Quid pro quo. This is a Latin phrase used to mean an exchange where one transfer is contingent upon the other. It is a favour for a favour. Or you scratch my back, and I’ll scratch yours.
This expectation is accurately epitomised in the popular TV series Billions, which is an audacious show that fuses opulence and influence with politics, power and corruption in New York city.
It stars two sworn arch-enemies personified by Bobby Axelrod (Damian Lewis) on one hand as a brilliant, calculating, ruthless billionaire hedge fund king, and on the other hand, Chuck Rhoades (Paul Giamatti) as a shrewd, blue-blooded, savvy and politically connected U.S. Attorney. The running theme is overtly Machiavellian where all the characters inadvertently pay a high personal price to satisfy their ambitions.
Separately, Bobby and Chuck have a billion problems. However, their perennial rivalry is no longer one of them, at least for the moment. Chuck is running for office as New York’s State Attorney General, and his competition is threatening to expose his secret sadomasochistic sex life. Bobby, on his part, is facing serious competition from his once-loyal prodigy, Taylor Mason (Asia Kate Dillon), who has since struck out on her own. Bobby and Chuck realise they need each other’s unorthodox means and influence to overcome their personal problems. This necessitates them to form an uneasy, but highly effective alliance. It becomes a quid pro quo alliance.
Our own Kenyan rendition of Billions is playing out in the form of BBI. It is a classic case of life imitating art. President Uhuru Kenyatta and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga have been political arch-rivals, whose genesis started with their fathers who were also political rivals.
Until recently, their political feud had been so bad that it had threatened to secede the nation into two separate countries. Governing the country became arduous; the economy got disrupted; and cohesive habitation amongst their supporters was threatened by ethnic tension.
But in March 2018, they set aside their differences and formed an unprecedented alliance, where they promised to heal the rift their rivalry had caused in the national psyche. This alliance has since been christened the handshake. It birthed the Building Bridges Initiative. This is an advisory task force mandated to make practical recommendations and reform proposals to build lasting unity; to outline the policy, administrative reform proposals, and implementation modalities for each of the nine identified challenge areas; and conduct consultations with citizens across the nation.
But many skeptics have termed the BBI a quid pro quo political and economic alliance between the two former antagonists. And in response, when launching the Nairobi-Suswa standard gauge railway line, the President condemned the handshake critics labelling those opposed to the BBI as selfish politicians seeking personal interests at the expense of millions of other Kenyans.
In other words, what the President was telling us is, ‘You are either with us or against us’. Begs the question, should the BBI be such a binary proposal? Should opposing it, even with rational arguments, define you as disloyal?
He further reassured the nation that BBI was not a political ploy but rather the legacy he wished to leave the Kenyan people with. A legacy where an election outcome will never again cause the death of Kenyans, destruction of property and division along tribal lines. And we all applaud him for desiring to put an end to this post-election Hobbesian culture, where our lives become short, nasty and brutish.
I submit, however, that BBI is not the panacea for our Hobbesian post-election state of nature. We already have the remedy for it. And it certainly does not cost the taxpayer the Sh10 billion that the BBI has. For it is enshrined in our Constitution; provided for in our legislation; and inculcated in our religions.
In economic-speak, it is called respect and protection of private property rights. This includes the right to life, the right to private property, and the freedom of association or disassociation without infringing on anyone’s rights.
All that the President needs to do is ensure swift and conclusive enforcement of the same, regardless of the perpetrators. And in doing so, no one will ever again willy-nilly take another’s life, destroy their property or be forced to associate or disassociate. This is authentic freedom. And that is all that Kenyans truly desire. And the elusive national peace and unity will inevitably follow.
Rather than being a bridge, BBI is like a casino. The reason why gambling is a multi-billion-dollar industry is that big profits are made by a few, as small amounts are lost by the gambling hopeful masses. And the owner of the casino never loses. Because even with the odds stacked against the impoverished gambler, he keeps placing his bet hoping to win. In gambling, this is called the sucker bet. The reason why betting is a zero-sum game is because the casino owner’s winnings is the gamblers losses.
And so it is with initiatives such as BBI. Similar to gambling, if enough of us keep playing this binary game, it is the political class and the politically connected who will always win. This is because we keep placing our bets on different political proposals and formations in search of political solutions. And we the gambling masses never win. Yet we keep placing our sucker bets.
There is a good reason why juries are sequestered. This is to avoid accidental or deliberate influence that may interfere with their objectivity. Sequestration prevents other people with personal interests in the case, from tampering with the jurists decision through undue persuasion, threats or bribes. The BBI is expected to be impartial regardless of their appointing principals. But can they truly be with all the public pronouncements made by the two handshake principals, by those opposed to BBI and all their henchmen? But since we are not privy to the contents of the BBI report, the jury on their objectivity is still out.
Finally, my unsolicited advice is to Wanjiku: What you most want to find, will be found where you least want to look. Likewise, if BBI is not the least likely place you want to look, then your answer lies elsewhere. But in your quest, do not destroy the good in search of the elusive perfect.
You enter the cave of the bear to become its master or its meat - Kerry Cue
