Just Where is Kenya headed with such politics?

Just where is Kenya headed with such politics?

Updated on: Monday, April 07, 2008 Story by: MEEME JOSHUA

WHEN President Kibaki and Prime Minister -designate Raila Odinga, signed the National Accord and Reconciliation Agreement, the country erupted into celebrations. But the celebrations have been giving way to anxiety over the delay in naming a cabinet.
The two Principals have now taken four weeks seeking ‘consultations with their supporters besides having three one in one meetings, including yesterday. Well, they finally settled on a huge cabinet expected to compound the misery of the ordinary Kenyan taxpayer. The future is bleak if the trend that has been set in the last 100 days continues.
A 40-member cabinet, two deputy prime ministers, vice president, Prime Minister and the President constitute a massive 45 members--- a large executive wing indeed considering that mention has not been made of assistant ministers. Kenyans are rightly desperate, crying of escalating food prices and generally high cost of living.
At this rate they are right in expressing doubt that the political class will pay heed to their suffering. They can see a ruling class that hold the general public in utter contempt or they would have paid heed to the outrage over the proposed cabinet number.
We may have voted to decentralize the executive powers but now it looks like shifting sands - our political saviours have mutated to become political tormentors. This proposed huge cabinet was not inspired by the need to serve Kenyans but to serve Kibaki and Raila.
It is one that reeks of selfish interests, because it is designed to please political shenanigans, pay back political debts and please the gods of ethnicity. Pundits have expressed skepticism on the efficiency and effectiveness of this cabinet even as Vision 2030 is our prime goal.
As Robert Greene notes in the book 48 Laws of Power, that to remain in power conceal your intentions--- “guide the people far enough the wrong path envelope them in enough smoke and by the time they realize your intentions, it is too late’’. Given the cabinet size, it can only be said that the intention of this coalition government are suspect.
As Kenyans ponder the inevitability of digging ever deeper into their pockets despite crying of high cost of living, a cloud of misery hangs ever so threateningly closer. Taxation is expected to rise and proportionately affect the prices of basic consumer goods.
And this as ministers wallow in obscene opulence ---a limousines, Four by Fours palatial homes and a battalion of security details! Do these people live in Kenya? The signing of the Accord and its subsequent enactment was just a smokescreen to cloud the real intentions of political leaders of gluttony.
Here is a lot who has all but forgotten the post-election violence and the amount of blood that drenched this land. If what has transpired in the last three months is setting the pace for the remaining 57 months of the Tenth Parliament, then we are really headed in the wrong direction.
The unity of purpose that we applauded has been converted into scramble for resources for those at the top and to satisfy political egos. During the campaigns, the selling message for the party manifestoes was - equitable distribution of resources, bridging the gap between the poor and the rich and generally improving the lives of ordinary Kenyans.
However, the promises seem to have been swept under the carpet and now our politicians are back to what they know how to do best--- squeeze and squeeze from impoverished Kenyans.
Do these political leaders serve, the electorate or the hangers on’ that must now get 40 cabinet posts? How wrong were our expectations! Let us look at the power balance in parliament. Why is there a reason to worry?
If say each Ministry gets two assistant ministers, then the Cabinet and the top leadership, then the August house will have 125 members in the government.
That means that only 95 members will be left to form the back bench. If the government is made up of ‘crème de la crème’ of the Tenth parliament then the remaining members can be considered intellectual rejects or people with little influence. Independent or critical thinking will be hampered.
During the clamour for multiparytism in the early 90s Raila together with the firebrand National Convention Executive Council (NCEC) opted for a perilous path to democracy and paid the price. They were tear-gassed, bludgeoned and spent nights in the cold in police cells fighting for democracy.
Now they have it but their inclinations are not democratic at all. Kenyans must, therefore, strength the hands of civil society and civil rights movements so as to carry out the task of playing ‘watchdog role in the absence of opposition in parliament.
A housefly follows the corpse into the grave but political leaders may be thinking that they are reaping from the ignorance of Kenyans but we may end up being buried together as a failed state.

Writer is a Journalist Email: joshmemento@yahoo.com