Leadership
A House Of Political Puppeteers
By Mbuthia Mwaniki
Kenya is slowly but surely losing its high status as a hub for peace and democracy in Africa. There is a blatant ignorance of court orders by government, the legislature has become an extension of the executive and the executive itself, seems to be under the rule and control of persons without portfolios who nevertheless wield unimaginable authority.
Despite Kenya’ s many years of peace keeping all over Africa, she may now be involved in arms supply to rebel groups in a neighbouring country. All this though highly publicized by the press seems to go unnoticed by those who have been tasked with checking the executive; our legislators.
It beats logic that despite there being 349 Members of the National Assembly and 67 Senators none of them has resolutely acted on the headlines that light Kenyan newspapers every day; impunity, grand corruption, tribal gaslighting, orders to kill and maim.
The rot though repeatedly highlighted, has been allowed to thrive freely and is now growing into a culture. This is all happening as the ones with the responsibility and mandate to save the day rant on television breakfast shows and funeral podiums. The legislators have failed to act even when their own house was attacked by the now so powerful members of the executive without portfolio.
A female member of the house was publicly sexually assaulted while the spineless legislature watched, the assaulted member either out of coercion or threats or for whatever other reason downplayed the whole incident and proceeded to issue a statement condoning the act and dismissing the same as friendly banter.
How much is enough? According to CNN 31 people died in the most recent protests, there’ s been such protests before and even more Kenyan lives have been lost. Telling by the patterns there’ s about to be more protests and more lives could be lost. Why do more people have to lose their lives over 349 people’ s inability or unwillingness to act?
All these protests are but a call for parliament to use its constitutional powers and fix this nation. Unless they use this power, anarchy is but around the corner. Beyond the party allegiance, money, fear, disillusionment and whatever else is stopping everyone in parliament from acting the cost for this refusal to act shall be greater than that reason. Greater nations have come down for such silence as evil rules.
There seems to be a greater power; something like a puppet master that has power over legislators. The few who have braved this master and spoken out of the ills in government have all too soon taken a softer stance and given press statements that are rather vague and ambiguous, seemingly giving more praise and faith in the puppet master.
The puppet master soon thereafter shows up with some false charisma either by giving crazy sums of money in a church within the legislator’ s backyard or through other Public Relation stunts like prize money in the currently ongoing games, all seemingly as a‘ thank you token’ to the rogue legislator who has agreed to toe the line.
There is further a kind of superiority complex that has clouded the puppet master’ s cronies in parliament, a shared disregard for the common man’ s opinion. Access to them is now impossible, they only give speeches and will not even show up for TV and radio interviews as they used to gladly do.
Accountability is not for them, they are not to be seen or heard from beyond podiums of little attended church functions, burials and X. This behavior begs the question whether they remain interested in extending their terms as parliamentarians. It will be interesting to see how they bridge the gap between them and the common citizenry in the days preceding elections.
The pressure will continue to increase on parliament to act. It will be from all fronts including from the media through publication and exposure, the citizenry through mass action, and soon the international community shall seek involvement.
Rather than let it get there why not just act, Parliament as such has a duty to cut off from the puppet masters string and take instructions from the real masters, the citizens of this great republic.
Mbuthia Mwaniki LLM, LLB, Dip( KSL), is a Partner at Ashreen Matthews Associates. You can commune with him on this or related matters via email at: Mbuthia @ amassociates. co. ke
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