Who will stop this naked quest for power and money by politicians?
What you need to know:
- It is not just about money here.
- Our politicians are overly concerned with status, power and hierarchy.
The Kenyan politician in public office is a strange species. Focused almost exclusively on their own interests, they exhibit selfishness, greed, arrogance, and a disregard for others to a degree that no other category of people in Kenya, or the world, has ever seen!
They should be studied by anthropologists, sociologists, psychologists and psychiatrists to determine what gets into them after being “elected.” Heck, perhaps even archaeologists should study them, too, to see what point in human evolution they best represent!
For how else to explain the outburst on TV by Senate Deputy Speaker Kembi Gitura that senators will get emolument packages of Sh2.4 million whether Kenyans like it or not?
There are 67 senators in total so this works out to an outlay of Sh160,800,000 a month! Or, enough to pay 402 of the forgotten IDPs the Sh400,000 that their favoured and remembered colleagues were paid, in one month! And we could pay 4,824 of them in a year and 24,120 of them in five years.
INTIMIDATED SRC
Sadly this open greed is not just with senators. The first order of business for MPs last year was to intimidate the Salaries and Remuneration Commission to get ridiculously high salaries and allowances.
And now MCAs are getting into the act, demanding incredible amounts of largesse in exchange of support or opposition to Okoa Kenya’s referendum proposition.
And it is not just about money here. Our politicians are overly concerned with status, power and hierarchy.
So much so that they even passed a law that makes it mandatory — with criminal penalties — for us ordinary mortals to always refer to them as Honourable! Have they not read Animal Farm?
They should know that it is impossible to legislate for respect: Respect is earned. Not even in the most repressive societies can respect be forced.
And following on this is Adan Keynan’s proposed law to stifle criticism of legislators! What planet is he on? Has he not read the Constitution and, especially, the Bill of Rights?
MONITORING ROLE
This greed for power and status is also illustrated by the new law — now at the Supreme Court for an advisory opinion — that makes senators the chairmen of County Development Boards.
They argue this is part of their monitoring role of county governments. Hogwash!
It is just a way to make them relevant and to aid their supremacy battles with governors. It is no secret that senators, and MPs are furiously jealous of governors for the fact that governors are executives and control resources. And many of these senators, especially, see themselves as the more “senior” politicians.
So why did they not run for the governor positions in the first place if they wanted to control resources?
How can they monitor county expenditures when they become involved in the allocation and spending of resources in the first place?
And as this is going on, some of these senators are at the forefront on the need to enhance devolution and proper implementation of the Constitution in the Okoa Kenya movement; even as they undermine the same constitutional principles they say they want to strengthen.
They are running with the hare and hunting with the hounds, something that “elected” Kenyan politicians are masters of.
It is simple: If Moses Wetang’ula, Anyang Nyong’o, James Orengo, Johnson Muthama, Hassan Omar, Boniy Khalwale, George Khaniri, and the rest of them in Okoa Kenya are to be taken seriously on this referendum issue, then they should be the first to denounce not just the proposals to rip off taxpayers in massive undeserved emoluments, but they should reject the strange idea to have them chair County Development Boards.
