Need national order? Get it right with family

By Judy Thongori
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For many years, many of us looked forward to having a new Constitution with bated breath. We expected that it would cure so much that is wrong with our society. We hoped that the government would be more efficient, more responsive and even accessible.

We trusted that the two Houses of Parliament would be more representative of us. Of the Judiciary, we hoped that with the Supreme Court and more Judicial officers, access to justice would increase substantively.

We all agreed that our Police Force was in urgent need of fundamental reforms, we desired that we would live in this country securely like it was a free country; that the “kitu kidogo” theory when we had a brush with the law, and even sometimes not, would be a thing of the past. This is the 4th year since the new Constitution.

A lot has changed and yet a lot has not. Physical changes are evident everywhere from the Executive to the Judiciary. We have a Supreme Court that overlooks County Hall where our Governor sits and who in turn overlooks the seat of the Senate. We have younger people in many of those offices and we have some level of representation of women and minorities. We have new names for government departments and new titles for officers. We have governments at county levels, a level of devolved funds.

The desired result of the new Constitution and the investment that we have put in place in terms of institutions and the personnel is very simple ­— it is the promotion and protection of the wellbeing of the individual, the family, communities and the nation. While I acknowledge that the desired result cannot happen overnight, we have to know what the road map to the result we are looking for looks like.

My humble view is that new and increased institutions and personnel are not enough to deliver the desired result; that we need delivery to be based on values as set out in article 10 of the Constitution and on the principles of Leadership and Integrity set out in article 73. The values include human dignity, equity, social justice, inclusiveness, equality, human rights and non-discrimination. The principles of leadership and integrity include: personal integrity; objectivity in decision making and decisions that are not influenced by nepotism, favouritism or corrupt practices; selfless service based on public interest; accountability to the public for decisions and actions; discipline and commitment in service to the people.

The next question then must be how do we get people to be of integrity, persons of objectivity, persons not influenced by nepotism and persons who are disciplined and committed in service to the people? My view is that values and principles either exist in a person or they do not; that they are learned primarily in the family as a child is growing up and through schools and religious institutions. That it is a little late to teach a leader values by the time he seeks office. If that is the case then we must have the family as one of the institutions we must work with. As we invest in the Judiciary and other institutions so that we can increase access to justice, we must invest in the family institutions so that we can increase the number of persons of integrity to sit in judgment over us.

Access to justice is not achieved by the number of judgments spewed out by the minute, but by the fairness of those judgments, by the transformative value they have on people’s lives. To produce such judgments law schools will give us the lawyers but the families will give us the integrity part of those lawyers.

Luckily for us, the Constitution at article 45 recognises the family as the fundamental unit of society and the basis of social order. But recognition per se is not good enough. We need to actualise it. So far I see no effort to do so. It is interesting that Rwanda has a Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion.

As we wait for government to do its part, parents (actually the greater government is us) may we stay reminded that we have the power to transform society more profoundly than any other single institution.

Let’s walk together down the assembly line of a person from birth: When our children are born, we teach them how, when and what to feed on; as a result some of us like maize and beans because that is what we were accustomed to. Others like fish and ugali because they were weaned on it and yet others like pilau and mahamri because they were brought up on that diet. And others like pasta…By choosing a diet for our children at their tender stage of life, we influence their taste for life.

You teach the children to share and not to pinch others and to obey parents and older persons; and when they bring home another child’s toy, you make them return it. And they learn to say please and not to grab what they want. If children grow up knowing love, respect, inclusiveness, sharing, discipline, equality and all others, they will become leaders of integrity. They will also become better professionals and we can begin to improve the falling standards across our professions. Those habits that you teach them become part of them; hopefully they will keep them away from beating their wives and vice versa, from stealing from the public kitty and teach them to respect laws and institutions. The order in the family reflects the order in the nation. With order, we can deliver the desired result, which is promotion and protection of the wellbeing of the individual, the family, communities and the nation.