institutions not as the property of the President or this or that tribal leader.
They don't exist to serve politicians, they exist to keep us safe and to preserve our country and our way of life. Some of them work in the shadows, putting their lives at risk every day for their country. Their sacrifice and good work is never publicly acknowledged. The least we can do is to support and honour them.
If these institutions were all to work as they are designed to, nothing, not even politicians, could hurt our country.
End of patriotic sermon.
President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga made all the right noises during the bonding seminar that ended on Saturday. The corrupt ones, and Kenyans have reason to suspect they are many given that the combined Moi-era Cabinet experience in this one one-and-half centuries, were told they would be kicked out of office, awaiting investigation.
They were also told there are no ODM and PNU ministers, just ministers. No leaking of information to damage rivals, they were told. And Mr Odinga was talking tough about incompetence and the need for all to pull up their socks.
Well, as they say in the land of the white man, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. Gentlemen, go right ahead and surprise us.
Mutuma Mathiu is the Sunday Nation's managing editor.
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Mr Mathiu, I have read your write up on I know who will save us from these political gasbags and I agree with you on several statements like: “I AM VERY CLEAR IN MY MIND THAT ORDINARY Kenyans need to network with a shared resolve to ensure two things: First, that there should never be violence in this country, ever again. Violence, in my definition, includes the rigging of elections. Secondly, that we all need to realize that basically, there is nothing wrong with Kenya but there is plenty that is wrong with our corrupt, tribal and power-mad… [Read Full Text]