Kenyans optimistic despite post- poll violence

The post-Moi era was anchored on the national glue of change and a new beginning. Kenyans were energised, optimistic and ambitious. They were all working very hard to recover whatever losses they had incurred under what was clearly one of the most kleptocratic and dictatorial regimes since independence.

And granted, quite a bit was achieved in the five years of Narc; consider, free primary education, the constituency development fund (CDF), revival of parastatals and the significant GDP growth.

It seems all these gains were undermined by among others, the failure of our political leaders to honour the accord they had entered into before the 2002 elections.

The rupture of the now famous MoU spelt doom to the unity and sense of national cohesion and purpose that Kenya had nurtured.

THE INEVITABLE HAPPENED, AND going into the 2007 elections, the country was as divided as never before. Sadly these divisions were not healed by the debacle that was the 2007 elections.

History will judge our leaders harshly for reversing what had started as a rare example of national cohesion and innovative political leadership in Africa. Kenya lost an excellent opportunity. Now is the time to get going once again.

But looking at the current political landscape, one would be excused for thinking that all is lost and cannot be regained. Far from it. Kenyans are still a fairly optimistic and hard-working lot.

Look across Africa and you will find very few countries with such resilient and enterprising people. There are even fewer self-respecting and organised people. Kenyans can go a long way in achieving national goals and making the country a great place to live in, given the right leadership, national values and above all a national ethos anchored on integrity and good governance.

Unlike many other Africans, Kenyans appear able to weather many storms taking things in their stride. They are outspoken but not violent, enterprising and not criminal minded, educated and urbane but not arrogant and focused on personal achievement without undermining national achievement.

There are of course some rotten apples in the national basket that are exceptions to this broad national character — Anglo Leasing and Goldenberg to name a few.

It is time to recast the national slab and proceed to reclaim the recent and ongoing losses. Our political leaders must embark on three national priorities: Reforms, Reforms and Reforms.

The country urgently needs huge reforms across the board, but mainly in state management.

We need reforms in combating corruption, in food production, in national security, in education from primary to tertiary levels, in health, in land administration, in natural resource and environmental management and in service delivery, be it energy, water or local authorities services.

Underpinning all these must of necessity be the reform of Kenyans’ attitude towards leadership and development.

To do that, our political leaders must start by reforming their own attitude towards the people starting from how our political parties manage their affairs, including nominations and elections, and how the leaders conduct themselves before, during and after elections.

It would be a huge national tragedy and an act of utter political naivety to usher in a new constitution which most people now think is the panacea for all the ills afflicting the country, without first addressing the three national priorities.

HOWEVER EXPENSIVE AND WONDERFUL the suit might be, it will never resuscitate the corpse dressed in it. Without reforms, the country would slide back to the same old quagmire and in the end, up in a mess from which recovery may be impossible.

The time is now, and the current political leadership has the best opportunity to change the course of the country in the right direction.

There are only three priorities — reforms, reforms and reforms. That can surely be done as we carry on with the routine affairs of national development.

That is what is known in management parlance as BEHAGS — big, hairy, audacious goals. That is a good national glue for Kenya now and for the foreseeable future.