The issue of campaign finance needs to be seriously discussed

Walking back home after casting my ballot at a polling station in Nairobi South ‘C’, I found myself reflecting on what we have just gone through as a country during the electioneering period.

I found myself thinking about the broad trends we have observed during the campaign period and asking whether there were any major or memorable economic policy issues or defining political principles brought to the fore in the campaigns. I think that 2017 could break the record for the most expensive campaigns ever.

The sheer number of rallies, the grotesque display of opulence and conspicuous consumption as manifested by the number of helicopters and expensively branded SUVs crisscrossing the countryside, expensively hired long caravan trucks carrying rented dancers and entertainers, the expensive billboards, television and print advertising, were some of the hallmarks of the campaigns.

The crowds at the rallies turned out in head-to-toe branded gear, branded baseball caps, branded T-shirts, bracelets and little flags, all imported from China and Dubai and distributed to them for free.

POLITICAL ELITE

Where did the money to fund such cash-heavy campaigning come from? Sina habari (I don’t know).

But it is an ominous sign as we all know from experience in Africa that where the political elite has invested so much money campaigning to win elections, it must eventually be recovered from somewhere.

If we are really serious about combating corruption, we must go back to campaign finance.

I don’t believe that arbitrary limits on spending are the solution.

But I think that we need legislation to force a measure of transparency on the raising and spending of money by candidates.

ECONOMIC POLICIES

If you asked me, I would summarise the campaigns in a few words: All style but little content.

Elections have been remarkable in not throwing up any memorable or fresh economic policies.

Considering that the elections were happening at a time when we were in the middle of a crippling maize shortage, I expected food security to be a major issue.

All we were treated to by wrangling politicians were squabbles and partisan bickering.

And in most cases, the ideas and measures being put on the table were policies that have been tried before and that are responsible for the crippling food shortages we continue to suffer.

STAGNATION

The dire economic stagnation was not a major campaign issue.

Indeed, the elections were happening when large formal sector employers were shedding staff. Our stock market shed billions of value in just under three years.

Commercial banks were reporting an unprecedented fall in the pick-up of credit by the private sector.

Our large supermarkets were teetering to insolvency partly due to mismanagement, but mainly a reflection of moribund economic conditions.

Consumption and demand for electricity, especially by industrial category of consumers, had stagnated, despite an increase in connections.

As a result, Kenya Power, the monopoly electricity distributor, found itself carrying huge debts on its balance sheet.

CENTRAL BANK

From the disclosures made by banks as part of prudential requirements by the Central Bank, a number of small ones were beginning to exhibit signs of financial distress.

I also observed a major credibility gap between what the presidential candidates were saying about public finances and what they might actually do.

You would have expected the state of the economy to be the biggest campaign issue.

The oligarchs of ethnic politics have perfected the art of manipulating followers, blindly herding them in and out of parties and coalitions at their whim and fancy.

I choose to remain an optimist. I believe that the transition from the political culture of blind allegiance will eventually give way to a culture where issues are also taken into account during voting.

MIDDLE CLASS

I believe it will be possible to mobilise segments of the society, the middle class, especially,  around broader issues such as food prices, bad roads, escalating energy prices and poor health services.

My optimism is not without basis.

Change will come because of factors such as rapid urbanisation and rural-urban migration, the advent of the mobile phone and telecommunications revolution, and a constitutional dispensation that has left the citizen with an elevated sense of rights and liberty.

The growth and increasing influence of single-issue groups, residents’ associations, private sector lobby groups and policy think-tanks show that our society is slowly bringing itself together around broader policy issues.

The third liberation will be about freeing the citizen from the stranglehold by the oligarchs of ethnic politics.

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