We should not solely depend on politicians for leadership

By Ken Opalo

Our many troubles and faults aside, Kenya is on the right track. Our young institutions are beginning to find their feet and the government has a number of ambitious projects with potential to transform the lives of millions of our people. In addition, Kenyans remain as hardworking as ever and hopeful of achieving the Kenyan dream. The problem is that we do not really know what the Kenyan dream means. And as a result we lack resolve in achieving it. As a country and a people, we lack that one thing that we all find sacrosanct and that can be invoked to achieve a sense of national unity of purpose.

One of the markers of highly successful countries is that they tend to have all manner of leaders providing different kinds of direction to the public. Often their prominent business people, the clergy, entertainers, academics, and the like, enjoy the same level of prominence, if not higher, as the political leadership. Contrast that to Kenya where our politicians are the alpha and omega. The reality is that in life different circumstances require different kinds of leadership. So when we get all our leadership from the same class of people– politicians – we are bound to suffer symptoms of “leadership deficiency.”

Over the last ten years we have seen a gradual retreat of the wider civil society and the church from the public sphere. After the election of President Kibaki in 2002 many leading lights of civil society joined government. Some left as soon as they were appointed because their background and convictions did not blend well with the culture of graft that was then endemic in government. But many stayed on, and went from being defenders of the public interest to accomplices in the fleecing of Wanjiku.

The next major erosion of civil society’s clout came in 2007 with the disputed election and subsequent violence. Just like the public, civil society activists were split along ethnic lines, thereby further denting their credibility. The split also spread to the Church. Who were Catholics or Anglicans to listen to, the bishops west of Nakuru or the ones to the east? Just over two years later the church made a major blunder by being on the wrong side of the 2010 referendum. The failure of the men and women of the clothe to internalise the public’s desperate desire for a new Constitution further alienated Kenyans, pushing them closer to the politicians. Ironically, the passage of the 2010 Constitution further eroded the capacity of civil society by creating lots of plum jobs in government for its leading lights. 

I reiterate, we are on the right track. But as a country we need inspirational leaders besides our rabidly partisan and therefore polarising politicians. Instead of helping us build a sense of nationhood and shared destiny, our politicians have done nothing but divide us along ethnic lines over the last half-century. It is time we sought leadership in other quarters and not let politicians be all we have got. Now more than ever, the wider civil society and the church in particular should step up to the plate to provide alternative perspectives on national issues and give direction. We cannot solely rely on politicians to define our future. We know where their interests lie.

As a country we need both a trans-ethnic unifying figure and a custodian of our national conscience. Non-politicians are the best placed to serve these roles. Despite the many milestones we have achieved as far as economic and institutional development are concerned, our failure to produce truly unifying national leaders remains to be a millstone around our necks. At the moment our politicians appear to be resigned to the fact that we are a divided country. Perhaps they imagine that all we have to do is achieve economic development and then with poverty behind us we can erase the divisiveness that plagues us. They are wrong. Northern Ireland, Belgium, and Italy are all examples that should caution against this sort of wishful thinking.

Lately, several news stories have depicted a people in dire need of apolitical and inspirational leadership. Kenyans all over the country are struggling with issues of poverty, marital problems (remember the polyandry contract guy?), drug abuse and spiritual poverty. There is only so much our politicians can do to address these needs. In fact, most of them are the least equipped to deal with some of these problems, hence the need for other kinds of (apolitical) leaders to step in.

The writer is a PhD candidate at Stanford University