[kictanet] When Leaders follow the followers

[bitange at jambo.co.ke]

Listers,
I want to start by thanking Andrea Bohnstedt for her last Saturday article
titled, We need Politicians with Economic Policy, The Star on Saturday
19th 2011.  It raised salient points but it came too early before I could
put my skills to test.  My first encounter with the current Presidential
candidates ended up to be thoroughly frustrating but a good lesson for all
of us to learn from.  Our only way out is to create political, social and
economic transformations through social media.  Here is my argument for
this proposition:

Last week attended Dr. Hezron Nyangito’s funeral in Kisii and I had the
chance to test my “political ambition”.  I failed.  When time came for me
to speak, I was nervous but gathered myself to make a few remarks.  This
was my brief speech:  The family of Nyangito, our leaders Prime Minister,
Deputy Prime Minister, Ministers, members of Parliament, My colleagues
PSs, Senior Civil Servants Ladies and Gentlemen.   It is my singular honor
to speak at the funeral of my great friend and former colleague both at
the University and the Civil Service as Permanent Secretaries.   Nyangito
was a gentleman but all through our interactions we argued mostly on how
to eradicate poverty in Kenya and more specifically here in Kisii.  Since
the rains are coming (it rains in Kisii every day at 2pm and by the time I
was speaking it was around 1 pm).  I can only promise to put in writing
what his thoughts were and how we can help the people he loved most moves
towards a prosperous future.

I had just been given 2 minutes for my speech and that of my colleague,
Mary Ngari, PS Medical Services.  In Mary’s speech, she was to announce
that the Government will undertake to finish the construction of a health
center that Nyangito had started in his home area.  She never got to the
point of saying this since the crowd that numbered about 50,000 was
getting restless and wanted to hear from the politician.  Indeed I was
bothered that the crowd was not interested in the issues we were raising
as they would impact on their lives.

The time came for politicians to speak and here I discovered that indeed
we are led by the electorate and any change we must make, it must be to
educate the electorate.  First every Presidential candidate arrived in
their own helicopters.  There were seven helicopters and a quick
observation most of the public were bare foot but they liked the
excitement of helicopters landing in their villages.  They cheered for
every one that landed and rushed towards the landing area just to announce
Ruto, Kenyatta, Raila etc.  Obviously all the politicians loved this and
being surrounded by people chanting their names.

First to speak was Ruto and had this to say “Mbuya more abanto baito (How
are you our people), Mbuya Mono (Very fine with a big roar).  Nyangito was
a great man”.  The crowd went quiet and Ruto changed gear “munajua
tumekaribia kung’eng’ana (we are nearing political fight)” Here there were
bigger roaring cheers and ululations’.  I must add that Ruto had the
correct masterly of Swahili and impeccably dressed in what appeared to be
a Gucci suit (retails for about $4,000). Hon. Nyachae stood and as a
clever politician he did not bother with issues but focused on what
brought cheers, “sisi wa Kisii ni wanaume (us Kisii’s are men) never mind
the majority of the crowd were women.  His statement was met with even
greater roaring, ululations and whistling.

Uhuru’s turn came and he had to read the President’s speech as the crowd
watched in heavy silence waiting to hear what could excite them.  Being a
smart politician he had to make his own remarks at the end at this is what
he said “hii si wakati wa siasa lakini tunakuja, nitarudi”(this not the
time for politics but I will come back) cheers more roars and ululations. 
Then it came the turn of the Prime Minister, “I knew Nyangito 
.”  He
seemed to have noted that the crowd was getting bored then as any clever
politician he switched gears “Nimetoka Israel na nilipitia Jerusalem kwa
Yesu” (I have just come from Israel and I passed through Jerusalem where
Jesus lived) the crowd responded with roars.  He could intermittently hold
his speech to allow for more ululations, “nikapitia Nazareth bahari Yesu
alizaliwa (I passed through Nazareth where Jesus was born) pause then
cheers, hata Galilee nilienda, pause na Bethlehem (even I went to Galilee
and Bethlehem).

This is what the public wanted and the politician gave it.  In essence it
is the public that takes the lead and those we assume to be leaders
follow.  I did not want to make that conclusion too early.  After the
funeral there was a heavy jam.  Several University students accosted me. 
Here I decided to put this new found theory in place.  I told them that
when I came in the morning, I flew into Kisumu and landed in the new
airport and not surprisingly they clubbed.  Here I concluded that if you
want to be a politician, you must begin to be irrelevant to issues that
affect the people.  If you really want to be popular, you must have a
helicopter since it gets you closer to the people.  The third variable
that will endear you to the people is MONEY.

Among the Kisii culture there is a tendency to raise a bit of money at a
funeral mainly to assist those who may need transport and food as they go
back to their homes.  We simply call it erongori  (porridge).  At this
function former Minister for Planning Henry Obwocha was asked to request
for erongori.  Usually if you gave Ksh. 1,000, it will be considered too
much.  Before Obwocha could finish asking for this, there was a queue of
politicians.  Hon. XXX Ksh.100,0000 and the crowd cheered.  The cheers
stopped at Ksh. 20,000.  This really embarrassed people like me who could
only afford Ksh. 5,000. The more you gave the more they cheered.  Let us
revisit the University student experiment.  Since I was on experiment
mode, I decided to give them Ksh. 5,000 for what they called transport. 
They were not amused as they pocketed my hard earned money.  They quickly
set their eyes on heavyweights who responded and of course were treated to
cheers.

We have learnt three critical variables that make a successful Kenyan
politician.  First get yourself lots of money and buy a helicopter, then
avoid dealing with issues that might impact on the lives of the public and
finally buy your popularity.   This is very similar to Kaletsky’s views in
Capitalism 4.0.  It is consistent to Moi’s strategy whenever the public
mood was low.  He used to say “nitopoe” (I disclose) followed with an
unnecessary pause and here the crowds used to roar with cheers.  Moi never
really disclosed anything in his nitopoe syndrome.  Jacob Zuma in South
Africa results to a jig that tickled South Africans to the extent of
removing Thabo Mbeki, an accomplished thoughtful leader.  Zuma is getting
his own medicine from upcoming Malema.  Armed with Bob’s script he has
galvanized the public into believing that “killing the Boer” would
redistribute Black empowerment resources better.  Mobutu Sese Seko used to
get cheers for simply clearing his throat.

The political pillar of our own vision 2030 requires that we inculcate
issue-based politics.  In crafting this vision we assumed it is the
politician we needed to change.  We were wrong.  We must now have
strategies to change the public.  They are the ones who have the power to
change things.  I must admit that there is no known community that has
ever leapfrogged social, economic and political development.  In my view
we should have focused on economic development first which has an impact
on social development.  Political development emanates from social
consciousness.  We should learn from the Arabs that political domination
has limits.  In Arab countries that focused on economic empowerment, the
impact of political change is or will be less painful than in those
countries that they want to see change in all the three aspects of
development.

In the state where the electorate is unaware of their inadequacies with
respect to social, political and economic transformation, it is imperative
that rapid disruptive policies such urbanization be implemented.  In a
state of confusion perhaps we may change the society from peasant
mentality to a more productive society.  In Kenya technology should help
us.  We have a real chance through social media to start mass social
re-engineering with the aim of shortening the learning curve we often go
through in socio political transformation.  This cannot be done by
politicians since they have already subordinated themselves into the
followership mentality.  We shall then strengthen these networks to
creating a robust information platform that will enhance intra Africa
trade which will have a great impact on Africa’s economic progress and
sustainability.


Regards


Ndemo