Sonko phenomenon and voters as the weakest link in a democracy 

A major unfinished business in Kenya the dawn of a new year – and the second decade of the 21st Century – is the election of a new governor of Nairobi on February 18.

The coming election is to replace Mike Mbuvi Sonko, who was epically impeached out of the office. 

It should not be business as usual! 

Undoubtedly, the Sonko phenomenon will remain a blotch in the conscience of Nairobi voters and the ruling Jubilee Party, which presented him to the voter. 

Future governors of Kenya’s capital – and United Nations Headquarters in Africa, and indeed, in the Global South – must be as above suspicion as Caesar’s wife.

The Sonko phenomenon in Nairobi must have had a domino effect on national politics, psyche and democracy. Sadly, the ‘Sonkonisation’ of our national politics means Kenya is not yet a democracy.

It is a perfect demagogy (the political practice of seeking support by appealing to the raw desires and prejudices of ordinary people rather than by using rational argument or judgment).

The architects of Kenya’s 2010 Constitution thought very highly of democracy. But democracy in Kenya, as elsewhere, is over-rated – and highly vulnerable to demagogy. 

Indeed, the wise in Ancient Greece, whose civilisation gave us democracy and the values it represents, were highly suspicious of the system. While they respected democracy, the philosophers of Athens thought it was subject to abuse by charlatans and criminals.

Socrates, one of the founders of Western philosophy, was hugely pessimistic about the whole business of democracy. 

Socrates compared society to a ship to capture the vulnerability of democracy. 

“In a voyage into a stormy sea, who would you put in charge of the vessel?” Socrates asked. 

“Not just anyone, but people educated in the rules and demands of seafaring,” came the answer.

Socrates regarded the voter as the weakest link in a democracy. Voting, he said, is a skill, not a gamble or a random intuition. It must be taught systematically to the people.

Letting the citizenry vote without an education is utterly irresponsible. It is like putting an amateur or lay-person in charge of a ship sailing into a stormy sea.

Democracy is not just about the tyranny of numbers. Only those who have thought about issues rationally and deeply should be let near a vote.

Unskilled voting

Democracy may be every citizen’s birth-right, but voters must come to terms with its intellectual nature. It is like eating the cactus fruit – one needs the skill, lest they do grave harm to their tongues!

Far from being elitist, Socrates was making the fundamental point – perhaps now clear to Nairobians – that democracy is a sophisticated system that requires knowledge and information to make informed choices.

Kenya, like every democracy, must invest in voter education to equip the citizenry with the knowledge and wisdom to vote rationally.

The result of unskilled voting will be demagogy, a twin brother of political tribalism.

Ancient Athens had its own painful experience with demagogues. A shady character known as Alcibiades – I guess the Kikuyu would call him Waciathende – a rich, charismatic, smooth-talking wealthy man led Athens to disastrous military adventures in Sicily.

Socrates asked his listeners to imagine an election debate between two candidates, a medical doctor and a sweet shop owner. He surmised that the candy shop owner would win against the doctor hands down.

The gist of his campaign message would be that the doctor “hurts you, gives you bitter potions and tells you not to eat and drink whatever you like. He’ll never serve you feasts of many and varied pleasant things like I will.” 

The doctor’s appeal would be: “I cause you trouble and go against your desires in order to help you.” True, but the poor doctor’s goose would be cooked! 

The ‘Sonkonisation’ of Nairobi is an off-shoot of the country’s return to multi-party democracy without significant investment in skills. 

Ironically, the twin problem of demagogues and unthinking voters is perhaps the most enduring legacy of Kenneth Matiba’s ‘three-piece suit’ clarion call in the 1992 multi-party elections, which put sweet-talking novices, thugs and criminals into public offices in hordes.

I can bet every cow in my barn that if the electoral and the anti-corruption agencies cleared Mike Sonko to vie for the February 2021 by-election and even 2022 General election, he would be elected with a landslide.

A little-known Sonko burst into the national limelight on September 10, 2010 when he won the Makadara by-election on the Narc Kenya ticket against political giants Dickson Wathika of PNU and Reuben Ndolo of ODM. 

Sonko went on to win the 2013 senatorial race in Nairobi with 808,705 votes, the highest in the land, and the 2017 gubernatorial contest with 871,794 votes, again one of the highest in the election.

The Sonko phenomenon is a wake-up call to ensure only a leadership with proven record and integrity should ascend to the top of our public offices. If serious reforms do not take place, future elections will most likely produce worse leaders than Sonko.

Professor Peter Kagwanja is a former Government Adviser and Chief Executive of Africa Policy Institute.