A few weeks ago, I wrote of the Nordic welfare state as the ideal model for what Kenyans should aspire to.
This involves a combination of economic growth built on private sector capitalism and extensive welfare benefits for the general population.
My view was that we already, by tradition, tend to make collective efforts through harambee donations, to pay medical bills and school fees for the needy; and even for purely social events like weddings.
So, any system of raw individualism like that which exists in the US, for example, would not exactly fit in with our values.
A truly representative political system would provide for inclusion and comprehensive support for those who might otherwise fall by the wayside.
Since that time, I have received from more than one contact, a photo of a woman sitting on a bench at a European railway station, with what is supposedly a hamburger in her hand.
And the caption explains that this woman is a Cabinet minister in Sweden; is on her way home after a hard day’s work; and is carrying her dinner with her.
Now the internet is full of so many images deliberately designed to create a false impression; I do not generally accept the authenticity of such images at face value.
But I do know enough about the Swedish parliamentary system to know that there would be nothing at all unusual in a Swedish Cabinet minister using public transport to get home or having a takeaway hamburger for dinner.
More significantly, however, the kind of debate that was generated by this image was emblematic of the shallow levels of Kenyan discourse on our leadership, or even on what it will take to move our country forward.
For the comments which invariably accompanied this widely-circulated image were along the lines of “When will we ever have such dedicated and down-to earth leaders?”
Or “Why can’t our leaders follow this fine example?”
All these expressions of disgust and contempt were perfectly valid.
But they ignored a number of factors, which make such sentiments quite beside the point.
First is that this Cabinet minister (if indeed she was one) was serving in a country where her constituents were not likely to be sending her desperate pleas about a sick child who had been denied admission to a hospital because the family could not raise the deposit required.
Also, ‘Mheshimiwa’ (the Swedish lady) is not likely to be asked to contribute from her own pocket to the cost of replacing the roof of a school or church, which was blown off by strong winds, during the recent rainy season.
One of the benefits of a career in journalism is that you get to meet all kinds of interesting or prominent people, in various corners of the world.
And I have met both MPs and Cabinet ministers of a number of European countries over the years.
If these men and women I have met were at all representative, then being a senior politician in some of these advanced democracies is not all that different from being a senior executive of a leading corporation.
Other than that you have to campaign to keep your job every four years or so, of course.
Their work schedules were no different from mine, back when I was a newspaper editor.
That is very far from the demanding work that Kenyan MPs have to do not just seven days a week, but also most evenings.
But in all this the central question that this now iconic image of the Swedish Cabinet minister raises is this: Would such a person ever get elected to parliament, or appointed to the cabinet at all, here in Kenya?
The unpleasant fact here is that even as many Kenyans despise elected leaders and abuse them online, when the next general election comes along, they will loyally troop up to vote for candidates who would not dream of travelling by public transport, let alone eat a single hamburger for dinner.
And we have plenty of poor people in Kenya who
will dutifully line up to receive meagre handouts in
exchange for their votes.
