Raila's call for dialogue misses the point on what Kenya needs

Raila Odinga’s call for intergenerational dialogue misses the point. Kenyan youth are not at war with their elders. Nor are elders at war with the youth. The youth are protesting against bad governance and the adversity it has condemned the nation to.

If they complain that someone is not listening, it is not that they want anyone to talk to them. They are asking those in government to act in line with what the Constitution and the law say. Kenya’s Gen-Z and Millennials have been in the streets since June last year, speaking to a deaf State House. They say of the carpenter that he considers the hammer, the nail and the saw to be the answers to everything. The ODM leader recommends a conclave to end Gen-Z protests. He has previously recommended dialogues that yielded.

At the acme of this was the birth of the 2010 Constitution. Of course, there were many other champions, some who possibly did more. But let us give it to him as one of the captains. The big lesson is while this Constitution continues to be hailed as one of the most progressive globally, the country still smarts under the weight of the self-same challenges that it faced before 2010. And there have been other dialogues and reports. The Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission Report of March 2013 is gathering dust in Parliament.

The report reads like a catalogue of everything that went wrong in Kenya between 1963 and 2008, and even before. It has detailed recommendations regarding disappearances and killings; socio-economic injustices and violations; violations against children, women and minorities; unlawful detention, torture, and police brutality; land rights violations and other economic violations. It talks of economic crimes and of bad governance.

In a word, there is nothing new that Kenya’s new generations are asking for. We have been in this place before and we have all the answers on what ails Kenya. What then is the problem? The answer is simple. It is the big-man syndrome and impunity. Driving the pair is greed and failure to understand why people are elected to government.

Dearth of opportunities

When Kenyans ascend to high public office, they understand that they now own the country. The obsession with land acquisition and harvest of property, especially, defines what ails Kenya. Leaders will literally go out on a land grab that symbolises an uncontrolled desire to own the country.

Then there is the huge appetite for other material trappings, all these at public expense. The national Treasury is raided on a daily basis, by a cocktail of non-accounting senior state offices. The spinoff is dearth of opportunities.  

These are the issues generating unrest. All that Kenyan youth are asking for is responsible government and accountable governance. And the limiting factors are well documented, complete with prescriptions on the way out. Does Kenya, therefore, need another wasteful “all-inclusive inter-generational conclave” to address these issues? The answer is a straight no. We don’t need it.  

What is absent is goodwill from State House and Parliament. It is easy to understand how State House slips and falls. The person at the very top is overwhelmed by round-the-clock fawning by everyone he encounters, everywhere he goes. Nobody tells him the truth. Even the Attorney-General, who should advise on matters of law, approaches him on her knees. 

Chinua Achebe tells us in ‘The Trouble with Nigeria’ that even a good person loses all sense of reality and balance. He begins to behave as if he is a demi deity. For, what do you expect when someone spends all his waking time being worshipped? When these rulers build houses of worship in the palace, it is probably not so that they will be used to worship God. Your guess is as good as mine on who should be worshipped there.  

The failure, ultimately, rests with Parliament. Within the Montesquieu theory of separation of powers, with checks and balances, Parliament is expected to call State House to order. If the Kenyan National Assembly, especially, was doing its work, there would be no crisis. But this House has mortgaged itself to State House, with the Speaker in the lead.

MPs, and today especially from Mr Odinga’s ODM, are the problem. The day they stop being a praise and worship team, Kenya will begin moving forward. Conclaves, and other secret societies and their meetings, will not be necessary. 

-Dr Muluka is a strategic communications strategist. www.barrackmuluka.co.ke