It
is all well and good for one to be well-meaning, educated and
experienced in the private sector when one is applying to succeed Baba
Jimmi in 2013; it is not all well and good to have zero political
skills. We may sneer at their chances of succeeding the president, but
Peter Kenneth, Charity Ngilu, Martha Karua, Moses Wetangula, Musalia
Mudavadi, Kalonzo Musyoka and Cyrus Jirongo have some political
experience. Some, like Martha Karua and Charity Ngilu are consummate
political operators. Presidential jokers like Kingwa Kamencu and James
Ole Kiyiapi have overstayed their welcome on the political stage. Like
Prof Lavai Shihanda, it would be best if they retired to the comfort of
their armchairs and watched the spectacle of many rivers flowing into
one mighty Amazon, whether the Amazon turns out to be Uhuru Kenyatta,
William Ruto or Raila Odinga.
Much ink on newsprint has been poured to create the narrative that all one needs is excellent private-sector credentials in order to make a credible candidate for any of the new political offices up for grabs in 2013. Many candidates for the office of county governor tout their years of private- and public-sector experience as managers or leaders to persuade Kenyans that they are to be trusted with the reins of power at the county level in 2013. None has yet to persuade us that they have exceptional political skills for the onerous tasks that face them in implementing devolution as dreamed up by the Committee of Experts. This is not to argue that their managerial experiences will count for not in the management of the enormous public resources that will be allocated to county governments. On the contrary; these experiences will count for nothing if these men and women fail to forge a political consensus as to what to prioritise when it comes to these resources. They may have lofty ideas about shiny new highways of prosperity, but might find that their subjects prefer affordable healthcare or functioning produce markets. They will need to have exceptional political skills to persuade their subjects that good roads will eventually translate into functioning markets.
Kingwa Kamencu is fast-realising that despite her youth or inexperience, veteran politicians are not taking her candidacy lightly and have set out to stop it before it gets out of hand. The less-than-flattering items in the popular press regarding her campaign can be attributed to the established campaigns; this is how politics is played at this level. They will give her no quarter and will expect none in return. The more mature James Ole Kiyiapi is discovering that being a policy wonk in the government of Mwai Kibaki has not prepared him for the hurly-burly of the political arena. His campaign is dead in the water simply because he refuses to engage in the same political skullduggery that the remaining leading contenders engage in as a matter of course. If he thinks Kenyans are going to give him the benefit of the doubt because of his rags-to-riches tale, or his outstanding academic credentials, or his brief stint as a senior civil servant, or his strong faith in a Christian God, Kenyans are about to teach him an expensive, but valuable, lesson in retail politics. You could be the nicest guy alive but to win our vote you will need to persuade us politically, not logically. All the assets that the good professor possesses must be brought to bear in his political message and until he internalises this fundamental political truth, he will simply burn his wealth pursuing a chimaera.
This nation is in dire need of expert leadership - expert in economics, education, nuclear energy, oil and gas economics, dispute and conflict resolution, law-making and a whole host of governance issues. But without excellent politicians who possess this expertise, in 2030 we will still be looking for a vision with which to elevate Kenya to the ranks of the middle-income nations of the world. If there is one thing that we can confirm today it is that after 49 years, we now know that the men and women who purport to speak for us in the corridors o power, and justice, are incompetent at their jobs. They are the worst politicians in the world. China and North Korea do not count; those people don't have to stand for elections. Ours do. Three generations of politicians have managed to keep divided the peoples of Kenya; the dream that the colonial government had in 1921 is alive and truly kicking in the 21st century. We need a new crop of politicians. Sadly, Kingwa Kamencu and James Ole Kiyiapi are not it.
Much ink on newsprint has been poured to create the narrative that all one needs is excellent private-sector credentials in order to make a credible candidate for any of the new political offices up for grabs in 2013. Many candidates for the office of county governor tout their years of private- and public-sector experience as managers or leaders to persuade Kenyans that they are to be trusted with the reins of power at the county level in 2013. None has yet to persuade us that they have exceptional political skills for the onerous tasks that face them in implementing devolution as dreamed up by the Committee of Experts. This is not to argue that their managerial experiences will count for not in the management of the enormous public resources that will be allocated to county governments. On the contrary; these experiences will count for nothing if these men and women fail to forge a political consensus as to what to prioritise when it comes to these resources. They may have lofty ideas about shiny new highways of prosperity, but might find that their subjects prefer affordable healthcare or functioning produce markets. They will need to have exceptional political skills to persuade their subjects that good roads will eventually translate into functioning markets.
Kingwa Kamencu is fast-realising that despite her youth or inexperience, veteran politicians are not taking her candidacy lightly and have set out to stop it before it gets out of hand. The less-than-flattering items in the popular press regarding her campaign can be attributed to the established campaigns; this is how politics is played at this level. They will give her no quarter and will expect none in return. The more mature James Ole Kiyiapi is discovering that being a policy wonk in the government of Mwai Kibaki has not prepared him for the hurly-burly of the political arena. His campaign is dead in the water simply because he refuses to engage in the same political skullduggery that the remaining leading contenders engage in as a matter of course. If he thinks Kenyans are going to give him the benefit of the doubt because of his rags-to-riches tale, or his outstanding academic credentials, or his brief stint as a senior civil servant, or his strong faith in a Christian God, Kenyans are about to teach him an expensive, but valuable, lesson in retail politics. You could be the nicest guy alive but to win our vote you will need to persuade us politically, not logically. All the assets that the good professor possesses must be brought to bear in his political message and until he internalises this fundamental political truth, he will simply burn his wealth pursuing a chimaera.
This nation is in dire need of expert leadership - expert in economics, education, nuclear energy, oil and gas economics, dispute and conflict resolution, law-making and a whole host of governance issues. But without excellent politicians who possess this expertise, in 2030 we will still be looking for a vision with which to elevate Kenya to the ranks of the middle-income nations of the world. If there is one thing that we can confirm today it is that after 49 years, we now know that the men and women who purport to speak for us in the corridors o power, and justice, are incompetent at their jobs. They are the worst politicians in the world. China and North Korea do not count; those people don't have to stand for elections. Ours do. Three generations of politicians have managed to keep divided the peoples of Kenya; the dream that the colonial government had in 1921 is alive and truly kicking in the 21st century. We need a new crop of politicians. Sadly, Kingwa Kamencu and James Ole Kiyiapi are not it.
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