It’s a pity a bunch of elders can meet to discuss Cabinet posts

In the “democracy” that Europe has recently imposed on Africa, cabinet-making is the sole responsibility of the individual heading the party winning a General Election to the national legislature.

Yet it creates insuperable problems in a multi-ethnic, multi-racial, multi-religious and bi-gender country. That every individual has the wisdom to latch onto the most capable person is an assumption which anybody with a sprinkle of brain can controvert.

But something must be dangerously wrong whenever the “elders” of one particular ethnic community are what must decide — and even announce — that the group is what will meet to discuss Cabinet positions (as we read in one Nairobi weekend newspaper the other day). Even the leader of the party that has just won a General Election should reject such a proposition.

Among an allegedly intelligent and “wise” species notable for its tiny-mindedness, especially about gender, race, religion and tribe, if the leader of the electorally victorious party has any wisdom in the head, then he/she will strive to form a Cabinet composed of the most capable individuals from all ethno-racial  groups, all sectarian movements and both genders.

DEMOCRACY

Yet — as exemplified by Kenya’s version of the charade called democracy — humanity seems incapable of realising that only if you create a certain level of satisfaction among all segments of society — including ethnic and sectarian ones — can you succeed in ruling yourselves effectively, in a manner that satisfies every one of all segments of society.

A headline like “Kikuyu elders meet to discuss Cabinet positions” (which I culled from one of our main newspapers last weekend) must imply that — with the knowledge that the head of government comes from their ethnic community — he or she can be pushed around to do things that favour only his or her ethnic community, thus doing complete injustice to all of Kenya’s other ethnicities and races.

The leaders of any ethnic, racial or sectarian community that do such a thing must be told in no uncertain terms that they are frustrating Kenya’s clearly stated constitutional resolve to unite all our national brains, national hands and national techniques into one single production machine capable of catapulting Kenya overnight above the height of the world’s most developed country.

DEVELOPMENT

Among human beings, indeed, the concept of development cannot be confined to machines and goods. First and foremost, development must be a function of the human mind helped by the human hand. That is why a national unity of both the hands and the minds is the first prerequisite of rapid and qualitative development.

None the least, most members of Kenya’s elite do not seem to see development in those terms. Kenya – they seem to say – can be thought of as developing only if it increasingly allows members of the elite class, especially  of one or another of our larger ethnic communities, to dip long fingers daily  into the nation’s as yet extremely shallow treasury.

They see development only as a systemic licence to invade the national treasury.  That is why Uhuru Kenyatta never tires of invoking all of us to unite all our efforts and skills into a single tool to catalyse our development efforts and solve our national problems with speed and quality.

EDUCATION

Although I am a Luo, my education gave me no illusion that only if a Luo is president can we solve Kenya’s problems qualitatively and speedily.

From history, we know that such an ability may belong to you only as an individual, not necessarily as a member of this or that gender, race, religion and tribe.

To think like that in the 21st century is to evince alarming mental and cultural backwardness. In a country like ours, the secret of creating a single united people rapidly is for all individuals to reject all the primitive ethnic and racial impulses that habitually invade human minds, especially at critical times.

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