Have continuity in government

I am totally opposed to the proposal floated that the presidential term be extended to seven years because of the instability caused by elections.

Political instability is not caused by elections; it is caused by leaders and their extreme thirst for power and insatiable greed.

Extending terms or removing term limits is not the solution. The solution lies in reducing the influence of politics in the ordinary life of the nation.

Politics in Kenya is largely guesswork. There is no sincerity, no serious thought or expertise and nothing useful in many of the buzz words and “policies” touted at elections. Some of the folks offering themselves for leadership have no clue how to run anything. And it is not their fault: They wake up at noon, go to the club until 1am, go home, wake up at noon and go back to the club.

They are rich; they don’t have to run anything. They want leadership either because their fathers were big people or, in an earlier life, they made money, most probably by plundering public resources.

One way of securing the country and protecting our future from predatory politics is to have a national consensus about a bunch of issues that an incoming government—any incoming government—must continue to prosecute. That way, it does not really matter who is in office; the national interest is served. I have outlined a few of those issues but there are many more.

Find markets

First, as somebody told me recently, producing agricultural goods is easy. It is something we have done for decades and are really good at. But finding a market for those goods, that is the challenge.

However, if it is clear to the government that one of the primary reasons for being in office is assisting to find markets for agricultural and other products, then the country moves forward, irrespective of other stupid things that it might do.

Tied to that is the type of marketing systems put in place to take our produce to the market. Kenya is no longer the leading producer of coffee. Uganda is. Kenya is a shameful fourth. Have our soils rejected Arabica? Have we become allergic to the big dollars earned by coffee? Have our farmers become too rich to bother with the ‘black gold’? Of course not. After decades of being robbed, abused and neglected, they uprooted the trees and moved on.

The second issue is jobs. Kenya has one of the best labour forces in Africa—ambitious, smart young people dreaming big, thirsty for success and ready to work day and night for it. But nearly every young person you know is unemployed. If a government does not create permanent, well-paying jobs for these young people, what is its purpose? Caddies at golf clubs have degrees; so do watchmen.

These young people are not asking for freebies; they want opportunities to excel and prosper. Every government must have as a core purpose job creation.

Fragility of the state is the third issue. The Kenyan state is weak and ineffective. It cannot uphold the law, protect property rights or assure citizens of justice. The administrative state is wobbly, a client of the political class. The Judiciary has, in some measure, gone rogue. Lawyers will tell you that they have never seen a situation where there was such rampant corruption and lawlessness in the courts. Maybe they exaggerate but these days a lower court will issue orders conflicting with those of a higher court without consequences.

Today, a police officer will ignore a court order directly and personally addressed to him. Today, people in public office will use their positions to directly extort money from wealthy citizens. The Kenyan state is sick; it is fast becoming nothing but institutionalised thuggery. Each incoming government must be its doctor.

Fourth is services. It needs to be made clear that it is the job of every government to provide cost-effective, efficient and good quality services: Health, education, housing, social protection, infrastructure and so on.

Provide good services

 These services are not a favour. A government that provides them is not supposed to be congratulated for a job well done, it has merely won its place in power. A government that cannot provide good services should not be in power. And services are rights due to every citizen.

Fifth is the whole question of the reward of citizenship. What’s in it for us? Kenyans must feel special in their own country. They must be given first-class treatment in government offices, at the airport, everywhere. And they must have the protection of the government at home and abroad.

When a Kenyan disappears or is found floating in River Yala, the government must go to all lengths to determine who disappeared or killed them and punish the culprit accordingly. Citizenship must have value. Our patriotism must not be unrequited; we must get stuff in return.

Lastly, national security. Kenyans must have unconditional protection for their lives and property. We must have a first-class military, able to project our influence and power and protect us from global thugs. National security must be on the plate of every government.

If these issues—and other important ones—are addressed to the fullest, why should we care about who is in power? Such is the path to freedom.

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