Life in Kenyan politics is quite harsh. It’s harsh because it requires navigating through myriads of discourses, practices, unfulfilled expectations for accountability and current often contradictory realities. In East Africa, a foretold conflict is still unfolding. The President of Kenya, Mwai Kibaki is in an open conflict with Prime Minister Raila Odinga. No matter what personal feuds they might have, the two barricades seem to be quite determined to avoid collaboration and stay put on confrontational sides.
The internal fights for power within the Kenyan society are indicative of a larger phenomenon. Change is happening in Kenya, and in the last five years I have seen it and experienced it on my own. The quality of journalism has improved significantly. People talk more openly about epidemics, diseases and the social factors that increase the danger of contracting such diseases. In brief, a political and social culture is becoming more and more pronounced. Despite the need to understand and facilitate the liberty of such a culture to express itself, the political elite is simply ignoring it. All parties do it, so this is not an attempt to take a side.
If the expectations of the Kenyan public have increased significantly and proportionally with the Kenyan society’s struggle for more liberties and bureaucratic efficiency, the matching legislative and pragmatic change that the political elite is supposed to facilitate, is yet to come. But this facet of Kenyan life is still spreading and it is likely that it will continue to grow. Average people will continue to ask more questions, look for more answers and demand more concrete proofs of accountability. The need for meaningful reform, within the Kenyan society, is therefore spreading like an octopus – in all directions, one day at a time, in a clearly equidistant way. But is also stays together avoiding where it can to be divided, pulled apart and destroyed.
On the other side, we see the political elite which acts rather homogeneously like a pray shark. They are quick to fight back, hard to catch and they destroy, or at least attempt to destroy, their opponents who stand in the way. Without realizing, the political elite is turning its back to this giant octopus – the public opinion, the voters, the local activists who generally militate for structural reforms that could significantly improve the state of the nation as a whole. The shark – all these little actors who fight over minuscule interests – power, money, contracts, and influence – is becoming more convinced that nothing can harm it. From the imported leather chair in the parliament, to the presidential palace or the opposition headquarters, the political elite are slowly forgetting why they were sent there in the first place: to represent their voters.
While both the President and the Prime Minister are fighting over issues discussed on principle – in a shallow and non-constructive way – the social changes that happen in the background are often ignored. I do not know what it will take for change to actually happen in Kenya or elsewhere. But I do know the outcome. And if the Kenyan politicians are to continue their careers in a sustainable, efficient and, why not, noble way, they should learn never to underestimate an octopus. Why? Watch below:
