from Lee Makwiny

BY NGUNJIRI WAMBUGU

Nearly everyone I know is eagerly waiting for 2012, so that they can vote out most of the current politicians. A recent poll indicated that 65% of Kenyan voters are dissatisfied with their current MPs. Considering that the poll was conducted before a large section of MPs stated their resistance to paying tax, it is not unimaginable that those disatisfied with their MPs might be 95%! Signs are also that Kenyans could even resort to violence if anyone suggested that general elections be delayed past August 14,2012, no matter how good the reasons for such delay.

What most of us do not realize is that Kenyans have in every general election since 1992 voted out at least 65% of our MPs. The preacher at my local church talked to us about culture, which is basically a way of life of a people. He explained how culture is a combination of six things— religion, ethics, aesthetics, economy, social relations and politics. It became clear why the new faces we elect every five years do not result in the new way of doing politics that we are looking for.

Firstly, religion. All our current politicians claim to be staunch followers of one religion or the other, though their actions are about corruption, violence, negative ethnicity and/or impunity: all vices condemned by every religion practiced in Kenya.

Secondly, ethics. The last time we tried to introduce ethics into politics our politicians literally hounded the guy in charge out of office.Thirdly, aesthetics—there really is nothing beautiful and/or balanced about our politics.

Fourthly, the economy. We know that most politicians overtly buy their way into office. However, how does one explain the fact that right now a packet of maize flour costs more than a litre of petrol in a country that grows maize locally but imports petrol?

Fifth, on social relations, our politicians have completely failed us. Rather than use our diversity as a source of strength, they use it to divide and rule us. That is why they will talk about tribe when they want the tribe’s votes, then stand aside and watch as we kill and maim each other across ethnic lines once they get what they want. Sixth, as regards our internal politics, this ranges from tragic, to comical, to fatal, whether at political party, individual family, business or social level.

That is our political culture and the basis on which we have been generating ‘new’ politicians every five years. It is also the reason why every general election feels like deja vu. If our political culture remains constant it will not matter even if we change 100% of the politicians in 2012, we will still want to change them again in 2017.

We keep missing the ball because we focus on changing the wrong thing. We change the politicians (and we must, again), but do not affect the political culture the new set of politicians will operate in. Before we change the politicians in 2012, we must first define what type of politician we want. Personally I will only vote for a politician who actually lives the religious values they profess.

Ethically I will vote a politician who will call ‘foul’ when something is wrong even if it is done by their party’s national leader, and who will support a position they believe is right even if it is presented by their worst political rival. Aesthetically I am looking for a balanced politician: the kind of person I can invite home for dinner with my wife and children.

I will vote for someone who defines a good economy not so much by the number of people it has made rich but by the quality of life the average Kenyan enjoys. I also want to see economic planning that makes sense such that Kenyans do not die of floods, and then starve because the rains have failed, all in the same year.

But the most important thing for me will be their social relations. The type of politician I will vote for in 2012 is the one who realizes the grave urgency, and utmost importance, of a common Kenyan identity. I am looking for a politician who understands that the Kenya we live today desperately needs a common brand that will unite us; an identity that will supersede rather than replace, all our other identities.

That will be a politician who has a plan on how to create, define, and establish a common identity that every Kenyan citizen can associate themselves with beyond their gender, age, tribe, race, or religion. This kind of person is what I call a Kenyan for Kenya, and I can just imagine what would happen if all of us were to vote for someone like this to replace the 65 to 85% or even 100%, of the current political leadership we will vote out in 2012. Kenya would turn a page in its history in such a way that our next political leadership would be a change that we can live with.