Kenya: Politics of exclusion and inclusion

MPs at sitting the National Assembly

This exclusion and inclusion thing. I thought the idea of devolution and its components, so dear to the opposition campaign, was meant to deflect attention from the national government. In Kenya, exclusion-inclusion, to paraphrase an old saying, is the last refuge of political scoundrels.

And by the way, how inclusive can a government be? Can we, in all honesty, form a government where all tribes are represented? Count 42 tribes, each with an average of five sub-tribes, each howling to have one of their own at the top.

And that would not be the end of it. In Mbeere, the Ndamata clan will cry out if a Mururi clansman is appointed to the Cabinet and vice versa. The northern tribes have even more murderous clan rivalry. Oh, the Kiambu lot will not always be comfortable with a Nyeri strongman.

Concretely, is the cry for the so-called ‘regional balancing’ in government appointments, funding of infrastructure, all that IEBC 'manenos', anchored on a real danger of inclusivity or is it a beef over being left out from the eating trough?

The answer is indicated by how often politicians change positions over the constitution to fit their own interests.

How else do you explain that these worthy gentlemen and ladies literally went to war fighting for the same constitution they often want trashed?

The Opposition for example has no problem proposing a post-election power-sharing formula (read eating opportunities) with multiple offices for each ethnic chief.

Impartiality, inclusiveness, exclusiveness and all that jazz are subjective, depending on where one is in the political divide. For the sake of arguing, how would you ensure impartiality in the IEBC for example? Throw in a Jakoyo Midiwo and a Moses Kuria for CORD and Jubilee respectively into an electoral commission. You have inclusion? You know what will happen if one side loses. Perish the thought.

An electoral body will need to speak in one voice. One problem here is that modern instruments of state-making are weaker than the centrifugal forces of tribal power, which means this inclusion-exclusion song will remain popular for a long time. In this boiling primordial soup of ethnic contest for power, constitutions are just words.

Constitutions do not make nations. They do not produce goods and services. They neither guarantee peace nor security. If we take constitutions as conventions in which we agree to abide by certain rules and regulations, they become only a means, not an end. To nationhood.

For laws to create a conducive atmosphere for social-economic and political development, they must be respected. Laws are institutions we make to help us interact smoothly in the production process.

The constitution could be likened to Thika superhighway. It is very difficult to enjoy using the auto-route if motorists do not observe the Highway Code. This is exactly what is happening right now.

Laws and regulations are forms that need to be plugged in with the right attitude. The reason why we are one of the most socially fragmented and economically unequal society is perhaps because we are more concerned with form than content.

We assemble a magnificent constitution. We gaze at it like Pygmalion and expect it to automatically transmute us into a perfect society.

It took Europe centuries to achieve the current level of cohesiveness. Because we treat institutions as mere monuments, the tell-tale signs of government failure are all over.

Governments fail when the measures put in place fail to rectify market distortions: cartel controlling cooking gas prices, telephone data charges, and extortionist government parastatals etcetera. All this happens under a very nice constitution.The problem is the same in the political market. Political goods are not equally distributed because that market is in chaotic, just like Githurai wet market. Just observe Muthurwa Market and you will see in that prime disorder, the Kenya political market.

Until we cultivate a culture of respecting the institutions we have, inclusion will remain a mirage.
The Kenyan ID card, passport and other symbols of a united nation are useless, unless we invent ways to beat the forces that pull Kikuyus to nyumba or the Luo to oda where they prompt one of their own to grab a piece of the sweet cake called Kenya to eat on their behalf.
In this toxic situation, it does not really matter how many roads or dams, equalisation funds we have.

Whether we have a Jubilee or CORD president, the losing side will always complain. ‘Ata mkijenga bararabara mtaenda’ was a common tale told by PEVs in 2008 in the Rift Valley. And believe you me, it won’t matter to the Kikuyu what a Luo president does in Murang’a or a Kikuyu one does in Migori.

Don’t swallow that story about Nyayo killing coffee and tea in Central. More tarmac roads and tea factories were built there by Moi’s regime than by Jomo Kenyatta’s. But Moi was as alien in Central as Uhuru is in Nyanza today.

What divides us along tribal vaults is largely perception, fear and sheer lies about whole communities. Attitude is a much more difficult enemy than corruption because it is impossible to change it unwillingly.