Shame of chaos in the House indicates we need to fix what ails this country

A protester is arrested outside Parliament on December 18, 2014. PHOTO | RAPHAEL NJOROGE |

What you need to know:

  • A people get the leaders they deserve; in the MPs in the House, we should see ourselves.
  • Being elected to govern a country does not mean you own it.

Parliament on Thursday passed the Security Laws (Amendment) Bill in one of the most difficult sittings of the National Assembly in a long time.

The Opposition displayed a chaotic lawlessness, disrespect for the traditions and offices of parliamentary democracy, which in many ways explains why we cannot resolve even simple disputes, such as a party nomination, without violence.

I would have thought that in parliamentary tradition, it is sacrilegious to lay a hand on Mr Speaker. But then, I am forgetting that in Kenya we respect nothing, other than perhaps our own points of view and transient political point-scoring.

There are those who would glory in bad manners, it would appear.

Having said that, there are three points to be made about the shameful spectacle in Parliament on Thursday. A people get the leaders they deserve; in the MPs in the House, we should see ourselves.

They did not come from Mars; that is us. Secondly, and even more important, when you get this manner of conflict, it can only mean that something has broken down.

ARROGANT COALITION

I think Jubilee is an incredibly arrogant political coalition. It appears to believe that because it has the (tribal) numbers, then it can have its way without any reference to anybody else, especially its political opponents.

This is not a sophisticated view of politics.

Being elected to govern a country does not mean you own it. And the fact that your opponents lost to you does not mean they are of no use and that they do not have a role in the government of their country.

I have heard very many times that democracy is a game of numbers. I am not too sure that is the full story.

I think democracy is a game of tolerance, too. Yes, the majority will have their way, but the minority must have their say.

The conflict in the House was, at least in part, the result of failure of consensus-building.

FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS

Having said that, I am not too sure what level of consultation went on about these laws. I remember hearing on Thursday that MPs had agreed on amendments, which basically got rid of the most primitive parts of those laws.

However, when I finally saw the Bill on the Order Paper later in the evening, no amendments had been made to it.

The third point is that the rights of the people must never be taken away without protest. These laws take away some fundamental rights, the arguments justifying that fact notwithstanding. There must be debate about that, and it is not just a matter of parliamentary numbers.

In the mid-1980s, the then rather influential minister for Agriculture, Mr Kabeere M’Mbijjiwe, was hauled before a Kanu kangaroo session and confronted with the most ridiculous allegations, among them, I think, the claim that he had cut his neighbour’s cow with a panga.

Mr M’Mbijjiwe, a clever pipe-smoking gentleman, knew he was being fixed and in all likelihood was already fixed. So, when he appeared before the vicious kangaroo court, he said something to this effect, “To speak is an indictment, not to speak is another. I choose to say nothing.”

I would say to pass a law is one thing, to keep it is another.

*****

Al-Shabaab is trying to terrorise us, to make us afraid. They also want to kill us and destroy our society.

They are angry because they believe their religion has been treated unfairly by America and the West, that we have occupied their country and killed their people, and that it is their religious duty to kill people such as ourselves.

They are wrong, of course, and they are terrible people.

Unfortunately, this is no longer about the Kenya Defence Forces being in Somalia. You can withdraw the forces today and it will make the least difference to the attacks and the posture of Al-Shabaab.

This organisation has always been of two minds: one, to capture and rule Somalia, mainly by overrunning that joke of a government in Mogadishu.

The second is to attack Western interests in Kenya and while at it, kill Kenyans as well.

An important part of Al-Shabaab appears to be now controlled by Kenyan insurgents who are keener to attack Kenya than to fight for power in Somalia.

This holiday season I would propose that we go out to the Coast and our usual haunts and support our tourism industry. Merry Christmas and may God keep all of us safe.