Civil disobedience can force government to do what Kenyans want

Youth during Gen Z protests in Nairobi. [File, Standard]

If any two things describe Kenya correctly, it is Henry Cate’s opine; “The problem with political jokes is that they get elected” and George Orwell’s play, ‘Animal Farm’. Cate served as King of England and Lord of Ireland between 1485 and 1509. We’ve had more than our fair share of political jokes in this country. 

Most of what has been happening around us in recent times, including when Gen Z gave politicians a humongous scare, is a painful reminder that our leaders lack compassion, independent thought and the ability to stand up and be counted for something.

The number of times the court has stopped Kenya Kwanza government projects speaks volumes of the disdain the government has for the Constitution as a safeguard to our rights and freedoms.

The provisions of Chapter Six of the Constitution might as well not exist for our political elite and now, the clause on public participation is flagrantly being flouted. You can die in hospital or at home for lack of medical care. Children can stay at home for lack of school fees and become junkies.

You can be sold sand and donkey droppings for fertiliser to improve agriculture, and no leader cares. Billions of dollar deals that require public participation have been concluded without that input, and defended in high places.

Such actions serve to vindicate Henry David Thoreau, the American philosopher who averred that all governments are agents of corruption and injustice. The Kenya Kwanza administration breathes life into this contention, given the scandals that engulf it.

Corruption has peaked and at no other time in our history have there been so many disappearances as in the last two years. Even clerics now complain about the government trying to micromanage their sermons.

The beautiful MV Kenya ship appears headed for an iceberg. We have the option of resigning ourselves to letting the captain and his crew wreck the ship the way the Titanic hit an iceberg in 1912, disintegrated and sunk, or do everything possible to stay afloat. 

To survive, we must jettison any baggage that would make the ship sink faster. That opportunity will come in 2027 since, as matters stand, Kenyans seem to lack understanding on how to recall inept leaders and moreover, a wobbling electoral agency would be of no help. 

Now that there is no opposition worth speaking of after ODM teamed up with the government and brought more confusion in the Kenya Kwanza fractious tent, Kenyans are on their own. In such a situation, Thoreau’s exhortation to civil disobedience as a means to starve the government of taxes that, in any case, feather the nests of only a handful of individuals, makes a lot of sense. 

Throttling returns from Value Added Tax on fuel products, for instance, will hurt the government. Kenyans can get out of their comfort zones and endure a little discomfort rather than resign themselves to an insensitive system that is punishing them for its economic mismanagement.

Those with cars, for instance, can give their cherished cars a little break by using public transport or pooling to occasion a drop in returns from fuel tax. Some years back, Raila, while trying to push the Jubilee government to the wall, called for a boycott of certain products in the market, and the pinch was felt. It can work even better today.

It took Gen Z one day of intense demonstrations to have the government backpedal. They would have won and achieved their aims had the political and business elite, including traitors to their cause, not hurriedly forgotten their squabbles and regrouped to protect their wealth.

Thoreau believed that the individuals’ conscience should never be weakened by the government. But even as Kenya Kwanza drives the country to the precipice with unpopular policies and decisions, whether political or economic, citizens have a moral duty to demand, by whatever means expedient, their rights.