Musalia right on Jubilee rows, but is ANC ready for bottom-up politics?

Amani National Congress (ANC) party leader Musalia Mudavadi might get the ideology right.

Team Tanga Tanga (the Wanderers) and Team Kieleweke (Understand It) are issues of the infighting in the governing Jubilee Party.

They represent the struggle for power triggered by the pull and push over the Kenyatta II succession. It is the political class at war with, and among, itself for power.

It has nothing to do with improvement of the lives of the almost 50 million Kenyans.

Mr Mudavadi does not need to launch a new outfit to take on the Wanderers or Understand It, or both. What he needs to do is to make ANC the voice of the people with the clear intention of becoming the choice of the people.

Positioning ANC as such means that the party must listen to the people and hear them; it means the party must know and understand the issues that are closest to the hearts of the people, and it must therefore know and speak the language of the people.

CRIME

The language of the people means identifying, understanding and articulating the people's daily fears, wishes and hopes and, most importantly, how, together, tackle them, solve them and deliver them. Yes, people must be involved in solving their challenges.

Six examples will suffice. One, people are shaken by crime which is why they build high walls and iron gates, hire guards and acquire guns.

An ANC would involve them in protecting themselves; ANC must commit to fighting crime and the causes of crime. Importantly, it must commit to pay its law enforcement agencies well.

Two, ANC must teach people that crops such as cassava, potatoes, yams, avocados, simsim, et al, are important because they are alternatives to our staples; make for healthy diets; will contribute greatly to enhancing household economies, and help replenish soils and prevent exhaustion.

Three, ANC must make Kenyans aware that the economy will not grow because there is a supermarket, but because Kenyans go to the supermarket and spend money in their.

Therefore, they have to work hard to grow household economies which results in the growth of county and national economies.

EDUCATION
Four, ANC’s education policy must link both school and college to the development and promotion of entrepreneurship and business.

It should aim to encourage schools and colleges to produce graduates who think not about getting jobs but creating employment.

Five, Mr Mudavadi must flaunt his credentials that stand him in good stead to lead.

He was named minister when he was 28 and has served in the ministries of agriculture, finance and local government, as well as being a deputy prime minister. He is ready to govern from the first minute of his tenure.

Last, which could well be first, ANC must create policies that are aimed at ensuring that no single region is left behind in terms of development.

This is the ticket to national unity, and this is the path to inclusivity and, therefore, eradication of tribalism and the centre and periphery duopoly.

GOVERNANCE

This is a proposal for a bottom-up or grassroots up prospect of politics. This is opposed to the prevalent and dominant Nairobi-based, elitist and top down approach.

It is a people-anchored approach because politics is about people and, importantly, should empower them.

This is a proposal to give real and current meaning to the people's party, party of the people et al, of the past.

It calls for a party that takes seriously its role of educating the people on the importance of their participation in the political process.

This proposal dovetails into devolution and therefore into ANC's motto of Amani na Ugatuzi (Peace and Devolution) and into Mr Mudavadi's gentlemanly mien and promotion as a safe pair of hands. It is a proposal for giving meaning to putting the people first.

METTLE
If ANC is going to put the people first, then, it is going to identify the various ways in which to enable households to increase their cattle pens and fish farms, cultivation, small businesses, name it, within their means.

That is a heck of a lot of work. And that is why politics is not a game but a matter of life and death.

That's why politics is not a part time or night job but a full time business. And that is why our parties and politics are growing painfully slowly.

Can ANC and Mr Mudavadi stand up to the plate? The ball is in their court.
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