Eroding trust in government is treasonable

In the past week, university staff unions declared that they were “resuming” a strike they had allegedly suspended upon the signing and registration of Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBA) with the government.

In those agreements, the government had agreed to marginally increase university workers’ pay effective July 2013, and process all the arrears and pay them before the end of June this year.

SHORTCHANGED

As the deadline approached, it became clear that the government had little intention of implementing the agreements in full, and eventually the Cabinet Secretary issued a statement indicating that the government was releasing less than half of the agreed amount for some reason or other.

It should be noted that the President, Uhuru Kenyatta, himself had earlier indicated that the full amount was available in order to end the university workers’ strike, and indeed Parliament had approved supplementary expenditures meant to implement the signed agreements.

CONTRADICTION
Under normal circumstances, any government official who contradicts the stated position of the President and the National Assembly would face dire consequences.

Unfortunately, we are living in extraordinary circumstances in which different government departments are working at cross-purposes.

This brings me to the main point of this piece.

CONSULTATION
Lately it is becoming very difficult to understand the government position on any matter.

To take the example of the university staff strike, one would assume that the government would want to do everything possible to prevent industrial unrest in an important sector of national productivity.

Even if the top levels of government are unclear about this, mandarins in the Department of Labour should be available to advise them on industrial relations theory and practice.

STRIKE NOTICES
Traditionally, it would be obvious that when workers issue a strike notice, the relevant sector leader would set in motion mechanisms to either forestall the strike by addressing the workers’ demands, or to mitigate its impact by putting in place strategies to cover the gaps that will be exposed by the strike.

In the case of this government, strike notices are routinely ignored, strikes are handled erratically, and the final agreements are routinely trashed.

This has happened in the last five years with teachers, doctors and other health workers, and now with university staff.

TRUSTWORTHY
In all honesty, any right-thinking person would hesitate to engage with an entity that is so erratic that one is not sure if the agreements they sign will be honoured.

It gets scary when we consider that the government signs agreements with other entities on our behalf, and yet we are unsure about their intention to implement those agreements.

One needs to remember that even local currency is guaranteed by a government promise, and if the government cannot be trusted, sooner or later the people will start storing their value in different media.

BETTING
This will explain the phenomenon whereby many Kenyans are obsessed with real estate, believing that one cannot go wrong with land or houses.

It might also explain the rising craze of betting on all sorts of outcomes, from sports to political events.

Some people are even betting on weather and other natural phenomena!

CRISIS

In my view, our dwindling trust in government guarantees will drive the get-rich-quick craze, and develop further the anything-goes mentality that we are seeing more and more of in our country.

Unless drastic action is taken, one can foresee a crisis of confidence in the near future.

The government needs to get off its high horse and deal with the existential crises that are sprouting in all sectors of the economy.

BETRAYAL

Burying her head in the sand like the proverbial ostrich will only serve to inflame the situation, and one can foretell that more and more groups of workers will register unions and issue strike notices as their first order of business.

The culture of issuing contradictory proclamations, or engaging in actions that contradict express agreements, must come to an end.

Indeed, eroding trust in government must be considered a treasonable act of betrayal!

Atwoli is Associate Professor and Dean, Moi University School of Medicine [email protected]