Politics is healthy questioning of issues that affect our nation, so how is it evil?

That Kenya is neck-deep in a false crisis can only be explained by our ignorance of politics.

Or by its deliberate misinterpretation by people who should know better. The crisis has been supposedly precipitated by Cord’s “negative politics”. 

This brand of politics, I presume, refers to the threat to mobilise citizens to press for better governance. Or the pushing of the ruling Jubilee coalition to discuss ills like unemployment, terrorism, Anglo Leasing, and tribalism.

How such a healthy situation constitutes a crisis, or “destructive politics”, I fail to understand. Politics, the participation in the affairs of the state by citizens, is not an evil pursuit.

Pettiness and shallowness of reason, which most Kenyans ignorantly think is politics, is.

You participate in the running of your motherland by questioning such issues as skewed allocation of national resources such as jobs, budgetary allocations, failure to deliver social services, and provision of security.

By questioning the performance of the government, the citizen and the professional politician have, in the process, the right to kick up a stink.

Why? Because the government is supposed to rule on our behalf for our own good. It is a social contract that it is obligated to fulfil.

POLITICS IS HEALTHY

The guys in power know this all too well, which is why when pushed into a corner, they will crow about exercising their mandate to serve Kenyans — even when they are defending police brutality.

Because ruling politicians are rarely paragons of virtue, their rivals, the opposition, which cannot claim to be above villainy, exists to reduce theft by the ruling peoples’ servant.

Reverse the roles and the opposition will probably behave like the rulers. So, are we condemned to eternal exploitation by political leeches? Not really.

Salvation comes by way of good politicians or those who strive to be decent. You probably believe that “good” and “politician” must not appear in the same sentence, but leadership by elected politicians is the best choice we have so far.

If in doubt, try dictatorship. So, why is vigorous politics in Kenya equated to crisis? Because the manufacturers of the false crisis know that they are dealing with a politically primitive population.

In purely objective terms, does any schooled brain believe that the questioning of the Anglo Leasing payments will bring Kenya down?

Is it plausible that making some noise about the apparent failure by police to stem a tide of exploding roadside IEDS will melt the ice on Mt Kenya and swell the India Ocean?

Of course the opposition will take advantage of Jubilee’s imperfections and would not mind if it brought the government down.

If Jubilee was the opposition, it would gleefully do the same. But matters here have not reached such proportions.

The opposition is only asserting itself after a near-lapse into irrelevance. On the other hand, Jubilee is reacting to the challenge of a re-awakened giant and none of the two sides sincerely believes that Kenya is about to tip over.

Now, the folly of our politics is that there are some of us who expect one side of this conflict to turn the other cheek so that can we stay true to the Nyayo era island-of-peace mentality.

Kenyans must free themselves from this naiveté and accept that politics is healthy.

We must cringe whenever a clueless politician asks us not to politicise the distribution of bursaries. How can we not? Do we coil our tails when one county is disproportionately allocated more money by the central government for fear of “politicising” the matter?

Do we hold back our anger when, say, a huge portion of the Youth Fund inequitably goes to one region because speaking out is “political”? Come on, people…

Politics and politicising is not the same thing as trivialising or tribalising issues. The former is perfectly in order. The latter, despicable. Equating politics to evil is equivalent to saying that religion is a sham just because there is a proliferation of money-for-prayers preachers.

Or condemning law because a few lawyers help themselves to clients’ money. Parting shot: Did some ancient Greek wag not say something to the effect that if you think you are above politics you are either a god or a beast?