We shall only progress if we have shared values

Let me pose the question: What defines Kenya? Is it a boundary, geography, community of economic and other interests, collectivity of tribes or common core values?

What do we perceive to be our national interest or public good? What is the glue that binds us as a people? When any citizen pronounces, “I am proud to be a Kenyan”, what is the source of that pride?

John Whalley describes social values as “shared beliefs … which … denote the environment into which individuals are born as social animals and live their lives.

They reflect religious beliefs, attitudes to property, accepted codes of moral conduct and other elements of social arrangements which both constrain individual behaviour and act as shared or collective identity.”

Values are akin to the blood stream through which life in society is channelled and usually harmoniously lived.

SELF RELIANCE

Tanzania under Mwalimu Julius Nyerere was famed as the country of Ujamaa where nationhood, self-reliance, egalitarianism, a shared common language and the ethic of courtesy, among other values, were potent. For example, it is uncouth and unthinkable to ask a Tanzanian their tribe.

Post-genocide Rwanda under Paul Kagame is emerging as a nation valuing law and order, discipline, environmental protection, cleanliness, integrity, dialogue and consensus building through umushyirikano, inclusion, Pan-Africanism and so on.

These two countries demonstrate deliberate attempts to construct value- based societies.

Article 10(2) of Kenya’s 2010 Constitution describes national values and principles of governance to include patriotism, national unity, sharing and devolution of power, the rule of law, democracy and participation of the people” as well as “human dignity, equity, social justice, inclusiveness, human rights, non-discrimination and protection of the marginalised.”

POLICY

A country policy dubbed Inuka, Sessional Paper No 8 on national values and principles of governance, attempted to breathe life into Article 10 of the Constitution.

This was done especially through Chapter 5, which describes value-carriers, value drivers and their policy implementation roles.

These are described as family, communities, educational institutions, religious and faith-based organisations, national and county governments, private sector, professional associations, the media, civil society, political parties, art, music and entertainment sector, sports fraternity, social movements, all persons and individuals.

The directorate of national cohesion and values is responsible for implementing the national values and principles under the direction of the president who reports to Kenyans annually on adherence to these values.

However, during each electoral season, Kenya is conflict-prone. Corruption, social and economic marginalisation, gender violence and discrimination, religious intolerance, negative ethnicity, among other social ills, are rampant. National unity, especially after 1969, has been a mirage.

NATIONAL VALUES

Why haven’t the constitution, Sessional Paper 8 of 2013 and the implementing directorate achieved the gradual realisation of national values and principles?

Social values grow organically as cited in the cases of Tanzania and Rwanda. They emerge from repetitive best practices of a people’s interactions.

Habits, attitudes, mores, etiquette, traditions, customs and other social norms crystallise into social values.

Before independence, Kenya’s ethnicities had begun to coalesce into a nation as they jointly fought for freedom and land against British colonialism.

By and large, tribalism was alien. The clarion call was Uhuru na Kazi, as an harbinger of a national work ethic.

Harambee, or common endeavour to attain development, was popularised by Mzee Jomo Kenyatta. Education and Africanisation of the economy were also key values.

TRIBAL INTEREST

But immediately after independence, Sessional Paper No 8 of 2013 explains “ … promotion of tribal interest was paramount … the state was perceived as a source of largesse and welfare support for political clientele leading to an increasing dependency syndrome and a declining sense of personal responsibility.”

The rain began to beat us.

Whenever I attend funerals of senior citizens, the grandchildren eulogise how these relatives were repositories of love, advice, mentoring, support, work ethic, discipline, wisdom, faith, and so on. These are values nurtured within traditional society. These young adults will be, knowingly or unknowingly, confirming that their grandparents are better human beings than their parents.

Kenya and Africa in general have not deployed elements of the African traditional system to build on the modern value system as Japan, China and most Asian countries have done by anchoring modernity within tradition.

SOLIDARITY

Interestingly, some Kenyan ethnic groups have developed important values such as hard work and communal solidarity, saving culture, enterprise.

These positive values can be popularised and canvassed in pursuit of a national values system.

Each Kenyan community can contribute to the national values and principles by offering its best practices for incorporation into the values framework.

We must tap from existing springs of values within our traditions, family, educational institutions, faith sector, the market place and popular culture.

Perhaps some of the values we have over time developed as a nation are: Resistance to dictatorship, fidelity to our African traditions, hard work, embrace of education and modernity, the harambee spirit, “African socialism”, free enterprise, intercourse with other cultures and being notoriously religious.

GOVERNANCE

We must build on these and those regarding governance captured in Article 10 and Sessional Paper No 8 of 2013.

Finally, for social values to guarantee progress in society, the people must avoid vices by building on social capital, that is, the “collective commitment in the form of trust, honesty, and other elements of social arrangements necessary for the execution of individual optimisation plans…”.

Ultimately, fidelity to shared social values leads individuals within the country or society in question to flourish in their personal and collective endeavours.

Social transformation is then gradually realised. This journey is not a marathon, but a thousand miles safari which starts with one step at a time.

Prof Kibwana is the Makueni County Governor; [email protected]