Just what happens to well respected professionals when they join politics?

We have a curious case of political turncoats in Kenya. So prevalent are the instances in which professionals abandon their principles upon taking positions of power that one must wonder why this behaviour persists.

Many Kenyans feel disappointed about key institutions of governance. This is largely because the Jubilee Coalition has been extremely divisive. We should be having a Merry Christmas and aspiring for a happy New Year.

But that could only happen if you muted your television and radio and focused on anything but national politics. If you focus on the pettiness that passes as national politics, the hatred that goes for political commentary, or the crushing acrimony that goes for governance, you most likely would be a very desperate and depressed Kenyan.

The Jubilee Government has trampled on our collective desire for a national character that advances our unity.

The coalition has had no qualms about its petty approach to politics. It has taken the country to a new level of ridicule only previously witnessed on June 19, 1997 when Mr Musalia Mudavadi’s budget day speech was interrupted by shouting in Parliament engineered by the then political opposition.

Kenyans have a short memory indeed. Many who supported the 1997 humiliation of President Moi in Parliament now sit pretty unashamedly blaming the hooliganism in Parliament on others but themselves.

BLOWS

Was it surprising that our so-called legislators went to blows? This behaviour reflects the bellicose nature of Kenya’s national character and none other than some two or three characters in Parliament have perfected it. How many commentaries have been written this year about the characters that preside over Parliament?

Anyone who tells you that they befit the titles conferred on them is either a fool or takes you for a fool. These characters have single-handedly reduced the House into a space of mediocrity when it is at its very best. It is one thing to be a partisan speaker, it is completely another to be so obscene with it that even school going children dismiss you with contempt.

Yet, the characters that preside over Parliament have benefited from the help of many others, including highly educated and otherwise respected professionals. Take Dr Joyce Laboso, the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, for example. Trained at Egerton University, Dr Laboso holds a doctorate in Linguistics.

She was supervised by Prof Catherine Kitetu and her thesis was examined by another colleague and friend. Dr Laboso wouldn’t have passed the hands of these fine academics if she was not of sound intellect. But what distinction has she or others with similar educational levels brought to the Legislature? Who are the proverbial talented-tenth in Parliament to rescue it from mediocre leadership?

This question can be asked of many others and the Church certainly deserves mention. There is a reason why the end of the year is normally a holy time. Yet, the Church has distinguished itself by its foolhardiness. The Church ought to be a site of excellence, a voice of reason, a leader for social justice and a beacon for tolerance.

Church must be a space for compassion, respect and inclusion.

I recently read Dr Damaris Parsitau’s doctoral thesis. Dr Parsitau studied the civic and public roles of neo-Pentecostal churches in Kenya from 1970 to 2010. In the last four years, however, these churches do not reflect her findings. And the mainstream churches are, in my estimation, worse.

Let the Church take 2015 to reflect. It is the only way forward. Otherwise, they will soon realise how much congregants ignore their shouting and uninspiring sermons every Sunday.

I never knew that a day would come when I would know more of what happens at the Vatican than at the Holy Family Basilica in Nairobi. Am I condemned not to find political and spiritual inspiration in Kenya in 2015?

Godwin Murunga is senior research fellow, Institute for Development Studies, University of Nairobi