Stop Lamenting; Look at the mirror!

One Sunday morning recently, I took a leisure drive along Ngong road as I went for a short appointment. The choice of time was very convenient as the road was generally less busy, being that early on Sunday. Ngong road happens to have several traffic lights stops and I gladly stopped as required. Since I was not in any rush, I didn’t struggle to obey the lights. One thing was conspicuous though. At every stop, there was a car or two behind me hooting, in some instances very vigorously. The guys in the car were probably struggling to understand why I was stopping when the road was “very clear”. On my end, I wondered why they couldn’t just shift to another lane since the road has several. I held my nerve and only moved when the lights turned green.

Why am I narrating this incident? In the political and social spaces today, you won’t miss Kenyans lamenting about how “useless” the elected leaders are, and how they (leaders) don’t respect the rules/laws. And for sure, a good percentage of todays political class have cases in virtually every court in Kenya, some very grave. As a matter of fact, many Kenyans have given up on pursuing cases that involve this class in the courts and have taken to either shaming them on social media or invoking divine help. But even those tactics are not working because these chaps are either immune to shame or the cases are just too many that one doesn’t know which one to pursue. Furthermore, divine help is not known to come swiftly in such instances. One is left with the hope that thunder and lightening will come down and “scare” the other party. It isn’t happening!!

But why is it like this? The answer is very simple. First, the so-called politicians don’t fall from any foreign planet. I use the term “so-called” very deliberately because there’s no profession called “politics”. They are just your husbands, wives, daughters, sons, friends, etc who have been elected into political office. To that extent therefore, they are us. And because at our individual level, many of us lack self-discipline or self-respect, getting into a public office won’t change that. As a matter of fact, it just aggravates the situation because one now knows they can do what they wish with impunity. Getting into a public office, whether by election of appointment is today a license to enjoy the trappings of power with indiscipline. While this is expected in many countries, you have to agree that ours is on another level. This is simply because a good percentage of Kenyans desire the same and would do the exact same. And since the elected leaders are part of us and know this, they go about it with abandon. How will anyone hold them to account when they epitomize the DNA of the general population who just don’t have the opportunity. The “bitterness” you see in most Kenyans is the lack of this opportunity, and the leaders know it. So, they milk it properly.

In Section I CPA, we were taught about a concept in Common Law called “Nemo dat quod non habet”. Basically, it translates to “no one can give what they do not have”. Where will you be getting it from? In the same breath therefore, you cannot demand that your leader be responsible and disciplined unless you epitomize the same trait. “Leaders are a reflection of the people”, we are often told. It can never be truer in Kenya. Lamenting about the calibre of leaders will not change anything. But changing our mindset, beliefs, practices and even the kind of company we keep will have an impactful change! And this has to be deliberate, whether or not you are being watched. And whether or not the roads are clear!