Someone please tame our leaders’ hubris

BY OYUNGA PALA

KENYA: The story of Icarus was a popular mythology in ancient Greece. Icarus was the son of Daedalus, a gifted and highly respected craftsman.

At the height of turmoil in Crete, Icarus devised a plan to escape using unconventional means. His talented father created wings that would enable him to fly, constructed from feathers and wax. However, the wings came with a disclaimer. Do not fly too close to the sun. Icarus chose to ignore the instructions and soared high up in the sky getting too close to the sun.

The wax melted and he tumbled down to the sea and drowned. The underlying theme behind the myth is taming the hubris. That illusion that afflicts the favoured man and makes him feel like a god. Those who try to conquer the skies and play to personal fantasies that are way beyond one’s scope will eventually be casualities of their overarching pride.

Insatiable leaders

The story of Icarus needs to be circulated widely because the country is under the grip of cabals of insatiable leaders. The latest addition to the caravan of free loaders are the county representatives who have been engaged with the Salaries and Reviews Commission in battle for higher pay. The salary expectations are absurd and it does not seem to occur to the whining reps that you cannot have champagne on a beer budget.

This advanced arrogance that is displayed by the county reps is, however, quite easy to track. We live in a society that ascribes to the philosophy of entitlement. Out the wood work, groups of disenfranchised Kenyans continue to come out protesting with their version of “It is our turn to eat”. The top leadership has dragged and embroiled the country in a court matter that should have been a personal affair.

The country is a couple of weeks shy of its 50th birthday and we are still tumbling from one crisis to the next. The MPs upset the moral compass way back when they put their needs above anyone else.

Governors are goofing and save for a few celebrated examples, the rest of the field is more engaged in devolving corruption and wastage to the counties. Now the county reps have picked up the cue and are digging in for the long haul.

It has been proven time and again, that it is the loudest, not the most deserving that gets heard in Kenya. The narcissistic mentality of the Kenyan leadership is getting out of hand and the bad vibe is spreading like a virus. There is a ridiculous sense of entitlement that has afflicted our elected leaders. Too many have succumbed to power tripping, walking around like they breathe rarefied air. 

They could compare to a beautiful young woman who walks into a club, expects a free drink on the house and special treatment, simply because her reflection on the mirror is flattering.

Arrogance

We are country that is under the siege of megalomania, a state of advanced arrogance, where an individual believes they are way more important that they really are.

There is another story from ancient Roman that involves Julius Caesar. One version states that at the height of his power, Caesar’s subjects treated him as if  he were a god. In his wisdom Caesar employed a slave whose job was to remind him every morning, that he was only a man. Elected and appointed leaders in the country are living a bubble, which is about to be pricked.

It is about time they were reminded that they were not gods. As in ancient Greece, committing the hubris always leads to harsh consequences.

Those who fly too close to the sun will soon be brought down earth in one spectacular fall.