Let us not ask questions as if we ourselves are very clean

Our political class can actually achieve positive results when they mean to do so, and particularly when they are faced with tough deadlines. Here I am thinking about the progress made by the committee mandated to deal with the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) issue.

They have not only been able to negotiate the exit of the electoral commissioners, but a methodology of recruiting new ones has apparently been agreed upon. The whole saga surrounding the IEBC leaves one wondering about the significance of the word independent.

Is this commission really independent from the whims of the politicians given what we have seen in the recent past?

One thing that is clear going by the body language of our politicians as they deal with election matters is that the vast majority of them keep open the option of rigging and so they cannot trust their opponents not to do the same.

That is what explains the tremendous interest the political class has in how the electoral commission is appointed and who is appointed and their relationship to them.

The option of rigging is, in my view, a worrisome phenomenon because no authentic democracy can be built on such a false foundation.

DANGEROUS SITUATION

There are many politicians who ignore the fact that competition is about winning and/or losing. Their option is only one and so they will do anything to be declared the winner.

This is a dangerous situation because, in the end, it brings about bloodshed and destruction of property during elections. This is not to say that all politicians are of this persuasion. There are many who go into it with a genuine mindset.

The other day I was pleasantly surprised when a group of us university administrators were summoned by a parliamentary committee to discuss the management of students’ affairs. We were asked some very tough questions on certain issues in the public sphere and which these members of the National Assembly seemed to believe to be the gospel truth. Some of them asked questions which seemed to imply that we are the ones who encourage naughty students to do the things they do.

One honourable member stopped them and said something like this: “Let us not ask questions as if we are very clean ourselves ... These students do the things they do because they have learnt from some of us ...”

This caught us by surprise. The honourable member put it so calmly that we were left searching our souls.

Fr Wamugunda is dean of students, University of Nairobi [email protected]