How we can improve on our irresponsibility

What you need to know:

  • If, God forbid, there were an earthquake measuring 3.0 on the Richter scale in Kenya, we would lose a significant number of people living in the type of rickety housing built by get-rich-quick Kenyans.
  • The referendum threatened to tear down the United Kingdom after 300 years, but the process was conducted in the most civilised manner, and in the end everybody accepted the verdict.
  • There is lack of faith, whether in business, where we enter into agreements half-heartedly and set up parallel operations that undermine the real enterprise, or in religion, where we go to church by day and consult with people of questionable characteristics by night.

In the past one week, several incidents that have happened in this country have soiled our image unnecessarily. First it was old men grabbing a 14-year-old girl and claiming ownership of her as a wife, after paying dowry consisting of cows, goats and camels. 

Then an apartment block built on a wetland collapsed and killed people while those supposed to take responsibility made elaborate speeches blaming poor workmanship (whatever that is). 

To cap it all off, our honourable legislators behaved dishonourably by fighting in the august House under the glare of cameras. 

Anyone trying to summarise these events would conclude this is evidence that Kenya’s population consists of a people who are physically here in the 21st century, but their spirits remain somewhere in the 19th and 20th centuries. 

Our challenge, therefore, is how we can get everybody’s mindset into the 21st century. We are at a crossroads, where the world is cheering us on to break through the African stereotype and join the rest of the Newly Industrialized Countries, but we are busy demonstrating how unprepared we are. 

Whilst some 21st century Kenyans are busy trading shares on the New York Stock Exchange, others are busy perfecting 19th century cultural practices, and still others are in the religious mess of the 20th century. 

It would therefore be futile to begin to deal with a concept like poverty reduction when each group has its own conceptualisation of the same. If we were mindful of poor people, we would ensure that housing built for the poor was up to standard, and not some rickety building that would kill them and deepen poverty among their loved ones. 

LEARNING FROM SCOTLAND

If, God forbid, there were an earthquake measuring 3.0 on the Richter scale in Kenya, we would lose a significant number of people living in the type of rickety housing built by get-rich-quick Kenyans. Drive along Outer Ring Road, Eastleigh, North Airport Road, Kariobangi and so on, and you see many rickety, illegal buildings begging to collapse.

When they collapse, as it has happened virtually every year, we’ll call it an accident and make a few tough speeches, then wait for another one to come down. Our good governor should not have formed a team to probe only the Makongeni mishap; we need a comprehensive audit of housing in Nairobi and destruction of all the illegal structures, with enforcement of minimum standards to ensure safety.

On Parliament, we always pride ourselves on following the Westminster parliamentary system. If this were so, then we should have learnt how to deal with extreme differences from the recent Scottish independence referendum.

The referendum threatened to tear down the United Kingdom after 300 years, but the process was conducted in the most civilised manner, and in the end everybody accepted the verdict. Even though many got carried away emotionally, there were no fist fights. 

Instead, each side made their case in the simplest way possible, for the people to understand the pros and cons of the move to secede. In the end they chose to remain part of the United Kingdom. Although about 45 per cent felt that Scotland should be an independent country, they accepted the verdict and moved on.

'HAD NOT READ' THE BILL

I had wrongly expected our Legislature to break down the Bill and clearly indicate the offensive clauses as they relate to the Constitution. Instead, they were shouting at each other and tearing down documents.

When I bumped into one of the more vocal Members of Parliament and asked him what the real problem was, he shocked me by telling me that he had not read the controversial Bill, but he thought it must be bad. Perhaps more had not read the Bill.

Up to now no one has explained the bone of contention. Instead we are failing to show the world that we are mature, and that we can handle our differences in a civilised way. This is how you brand the country and get to attract the much-needed Foreign Direct Investment necessary for creating jobs.

When we passionately make our point using the power of words, we carry along supporters so that even if we lose, there is a point of reference from where you can spring forward. One newspaper explained the legislators’ bad behaviour as a reflection of society. If this is true, it may explain why most of our institutions have failed or are failing. 

Institutions fundamentally are not buildings but the behaviour of those people leading the institutions. This is an area that has been extensively studied, and theories of institutions have been developed. In any institution what matters most is the innate qualities the leadership has. This may include the values, policies and procedures, but it is not common to pay attention to these factors in Kenya.

JUNGLE LAW

It is for this reason that the makers of our Constitution recognized the need for National values and principles of governance under Article 10 (2). These include:

a) patriotism, national unity, sharing and devolution of power, the rule of law, democracy and participation of the people;

b) human dignity, equity, social justice, inclusiveness, equality, human rights, non-discrimination and protection of the marginalised;

c) good governance, integrity, transparency and accountability; and

d) sustainable development.

If you try to reconcile these national values and our actions this week, you can see we are slowly destroying the document that was meant to bring us together as a nation, as well as help reduce exclusivity and possibly bring every Kenyan up to speed in the 21st century. 

We need not legislate these values, but each one of us has the responsibility to ensure that we realise what we set to achieve in the Constitution.  

Failure to adhere to a common value system will undermine our social, political and economic development, leading to the practice of jungle laws that we saw last Thursday in Parliament.

LACK OF FAITH

A little trust amongst ourselves may help repair our approach to national issues, but we keep on betraying our country and worsening any dint of cohesion that may be building up.  

From my own experience, we have one serious deficiency – lack of faith – in almost everything we do. Whether in business, where we enter into agreements half-heartedly and set up parallel operations that undermine the real enterprise, or in religion, where we go to church by day and consult with people of questionable character by night. 

Similarly, we defend democracy at the national level then we deny it in our internal party politics. Until we deal with these contradictions and bring every Kenyan to the 21st century, many more young girls will continue to be abused under 19th century cultural practices, many more fights will erupt in Parliament, and many more people would die from illegal, collapsing structures.

Lee Strobel said, “So much of the world's suffering results from the sinful action or inaction of ourselves and others. For example, people look at a famine and wonder where God is, but the world produces enough food for each person to have 3,000 calories a day. It's our own irresponsibility and self-centeredness that prevents people from getting fed.”

Bitange Ndemo is a senior lecturer at the University of Nairobi's School of Business, Lower Kabete campus. He is a former permanent secretary in the Ministry of Information and Communication. Twitter: @bantigito.