The five breeds Kenyans must avoid in tommorows nominations and the March 2013 ballot 

["Having eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear ye not? and do ye not remember?"(Mark 8:18). ... This people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart...]

Kenya is positioning herself for a circus in the waiting; on Thursday 17^th January, 2013 dominant parties nominate their favourites to run for elective positions in the March 3^rd 2013 general elections. I can’t wait as well, the stakes have are high, and a string of fallouts is looming amongst party losers. Anyway, I have been accused many times before on this blog of being overly pessimistic, paranoid, suspicious and reactionary. I hope this sits well with the sceptics: this is my 20 pence counsel to Kenyans as they go to the nominations and into the epic March 2013 ballot.

If there is any miracle that ever happened to Kenya, it must be the promulgation of the new constitution on August 27^th 2010. The perks are already too evident and the prospects appetising. For me I seek to warn Kenyans, to live up to their true selves, not to squander this one. Kenyans, when you go to the ballot forget all else and pay utmost attention to the GOVERNOR. There lies the paradise that new katiba promises the ordinary Kenyan. There lies what symbolises the break from the old order.

What governors do:

The governor has a greater effect on the daily lives of ordinary citizens than the president, the senator, or Member of Parliament ever would. Governors across the globe lead county governments or states with executive and legislative authority. They set policy (have influence on national policy decisions as well), recommend/enact legislations, prepare and administer budgets and determine how revenues are spent at the county/state level. They regulate business and are generally responsible for the delivery of crucial goods and services like health and safety, transport and planning that profoundly affect the overall well being of their citizens. They are mandated and accountable to the public on the promotion of economic development, wealth creation, social development, environmental management, and cultural preservation. They are directly responsible for policing the performance of the county/state. 

"... What do businesses need to grow and flourish and take on new people? They need their employees to be able to afford to live within a reasonable commuting distance from their place of work. A job creating economy [therefore] needs good HOUSING and good TRANSPORT" (London mayor - Boris Johnson).

What your governor must do:

However away from the theories of the roles and responsibilities of the governor; the overarching duty of the typical successful governor must be wealth creation and equitable redistribution of public resources. It boils down to attracting investment, promoting new businesses and creating jobs. Clearly, out of the fear of losing power the political establishment in Kenya already skewed the system to favour the central government and denied the counties substantial resource allocation to actualise the aspirations of citizens. As it is less than 25% of total government revenue will reach the devolved structures to be engaged in direct delivery of public goods. The successful governor must thus be the one:

·  That will generate surplus resources; look beyond government, to marshal inward investment (both foreign and domestic), make the environment (in terms of energy, infrastructure, security and housing) suitable for new business to set up and thrive and with the sanity to avoid destroying jobs.

·    With the aptitude to ring fence resources for development while still maintaining prudent public finance management policies and ideals.

·      That will muster the skill and capacity to exploit the existing resources to the advantage of the county while guaranteeing their sustainability.

·   Who will enhance the competitiveness of the county’s urban areas, step up place marketing and attract new populations to do business and to increase the market.

·        With the instinct, connections and skill to organize indabas and investment fairs to sell the county as the ultimate destinations for business, tourism, education and the many other unique attributes it might posses.

While that must sound as the typical economic approach to management of the county, it must happen on the background of a political framework with ideals that most often run parallel and invariably antagonistic to the business model. As provided for in Article 176 –

‘There shall be a county government for each county consisting of a county assembly [the legislative arm] and a county executive’. What this means then is that the governor must be the individual with the ability to tactfully marry the politics and the economics of the county. Surely, that demands a mix of a technocrat with experience and skill in public administration, management, and governance; business acumen; a knack of politics, and wide connections borne out of outward linkages abroad as well as in other counties domestically.

If that doesn’t help you decide on the most suitable. Here is a list of the characters you must avoid like plague. Experience has taught us that these breeds of persons are capable and indeed will squander the fortunes of a county no matter how endowed. Do not elect/nominate:

I - The tattered ex-MP

This is the typical hangovered Member of Parliament who has squandered five years of exclusive authority, resources and political will now only looking to save a dying political life, struggling to keep relevant in Kenya’s hyper-dynamic political-economic trajectory. Let his/her record speak for itself, the mediocrity he/she has served you over the past five years will sure not metamorphosise overnight into the brilliant entity that the onerous county leadership demands. Do not be fooled, the typical one just won’t however sweet he/she talks.

II – The loud mouth devious know it all attorney

No offence to the legal profession. But with all due respect, it is the crop of lawyers that have hijacked the Kenyan legislative system that bare the greatest responsibility for the dark times this country has endured. If they have not cleverly mutilated every little bit of well thought legislations, they have arrogantly manipulated the legal system to award themselves outrageous undeserving perks. They have taken over parliament and treated us to perennial side shows and confounding legal jargon that effectively distracted us from the serious issues that affect the prosperity of our nation. And most shameful is the way they have presided over the polarisation of our once peaceful united nation. Woe unto to you positioning yourself to rebrand another loser like that into a governor.

III – The tired retired civil servant

There are those who have diligently served Kenya, those who deserve and must be accorded the respect they have so earned. In whatever state department they have worked, they have done their duty to this nation. However, it is my opinion that they must do the honourable thing: let the country move on and enjoy the leadership of other equally capable, young and apt citizens. While some of them have been very dynamic and could manage the demands of the current system, there is also the lot (the larger constituency) that has clearly been overtaken by events, the ones only keen on keeping themselves busy, or gratifying the lost authority/power that came with higher echelon civil service jobs.

  

IV – The ass-licking party leadership darling

This is personal and I must let you know that these are so far the greatest enemies of our democracy and the thieves of our destiny and prosperity. These are folks who boot lick, the ‘yes men’ of the Kenyan political partydom. They are cannon fodder for the ‘big man’, they heckle when needed, provide quorum when it is due. They are political sycophants that will do anything to satisfy their patron because that’s the price they pay for political favours yonder! These characters will scare you with direct nominations, party assurances and support from party bigwigs. History has it they most often get their way; they end up in leadership out of deceit and political arm twisting of the electorate. Open your eyes, these folks have no agenda for their constituents but you will be told by party bigwigs that they have been loyal, provided funding, championed the course blah blah ...  

V – The Ill-schooled ‘man of the people’          

He/she is charismatic, commands a great following, is down to earth and probably has a feel and great understanding of the needs and aspirations of their constituents. The trouble with some of them is their capacity (intellectually and/or practically). If they are not utterly out of touch with logic and commonsense, their schooling is deficient and invariably hamstrings their ability to think constructively and layout coherent plausible plans that can be appreciated by others (development partners, investors or academia). If I were you, their popularity notwithstanding, I would shy away from this breed as well.  

“He that hath ears to hear, let him hear” - Matthew 11:15

'EAC-mania' Obsession and haste towards a monetary/political union. Sentiments of a sceptic

When cautioning against the haste to stardom, former British PM Tony Blair once said that: “ ... history [...] is littered with [...] those who were supposed to be rising stars and ended up being shooting stars"

I had a brief stint with the Secretary General of the East African Community – Dr Richard Sezibera on twitter a few days ago. Well it began as a polite fair response to what I thought was an overly optimistic and misleading tweet, but it degenerated into a back and forth that I honestly didn’t expect. Dr. Sezibera (rightfully) sought to ‘sex-up’ the morale of his constituency of ‘EAC-maniacs’ to accelerate the integration process: the commitments and milestones towards a monetary union and political federation. My response was a patriotic constructive piece of criticism that I hoped could jog the good Doctor’s mind. However what ensued was a PR flair of defence and apologetics some of which bordered sheer defeatism devoid of substance and reason; obviously away from the object of my tweet. Dr. Sezibera went on to question my allegiance to the ‘East African nation’, beating the EAC drum a tad bit too loud and irking my already uncomfortable psyche and unsettled opinion about the ongoing EAC integration process that he presides over.

Nonetheless as a student of multilateralism and global governance, I elected to free myself of the yokes of semantics and sentimentalism on social media and today I bare a few realities about the East African Integration project that could benefit others willing to listen.

Foremost, I am in principle against the shuttling of East Africans into a monetary union and an even more laughable political federation that they are largely ignorant about and have not given their consent to. However, I favour the galvanization of the Common Market Protocol and the Customs Union to promote more trade, greater movement of goods, persons and services across the region which of course can thrive without the sharing of a singular currency or existing within a common political boundary.

Dr Ssezibera and Co. have failed to lobby the ‘EAC-sceptics’ in the region (especially elements in Tanzania) that continue to frustrate the implementation of the Common Market Protocol, yet they are wetting their appetites for a monetary and political union. Indeed folly is superficial to many yet not obvious as well to many alike. I mean you cannot muster the muscle and apparatus to reign in states to implement a customs union yet you yap so invariably about accelerating towards a more onerous ‘United States of East Africa’.

Like a friend of mine brazenly puts it: ‘There are a few people; a few tattered despots here in East Africa threatened by the expanding democratic space in their states who sleep and dream of controlling the economic and political trajectories of the region without legitimate mandate.’ The sound of ‘President of the East African Community’ must be music to their ears. These are the folks hell bent on creating a union of East African States without substance, will or plan for the regions prosperity but to gratify their perverse appetites for political power and economic imperialism. The problem I have with folks in Africa is the obsession with ‘ape-manship’. People are too fond of copying and pasting things they stumble upon elsewhere across the globe without paying sufficient attention to the contextualities (if there is a word like that) of sometimes very noble initiatives – the East African Community is  classic example.

There are pertinent issues regarding the manner in which the integration process is being handled that are not right yet are being effectively swept under the carpet by the secretariat and the project’s other apologisers that I will not falter to point out:

I – Suspicion and Mistrust amongst partner states

It is suspicion and mistrust that indeed hamstrung and sent the defunct EAC to its grave. Those ills are alive today, and maybe even more pronounced by the recent oil and natural gas finds in Kenya Uganda and Tanzania. If it is not Tanzanians perennially scared of the ultra-capitalistic demeanour of Kenyan entrepreneurs and investors, it is the worry of political instability and lack of a sufficient threshold of commonality in political ideals (may be there isn’t any distinctive political ideology anyway). If it is not the fear of marginalised constituencies in smaller partner states concerned about their likely domination in the EAC it is the more financially apt states whining about the likelihood of partner states like Rwanda and Uganda with huge domestic debt portfolios transmitting fiscal trouble.

Moreover financial commitment to the secretariat so far has been scanty signifying an apparent reluctance towards deeper integration beyond the Customs Union. The debates on the modalities for contribution – whether to fund the framework equally among partner states or to contribute proportionately based on the size of individual economies - are increasingly rocking the spirit of the union. There is also the lot that is cautious about the legal requirement that states transfer monetary sovereignty to the union that carries with it the risks of exposing them to external shocks transposed by weak financial systems in other partner states.

The suspicions range from socio-cultural, to economic, political and legal uncomfortabilties that the secretariat itself already commissioned a study and complied a report with a plethora of fears expressed by citizens yet so little has been done to address them. Nonetheless in the words of Dr. Ssezibera ‘we must run where others are walking’ towards the ultimate – the monetary and political union.

 II – Deficits of democracy and national authority

Nigel Farage, Leader of UK Independence Party (UKIP) perpetually roars the ills of hurling Britain into the EU in the European parliament and his fears are genuine. Fears that East Africans are entitled to learn. He argues that with multilateralism comes the cessation of natural authority; certain sovereignties are obviated and critical autonomies curtailed. Yet the multilateral frameworks so created are run by entities recruited outside the confines of conventional democratic processes like universal suffrage. They are normally a construction of handpicked technocrats with no public mandate whatsoever who wield dangerous perverse authority, antagonistic and disobedient of the civil liberties and aspirations of ordinary citizens. Such frameworks and their managers are seldom accountable to citizens.

And true to his word: look at the two institutions that the EAC secretariat has so far successfully presided over their building: the East Africa Legislative Assembly and the East Africa Court of Justice.  At what point in the process did any East African state hold a referendum or carry out meaningful public consultation to seek the opinion of citizens or their representatives on the conduct of these institutions? The East Africa Legislative Assembly is the classic exemplification of multilateral dictatorship and cronyism (I can speak authoritatively for Kenya). Political parties handpicked losers (political rejects who had lost elections elsewhere) based on their allegiance and patron client relationships who were then seconded by a hangovered parliament to the regional assembly. These are the same folks that will soon be handing down legislations (and policy material) to poor ignorant East African citizens who barely know them and their credentials.  

“If you rob people of their identity, if you rob them of their demoracy; all that they are left with is nationalism and violence. I can only hope that the Europroject is destroyed by the markets before that happens” ~ Nigel Farage (UKIP leader)

Look yonder: Greece is now being governed by a troika, a bunch of fellows, technocrats who fly into Athens and preside over the auctioning of the destiny of a people who were once the inventers of modern democracy. Helpless Greeks watch as they are lectured by foreigners on the character of government to have, and as the European Central Bank arrogantly thrashes down their throats fiscal policies that are obviously out of touch with their plight and aspirations. Yet they are bungled, unable to cope with the outrageous austerity prescriptions handed down by Eurozone big-boys and scared of the consequences of exiting the Eurozone in order to autonomously operate a distinct currency and reengineer the political economy of their country.

That is another awkward reality that East Africans might find themselves in someday (god forbid) yet it is effectively concealed from the common mwanainchi.

III – Eminent inequalities and lack of sufficient commonality in key integration ingredients

East African states exist within very divergent democratic and governance trajectories. To mean that there those that have made considerable progress towards good governance, constitutionalism, rule of law, democratic space and there are those who still have an appreciably long way to go. The duty of marrying these polities and conglomerating their unequal trajectories demands enormous capacity, political will and obligation that have been undoubtedly deficient and the situation doesn’t look like changing in the near future.

Then there is the thorny issue of access to natural resources, some that are spatially concentrated in some states like the unresolved issue of lake Victoria. Clearly there are marked inequalities in endowment with natural resources which will hugely determine the economic and political muscle of different partner states and tip the balance of power in the coveted union.

These are but snippets of the realities that confront the ambitious integration process that should keep the secretariat busy; working on how to address within the framework of the Customs Union even before thinking of greater unions. The need to build social cohesion across the region; to manage power relations among partner states; enhance legitimacy/credibility of the process itself through greater and more meaningful citizen engagement; and to forestall an effective conflict management mechanism cannot be overemphasised. If the intentions of the EAC are as noble and genuine as they should obviously be, then the project deserves a threshold of patience, tact and reason which the secretariat must accord it. Like in my tweet I reiterate that ‘we’ must be ware not to manufacture another Euro-like mishap in East Africa.   ‘We must interrogate the events that led to the demise of the defunct EAC, learn from the EU, SADC, ASEAN, NAFTA. Unfortunately when i possed this suggestion Dr Sezibera's response was that we must not focus out there because EAC is awesome

“@rsezibera: @Okwaroh why don't we focus on eac? I think we are better than Europe”