What is it with Kenyans and politics? We just can’t get enough. Even when we know it isn’t good for us, we simply cannot let go.
Flip through a newspaper and you would be forgiven for thinking elections are around the corner. All we read about, it seems, are Machiavellian plots by our leaders scheming about how to position themselves to replace Uhuru. Yet the previous elections were just 18 months ago.
In America, the home of 24-hour political coverage, the Democrats are slowly beginning to announce their campaigns for the presidency, with elections under two years away. In Kenya we have more than three years until the next round, but politics is everywhere.
This was all meant to be behind us. The handshake was meant to change all this. With the ‘Big Four’ of Kenyan politics over the past decade now on the same side, the idea was that we could finally put the struggles of the 2013 and 2017 elections behind us and work together to achieve real policy gains for the people. Yet all we seem to hear about is 2022!
No wonder President Uhuru Kenyatta is losing patience. It was reported that at a recent Cabinet meeting he ordered CSs to support Interior CS Fred Matiang'i or resign. This followed reports that some ministers were disgruntled by Matiang'i's appointment, taking it as an apparent slight on Deputy President William Ruto. It is said Uhuru’s outburst came during a meeting that only managed to cover two points on the agenda because the conversation turned to Matiang'i's appointment.
Uhuru is absolutely right to lay down the law to his errant ministers. The public elects their representatives to deliver, not to politick, and Uhuru has an ambitious agenda to accomplish. As a State House source said, “You are going to see more of this. The President will not sit back and watch people sabotage his second-term agenda.”
It is a pity that as this obsession with politics—of which we are all guilty—goes on, and with the media and public distracted, real progress is being made. Uhuru’s agenda is being realised.
Take for example the corruption war, led by DPP Noordin Haji, which for the first time is making progress. With dozens of major arrests of senior figures – including high profile governors, heads of parastatals and civil servants – under his belt, Haji has now turned his attention to the banking sector and its role in the National Youth Service scandal.
The announcement that his team will independently review the files of five top Kenyan banks – Kenya Commercial Bank, Equity, Cooperative, Diamond Trust Bank and Standard Chartered Bank – comes as good news for those who are aware of the all-encompassing nature of the leviathan that is Kenyan corruption, and the need to fight it on all fronts.
Equally, in the war on terror, there is important work being done. The recent dusitD2 attack was a reminder to all of us that though huge progress has been made, the terrorists have not disappeared. Uhuru pledged to hunt down anyone involved in the funding, planning or execution of the attack, and we have already seen a determined response by our law enforcement. His call on the nation to fight terror with ‘zeal’ is one we should all rally behind.
As he began his second term, Uhuru outlined an ambitious agenda centred on fighting corruption and the Big Four: Housing, manufacturing, food security and healthcare—all while fighting terror. Beneath the surface we are making progress on all these areas, but the clock is ticking. There are three years and a half years until the next elections.
Let us all – politicians, civil servants, media and the public – forget about politics until the last six months to the elections. Let’s spend the next three years focussing on what really matters: Development. Corruption. Fighting terror. Let us unite behind our President, and support him as he delivers on his promises, and leaves behind a stronger, wealthier and safer Kenya.
Laikipia North MP