Kenyans' lack of desire for information shocking

Not so long ago during this period when the matter of insecurity has been top on the agenda in the media I was sitting at a social place with some friends. Nine o’clock came and a few of us were keen to see what was being said about the ongoing situation.

What I saw that evening confirmed what I have always felt. A lot of us Kenyans are a very oral people and what we think or say is mainly dependent upon what we have heard. The majority of those who were there showed very little interest in the news regarding what is going on and that got me worried.

I compared that attitude to the interest and euphoric behaviour that I saw during the World Cup and I wondered. Here is our country about to go on fire and people just do not want to know.

In the meantime, politicians are going about grandstanding and talking about insecurity as if they were in a competition about who can speak loudest.

This brings me to another point. Is security or insecurity a matter to be discussed in public rallies and by every Tom, Dick and Harry? I have a feeling that when security is discussed publicly then it is no longer security.

What Kenyans would want is not discussions, accusations and counter-accusations. Kenyans want decisive action that gives them a sense of safety and security. This in my view can only be brought about if we had a political class that is transparent, sincere and genuinely concerned with only that which is good for all Kenyans.

A political class that puts a country in a permanent campaign mood cannot be said to fit into that description. One way to reform the way our politics is done is to work towards having political parties that are about issues and not personalities.

If we are sincere about growing our democracy and even if the political parties as we have them were about issues, they would not achieve much without some form of internal democracy within them.

I think the weakness of parties as we know them today is that they are first and foremost owned by individuals and not mass movements that are guided by an ideology.

Secondly, the manner in which party elections and nominations are done leaves much to be desired.

The most memorable event that points to total lack of internal democracy in parties is the famous “men in black” of ODM fame. Currently there is an ongoing argument in Gatundu South to do with the manner in which the TNA candidate for the forthcoming by-election was nominated. Will our politics ever be redeemed and by who?

Father Wamugunda is Dean of Students at the University of Nairobi: [email protected]