Our political landscape favours the crooked

What you need to know:

  • Like the toddler who keeps testing the parents’ limits of tolerance, our politicians are bent on discovering just how close to the edge is too close.
  • Rival politicians eat together, do business together and generally spend a lot of time doing things together.
  • The public perception has been that politicians are sworn enemies who would wring each other’s necks should they find themselves alone in a room.

Madaraka Day came and went and, despite the threats and harsh words exchanged between those in the government and those in the opposition, no violence was reported on the day.

The President led the republic from Nakuru in marking the day we attained internal self-government on June 1, 1963, and later in the day the opposition leaders addressed their supporters in Nairobi largely around the same theme. Additionally, of course, both meetings heard about the grouses the two groups had against each other, and their proposals for a way forward.

While it is regrettable that our divisions are being laid bare for the whole world to see, it is my opinion that this is a necessary stage in a maturing democracy. Like the toddler who keeps testing the parents’ limits of tolerance, our politicians are bent on discovering just how close to the edge is too close.

Several times in the past few years they have led us to the brink of a precipice, and we have thought that the whole edifice would surely crumble, but each time we have found resources within and around us to help pull us back in the nick of time.

An important point that emerged from this week’s events was that Kenyans could see that despite their political differences, most of our politicians are very good friends.

Indeed, Senator Kipchumba Murkomen of Elgeyo Marakwet posted this on his social media account on the eve of Madaraka Day, pointing out that rival politicians eat together, do business together and generally spend a lot of time doing things together.

Unfortunately, the public perception has been that they are sworn enemies who would wring each other’s necks should they find themselves alone in a room. This public perception does not come from the blue, but is fed by the politicians’ own public pronouncements and demeanours.

In public, they contort their faces most painfully when describing their rivals, and make chopping and shooting gestures with their hands when addressing them, leaving the listener with no doubt that they are the worst of enemies.

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For a long time I have wondered why erstwhile friends and business partners would be so obnoxious towards each other in public. After more than a decade studying public figures, it is necessary for me to share some of my observations.

Consider a person with “a pervasive pattern of disregard for, and violation of, the rights of others that begins in childhood or early adolescence and continues into adulthood,” as described by one professional association. Key features of this disorder include failure to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behaviours, deceitfulness, impulsivity or failure to plan ahead, irritability or aggressiveness, reckless disregard for the safety of self or others, consistent irresponsibility, and lack of remorse.

People with these traits will repeatedly perform acts that are grounds for arrest, repeatedly lie or con others for personal profit or pleasure, and may repeatedly get into physical fights or assaults.

They will be indifferent to or rationalise having hurt, mistreated, or stolen from others. Many of these people will be found in our correctional institutions, but we are now seeing them increasingly involved in public affairs.

If you think you recognise some public figures who display these traits, then you are right. Sadly, these traits comprise what the American Psychiatric Association classifies as Antisocial Personality Disorder.

Mercifully, many of the people with these traits might not meet the full threshold for the disorder, but the traits are pervasive and serious enough to cause problems for those around them. In a country that prizes style over substance and glorifies the public persona over a person’s values, the political landscape seems built for these individuals.

Over time they have managed to capture the legislative and policy-making infrastructure to ensure the governance system suits only them.
It is therefore refreshing when, once in a while, sanity seems to prevail as happened on Madaraka Day.

Atwoli is associate professor of psychiatry and dean, School of Medicine, Moi University; [email protected]