One year on, Jubilee appears to be losing its most diehard supporters

When the National Assembly Majority leader threatens to withdraw support from his own government over what he terms arbitrary arrests of “his people”, it is time for the Jubilee presidency to be worried.

The sycophantic Aden Duale, who once stated that he was ready to take a bullet for President Kenyatta, has realised that all those touchy-feely photo opportunities showing Kenyan Somali leaders standing by the country’s leadership were just that — photo opportunities.

The government rewarded Kenyan Somali loyalty by sending 6,100 police officers to Eastleigh ostensibly to round up terrorists. In the process, they ended up arresting, molesting and harassing hundreds of innocent people whose only crime was that they were ethnic Somali.

It is unfortunate that it has come to this because the Jubilee government appeared to making significant strides to include more Somalis in key positions as Cabinet secretaries and advisers. The appointment of Amina Mohamed as Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary was a well-calculated move that was critical at a time when the country’s forces had their boots in Somalia.

Unfortunately, Somalia took a back seat as a foreign policy priority as Ms Mohamed jetted around the world to lobby African and other leaders to withdraw support for the International Criminal Court where both Uhuru and Ruto are facing charges of crimes against humanity.

The 2010 Constitution made provisions to depoliticise key ministries so that ministers would carry out their functions based on national, rather than political, interests. However, as a scorecard prepared by a daily newspaper on the first anniversary of the Jubilee government showed, most Cabinet secretaries are performing way below optimal level, partly because they have little experience in government, or because they are pursuing agendas set by the Jubilee government.

 Some appear clueless about their jobs, while others are actually working to sabotage the gains made by the constitution. Land and Housing Cabinet Secretary Charity Ngilu, for instance, appears to be making sure Kenya never experiences real land reforms.

One year after assuming office, the government cannot claim to have fulfilled even one of its campaign promises. While it likes to take credit for devolving funds to the counties, it must remember that devolution was a done deal before it took office, and it could not be reversed as the Constitution would not allow it.

DISTANT MIRAGES

Every promise has been embroiled in irregularities, and possibly grand corruption. The railway and laptop projects now seem like a distant dream as they appear to have become opportunities for graft.

President Kenyatta needs to take a good, hard look at his Cabinet and make difficult decisions. Some Cabinet secretaries need to be fired, others need to be reined in and reprimanded for doing a shoddy job.

As commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces, he also needs to take more responsibility for national security and not let the hapless Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph ole Lenku take all the flak for the incompetence displayed by our security forces.

As for the opposition, it needs to get its house in order and do what it is supposed to do — keep the government in check.

Making ad hoc statements is not enough. The opposition’s presence in Parliament should be robust and visible and its members should not be seen as pliable and easily corruptible, which appears to be the case.

The government also appears to be rolling back gains made by women. Parliament has no regard for women’s rights, if statements attributed to MPs during the Marriage Bill debate are anything to go by. MPs are now tampering with the women’s rights that customary laws protect.

Meanwhile, our female MPs don’t appear to be well-versed in women’s issues either, and some are even displaying the worst tendencies of their male counterparts.

We have reached a stage where the wife of a governor is apologising for the torn socks of her husband. If the governor of Nairobi cannot decide which socks to wear every morning, how can he make decisions for a whole county?