With about 13 months to the August 2022 general election, Kenya’s political formations are beginning to take new shape. The bottom-up approach and the handshake's Building Bridges Initiative are fast gaining traction. This is good. For the first time in Kenyan politics we might just have an issue-based electioneering campaign.
In the past, our elections have been dominated by personalities, ethnicity and Big Man syndrome. With the proponents of each side now repackaging their wares in readiness for the election, we may be guaranteed low-toxic political undertones.
The BBI’s nine-point agenda were well articulated. However, they simply address the symptom rather than the disease—a stopgap measure. Like painkillers, the Building Bridges Initiative treats the symptoms of our sickly economy. BBI was just a temporal ceasefire. It won the war but lost the battle.
For example, poor leadership and governance breed corruption. If the leadership of the day would boldly and conclusively prosecute the many corruption cases in courts today, we would be sending a very strong message to corrupt people. Instead, the leadership continues to whine and take no action. Only the top leadership can deal a fatal blow to corruption.
When we hear the President lament that Sh2 billion is stolen from government daily, we know we are at the mercy of God. To slay corruption, the President needs to deal with this matter decisively. A leader must do what he has to.
President Kenyatta must emulate Jesus in Mathew 21:12: “Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money-changers and the benches of those selling doves.”
I believe the bottom-up approach is the real deal. It is the real definition and meaning of the word inclusivity. It lives the ideals of our 2010 Constitution of sovereign power residing with the people. It is the true meaning of people’s power and not the leaders’ fiat.
This model is a game-changer. It seeks to make every Kenyan count in terms of their economic productivity. It brings on board Kenyans of all economic sectors, especially the despised majority.
It recognises the economic contribution of roadside maize roasters, shoe shiners, car washers, mama mbogas, boda bodas, cart pushers, beba bebas guys, beach boys, name them. This is the Kenya where everybody belongs. It is a country of 50 million Kenyans and not five millionaires.
In the late ’90s and early 2000s during the advent of mobile technology, Kenya’s two leading mobile telecom providers used different approaches. One used the BBI model of elites while the other deployed the bottom-up approach. The latter seemed attractive at the beginning. It was fancier and classic.
It was very restrictive and seemed to select its areas of coverage with a lot of care. It favoured big cities and urban centres. It billed per call at a flat rate. It never cared what your standing was in society. Eventually, it came tumbling down. Not even the change of name three times could salvage its fortunes.
The former used the bottom-up approach. It billed per minute. It remained truthful to the people. Today it has grown in leaps and bounds, even without changing its name.
In conclusion, BBI is for political convenience and survival as opposed to conviction. It is an elitist tool for exclusivity. It is a members’ only club. It contravenes its own ideals of inclusivity.
MA student in Project Planning and Management at the University of Nairobi
