Displaced aggression is a concept in psychology that best explains the behaviour of Kenyans in the recent past. Psychologists describe this as directing an aggressive behaviour at a person, or other target, that is not the source of the aggression arousing provocation or frustration. There is no question that Kenyans are frustrated. But who is the source of their frustration? What is the root cause of their anger?
Is it the Building Bridges Initiative report that recommended some constitutional changes? Or the Jubilee government? Because it’s either of the two.
Methinks the root cause of the anger Kenyans are channelling towards the BBI is not the contents, or the recommendations, but the failures of the Jubilee government. Consider these two reasons.
First, it’s Jubilee that promised jobs to the youth during its campaigns in 2013 and 2017. In fact, and interestingly, in 2017, it promised to come up with policies that would balloon the digital economy to the benefit of the youth, only for the leadership of the ruling party to focus on ballooning the informal sector. The focus of the Jubilee government on the informal sector, and emphasis on precarious work, negates the essence of SDG eight that speaks to decent work.
Moreover, it is within the prerogative of the government, considering it has the majority in Parliament, to pass legislations that can inspire economic growth. However, the focus of Jubilee lawmakers before the BBI was simply and squarely to abuse and belittle the former Prime Minister, Raila Odinga, and not to serve Kenyans. Sadly, they even debated and passed some bills aimed at neutralising the former Prime Minister.
On the flip side, BBI, in conception, didn’t promise to create jobs. It was an initiative towards a more peaceful Kenya. With peace, however, comes economic growth; politically stable countries attract a lot of investments.
Secondly, the Jubilee government promised affordable healthcare under its Big Four agenda. That healthcare workers are not being remunerated in a manner that reflects this promise has nothing to do with the BBI. It has everything to do with how the Jubilee government has been spending and borrowing money heretofore. President Uhuru Kenyatta admitted Kenya losses Sh2 billion daily. I believe this is the mean of all the money that has been lost to corruption since Jubilee took over power in 2013.
If the Jubilee government was not as corrupt, as the President confessed, maybe healthcare workers would be well remunerated. Therefore, the BBI didn’t birth the healthcare crisis that we have been experiencing in the recent past.
Understandably, the Jubilee government is split. The head, who is the President of the republic, and the deputy head, who is the Deputy President of the Republic, are reading from different scripts. This has split the Jubilee government into two. Now, whilst the President is trying to push for the BBI, the DP is out painting a dark picture of the BBI and redirecting the public anger from Jubilee government to BBI.
The DP is riding on a problem he created. He has suddenly become ‘clever’ to realise that the Jubilee government, by his admission, has failed Kenyans. The truth is, however, that the DP is part and parcel of those who have run down this country and left the youth too desperate to the extent of increasing their appetite for handouts and precarious work.
As citizens, we must learn to hold our governments accountable. If the Jubilee government promised our children and the youth, during campaigns, laptops and a digital economy but it is now unable to build classrooms whilst ballooning the informal sector for occupation by the youth, it must be held accountable. It must explain, beyond rhetoric, why the sudden change and why these promises are unfulfilled. Using the BBI as a scapegoat for the failures of the Jubilee administration is nothing short of propaganda.
The BBI is not the root cause of the anger Kenyans are feeling. The BBI is all about promoting political stability without which our country remains fragile and weak. Therefore, Kenyans must direct their anger to the right target—Jubilee government.
