Sometimes I wonder if I'm being too pessimistic about Kenya's political situation. But then I read another newspaper article about corruption and marvel at how the country survives day-to-day. Today's addition to the graft hall of shame was a story in the Daily Nation about pension fraud. The details, as given, are mind-boggling, the incompetence bordering on the farcical and the consequences, as ever, depressing. According to the article, which drew from a report by the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission, conmen (by which I think the paper means corrupt officials and their middlemen) may have diverted millions of shillings to "ghost retirees", undoubtedly relatives of the "ghost voters" who took part in the 2007 general elections. The paper quotes the commission's report as saying the pensions department sent 79 million shillings to pensioners in the UK in 2005/06 but no details of those receiving the money were ever produced and no one came forward to say they had got the funds. Also, more than 400 million shillings worth of pension funds are in so-called suspense accounts because incompetent staff sent cheques to the wrong addresses and then never bothered to follow up. The government hopes to launch a new contributory pension scheme in July, and the head of the pensions department was quoted as saying that the problems would be solved by a new computer system. It seems unlikely that a software programme will be able to override human impulses -- impulses that are only too visible elsewhere in Kenyan state institutions and parastatals.
This weekend, I asked a member of the Partnership for Change movement, if Kenya had alternatives to the current crop of leaders? I was told yes, more and more members of the middle-classes -- professionals like doctors and teachers -- are entering politics because of a widespread perception that action is needed to fundamentally shake up a diseased and ineffective system. These are people who would never have been involved in politics before. People who go about their business in spite of politics. But, I was told, the situation in Kenya has become so parlous that a growing number of once-apolitical people are stepping up to the plate. The question is: can you reform the system from the outside? What kind of a political earthquake would be needed to erase years of tribal -- or community -- based politics in order to allow new wannabe politicians to come to the fore? Perhaps it's just a question of how often and how deeply the people are disappointed. But disappointment, poverty, lack of opportunity and the dangerous what-have-we-got-to-lose attitude that these evils can inspire can so easily be moulded into a them-against-us stance that would simply feed the existing clique-politics. I guess civic education has a key role to play, and groups like Partnership for Change are out there on the ground trying to get people to ask questions and demand more of those in power. It's a tall order to tackle an entrenched system whose roots extend to the colonial era. But at the very least, it's a start, a sign of positive activism in a country where stagnation seems to have seeped into every corner of the administration -- a stagnation which is steeped in fear; fear of change, fear of losing one's perks, fear of the other, fear of being blamed for changing the status quo and sometimes, simply fear of speaking out. The rain that has threatened all day has come. Time to check the torches and nightlights.
3 comments:
That's my personal experience too; unlikely candidates are stepping to the plate, cautiously but with a steely determination. Everywhere I go people tell me the time for apathy is gone. We need the hands of capable Kenyans to oversee a much needed meaningful change.
Yes. Most Kenyan's are now realising that silence is what allows impunity to prosper.
Right now, the Partnership for Change (P4C) has launched a campaign to get all Kenyan tax payers to demand accountability and responsible spending by the government by insisting that MPs ensure that the Budget reflects the will of Kenyans and not the fat cats that sit in cushy limo's.
Let's hope some of those calls for accountability get the attention they deserve. Although it seems that many are gearing up for the same old politics of bickering and nay-saying as parliament reconvenes.
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