[kictanet] When Leaders follow the followers

[Barrack Otieno]

Well said Dr. Ndemo, this is what leadership is all about, we must
shout from the rooftops until tumekemea psycophancy anyway seems like
a case of old wine in new skins, its going to be a long journey but we
will get there.

Best Regards

On Fri, Nov 25, 2011 at 4:40 PM,  <bitange at jambo.co.ke> wrote:
> 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
>
>
>
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-- 
Barrack O. Otieno
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Skype: barrack.otieno