Empty politics is the bane of our nation

By Charles Gichari Njoroge

Our politicians, both in Government and in the Opposition, have made themselves a disgrace by politicking 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Why are they in a campaign mood all the time?
In the interests of all Kenyans, they should postpone political posturing and mudsling until mid 2007. They have an obligation to develop our people and deliver them from poverty and build national unity.

Every activity has its own time and this is not time for elections but to develop our people. There is no middle ground on this. The leadership required in Kenya is one that has the capacity, the vision and will to rally the people of this great nation to a common purpose and to inspire confidence and positive action for the good of all. It must show commitment to address poverty, disease and ignorance.

We spend too much time smelling corruption in every top Government position, while this is good in principle, it is inherently important we look at the opportunity cost of this general cataloging. Many decision makers in Kenya are procrastinating for fear of being labelled, rightly or wrongly, corrupt. Life saving procurements delay due to this fear.

The implementation of the Government projects could soon stall. The media and politicians spend too much time studying the past instead of generating solutions for today and the future. We have become a nation that cherishes the past, holds it with nostalgia but procrastinates and withdraws from confronting today and tomorrow.

While the ascendancy of Narc to power in 2002 was good, it has brought a negative reaction to authority. Ours has become a society where the politicians have taught us to suspect anyone with and in authority.

There is no sense of pride in our leadership. They are all plotting on each other and with each other and making the population pawns in their selfish power games. The challenge of our time is when we shall begin to reap the fruits of a leadership that thrives in action, is visionary, has concern for the common man, and has a total commitment to leaving this country better than they found it.

Another tragedy is captured well by the Nigerian sage who says "Poverty is like heat, you have to go through it for you to understand it". Most of our leaders were born in wealth and will die in wealth. Their utterances and actions do not resonate with the common person. Instead of being our messiahs to the land of plenty, they are mere pretenders. You have to have seen and lived poverty for you to have courage to confront it.

Kenya has few politicians who get into politics because of an inner call to discover something bigger than themselves. They see a mission to empower the population, a challenge to confront the community ills, a goal to take their people to the Promised Land and a movement that draws them to the arena of success. How many of our leaders are creatively finding solutions to the current difficulties we are facing today?

For the remaining days before the General Election, Kenya shall be in a campaign carnival like never before. The challenge to us all is: For how long shall we feast on sloganeering? How many of our politicians will forget their privileges and high salaries and remember their obligations to this nation? As they politic, they are still enjoying the common man’s generosity (security detail, six figure salary, fuel allowances etc), yet they lack the passion for service.

Having kept a keen watch of Kenyan politics, my humble submission is that the current crop of politicians will not lead this country to prosperity. This country is facing a dilemma, and in this quandary, men and women of honesty, purpose, and of strong morals and conscience are lacking. Ordinary men and women need to join politics and clean it once and for all before 2007 General Elections.

Another tragedy of this country is its short memory. Because of our unique talent of forgetting the past, we will one day enable the guilty to drag the innocent before the courts and charge them with crimes that they (the guilty) had committed in the past. The corrupt will be our angels and we shall glorify them.

Finally, why do our leaders seek solace in the cocoon of their tribes when they fail a nation and its people?