Can BBI instil trust in leadership?

Management of Covid-19 has put the performance of many governments  in the spotlight — least of all, the United States and Great Britain, two superpowers who seem to be struggling to contain the spread of the virus and save its economies from tanking. How, then, will the so-called ‘smaller’ countries fare?

The ‘smaller’ countries of Sweden, New Zealand and South Korea have shown how it is possible to manage the virus and keep the economy ticking at the same time. How did they manage it? Through trust. Majority of the citizens interviewed had unbridled belief in what their government was doing and trusted what they were told by officials. It was mutual trust, according to a Swede, who said, “We trust what the government tells us, and they trust us to do the right thing.”

As the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) report is unfurled, many Kenyans will be going through it with scepticism. Others may ignore it, having a preconceived idea that it’s hogwash and perpetuates leaders’ selfish interests. I read it out of curiosity. I’m going to be the devil’s advocate and say there are many wonderful-sounding issues raised in the BBI report, some on leadership format, that will require a good ‘salesman’ to sell to the sceptics as one would a fridge to an Eskimo in icy Alaska.

BBI, like many projects initiated by the State, has been received with suspicion. Huduma Namba is the other. Its timing has been rumoured to be linked to the next election. The delay in issuing Huduma cards has only heightened the suspicion, not to mention the huge cost.

Huduma Namba

There may be legitimate reasons for introducing Huduma Namba and BBI, but the history of mistrust between successive governments and the citizens has turned Kenyans into eye-rolling doubting Thomases. Would BBI change that and win the government trust from Kenyans?

In its conclusion, the BBI report deals with what it calls “Notable Issues”. At number four it says: “Kenyans do not trust their leaders, institutions and systems.” It correctly determines that Kenyans suffer from “trust deficit”.

The rubber will meet the road for BBI when it comes to the proposed changes to the Executive that includes a Prime Minister and two deputies besides the President. How the proponents of BBI will win the hearts and minds of citizens distrustful of the new structure will depend on the respect they give the rule of law.

BBI goes on and tangles itself on point number 5 on Notable Issues when it says, “a lot of the problems facing this country  (sic) are because we do not implement the laws that already exist”.

Mountain to climb

Talk of digging yourself into a hole. This is a huge contradiction. BBI fails to tell us whether laws in the 2010 Constitution have been fully implemented before it thought of amending or repealing aspects of it.

The drivers of BBI now have a mountain to climb before they can convince the country that changes in governance structures are necessary first to give validity to the BBI recommendations or community bridges could still be built without a seismic shift at the apex of the leadership of the country.

It is crucial that BBI takes note of the fact that there is leadership crisis in the country with leaders blamed for corruption, ethnic division and electoral violence.

Adherence to Chapter Six of the Constitution, on ethics, would have resolved the leadership crisis; sadly, rules were bent to favour political parties at the ballot box. It would be interesting to see whether BBI can put buffers on impunity that it claims leads to corruption, violence and tribalism.

Accountability

“Accountability has been compromised,” so the BBI report further says.

We could pile up as many prime ministers and presidents as we wish on top of each other but lack of accountability by any regime would make it difficult to achieve meaningful reforms. BBI fails to say how it intends to create a transparent government going forward. With breaches of the law having become the norm, the test is whether the new governance structure will play ball on transparency and accountability.

Covid-19 management in Kenya has proved that our leaders are yet to learn from ramifications of impunity of the past to change their behaviour. They have been out in droves gathering crowds without a face mask, breaching the Covid-19 safety guidelines meant for all.

Dishonesty has always been the undoing of our leadership. If leaders cannot be trusted to keep to simple rules on masks and social distancing, what would make the citizens think they will respect rule of law in the next governance phase?

What we have done in the past and current Constitution is to put out little fires. We never thought of long-term safety measures to stop the fires (read crisis) from occurring in the first place. BBI may be attempting to do that, but it will require proving itself that its intentions are trustworthy.

Like respect, trust is earned and not commanded.

 [email protected]. @kdiguyo