Why chapter six of the Constitution is dead

As a practising journalist, I never had much time for civil society. In fact, I swallowed whole the self-serving narrative by the powers-that-be that these organisations were peopled by busybodies financed by Western powers to oppose everything successful governments were trying to do because they were being paid to betray their country or to effect regime change.

It took time for me to realise that even if some of those groups were guilty of such charges, many were actually genuine about doing good and wanted only to make Kenya better by freeing their compatriots from the clutches of a predatory State apparatus. Indeed, some were, and still are, engaged in fighting absolute destitution in areas where the government can’t easily penetrate.

It has been argued that there are too many civil society and non-governmental organisations duplicating efforts with precious little to show for it. That could be true as the sheer number of such bodies purporting to uplift the living standards of people living in Kibera and other slums shows. But that is not our concern here.

The more important issue is why, in this day and age, it takes the combined force of human rights and governance organisations to point out that we keep electing unsavoury characters into political office when we have a progressive Constitution that is supposed to have taken care of such things since 2010. Chapter six of the Constitution should have worked for the benefit of all Kenyans in this regard, but it didn’t. The number of ne’er-do-wells in Parliament, county assemblies, governors’ mansions and other State offices seems to have increased exponentially, and we are no closer to getting the leaders we actually deserve.

CIVIL SOCIETY

This was brought to us forcefully on Wednesday when a group known as the National Integrity Alliance – a coalition of civil society organisations – lobbed a mighty bomb by recommending that seven governors, five prospective governors, six MPs, and two others be barred from running for political office over unethical conduct or outright theft. Unfortunately, the bomb is bound to prove a dud.

Here is why. According to the #RedCard20 report that made the recommendation, they have been examining at least 1,500 cases but picked on the 20 as the most significant. Who could ever have believed that this country has so many “thugs” in political office operating under the cloak of venerability?

Without attempting to exonerate this lot, three things stand out here. The first is that while coming up with the “gallery of rogues”, it is not clear why they chose to settle on these 20. Judging from the rot among public officials, this choice only gives comfort to the 1,480 who were never mentioned and are still merrily going on with their perfidy.

Secondly, the recommendations are being directed at the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, the only body with the power to bar any candidate from running for office. If anybody believes the IEBC will now take up the job it should have done months ago, they will be in for a surprise. All that will happen is that the “suspects” will rush to court seeking this or the other injunction, and by the time the matter is resolved, it will be well into next year and it won’t matter one little bit.

PUBLIC FUNDS

The third issue is that everyone is presumed innocent until proved guilty. If some of them were caught engaging in incitement to violence while others stole public funds, and they are still walking free, where does the IEBC start when those agencies charged with investigations haven’t succeeded in prosecuting them?

I am not in any way disparaging the work of the National Integrity Alliance; we need to hear what civil society is saying. First, this is ample proof that corruption and unethical conduct are not exclusive to the ruling coalition. Secondly, it proves that the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission and other agencies have dismally failed in their main task: investigating State officers who misuse or steal public funds. It is not clear what the IEBC can do when nobody else appears keen to do their job.

Let’s put it this way: chapter six of the Constitution is dead, and unless those who act against its tenets are held to account, the only value in what the civil society is doing is to name and shame those most notorious for breaching it – for the record.

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