Van Halen was an American heavy metal rock band that was formed in 1974 in Pasadena, California. The band was widely credited for restoring hard rock music to the forefront of the music scene, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007. The band was also distinguished for its energetic live shows, and for the virtuosic talent of its lead guitarist, Eddie Van Halen.
But this is not all the band was famous for. They are also acclaimed for introducing the Brown M&M Principle, which is widely practised in the business arena.
M&Ms are multi-coloured button-shaped chocolate candy, each of which has the letter m printed in lower case on one side. Each candy consists of a colourful hard sugary shell surrounding a filling that varies depending on the variety of the candy.
As a standard practice, when the band was hired to perform at a show, they gave the promoter a contract that outlined specific things he/she would be responsible for. This included sound and lighting requirements, instructions for the set-up of the backstage area, security and nutritional requests for the band and crew.
In each contract, there was one specific rider that appeared eccentric, but which if not adhered to, the band would cancel the entire show at the full expense of the promoter. This specific rider instructed the promoter to provide M&M candies in the backstage area, BUT there were to be NO brown M&Ms.
At a casual glance, this appeared to be a crowning symbol of obnoxious stardom self-indulgent excesses, which forced someone to search through candy, and remove every last brown one, for no apparent reason. Yet a closer look revealed a deeper meaning for the bizarre rider, and this has since served as a valuable lesson to business owners.
Due to the unique nature of the band’s performances that drew in large crowds of equally enthusiastic fans, the set-up of the band’s massive sound and lighting equipment, stage, beams and other support structure required specific and granular guidelines to be adhered to. They would ensure that floors don’t buckle and collapse, and beams don’t rupture, thus exposing the fans, the band and the crew to serious risk, injuries and possible loss of lives and assets.
Thus, to ensure that the promoter had read, understood and followed through on every single requirement in the contract, the band created the no brown M&Ms clause. What seemed insignificant and obnoxious, served to alert the band if the promoter had indeed paid attention to other more important parts of the contract.
Lack of attention would be an indication of other bigger problems or things that could go wrong. It therefore behoved the promoter to diligently read every little detail to ensure that little problems did not result in bigger issues that endangered the lives and assets at the show.
This week reports have emerged that 32 county assemblies received and passed the Kenya Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2020, aka BBI, which contained typographical errors. However, we have been persuaded by the joint Senate and National Assembly committee that these errors will not affect the substance of the Bill, nor the outcome of its process, as they are minor and easily correctable.
The committee further revealed only 15 counties debated the correct BBI Bill, and that the Bill tabled at the National Assembly differed from that tabled at the Senate. And as expected, the blame game began between the IEBC and the BBI Secretariat.
On their part, the county leadership reiterated that they read, scrutinised and approved of its contents. They also told us that they did not pass a fake Bill and called those terming it as such, sensationalists.
Begs the question, what level of scrutiny went into reading the Bill at county assemblies if they did not notice the errors at the time? In the absence of an original copy to compare with, how could they have been certain that they passed the authentic one? Who was the saboteur of presenting different Bills to different county assemblies and to Parliament, and will he be held liable?
But I submit that we are asking the wrong questions. What should concern us is the negligence of the Brown M&M principle by the duty bearers. It would be safe to assume that they did not notice the errors, because they were inattentive to the details of the Bill, and more concerned about the promised personal incentives.
Undoubtedly, those errors could be minor and can be corrected. But this should not be our focus. What should unsettle us is what other binding instruments that affect our lives, those of our children, and future generations, such as contracts, regulations and legislations have been passed without due diligence of the Brown M&M principle, and that will prove to be very costly to us in the long run?
In 1962, Nasa attempted to send an interplanetary probe called Mariner 1 to explore Venus. Unfortunately, this attempt cost Nasa $80 million (Sh8.62 billion today) because of a very minor error. The error was a missing hyphen in the code that was used to programme the speed and trajectory of the Mariner 1. It exploded a few minutes after take-off.
Though the BBI errors have been dismissed as inconsequential, are they a reflection of the modus operandi of our policy and lawmakers that never come to light, but eventually cost us our very lives?
I submit that the manner in which these ‘minor’ errors have been dismissed as insignificant is the same contempt in which our elected officials hold the electorate. Since their revelation, there has been no remorse, no accountability, and no recompense. Only blame games. Because irritants is how the politicos view Wanjiku.
But can we blame them? After all, we have become men of straw, easy game and pushovers. Rather than hold the politicos and self-arrogated tribal kingpins accountable, we have instead outsourced our thinking, agency and decision making to them, and our role has been reduced to simply complying with their political directives.
This is why they insolently instruct us to support the BBI Bill in its totality in Parliament and at the referendum, errors or not, constitutional or not. And those that dare to recover or retain their brain, to think for themselves, employ their agency, and objectively interrogate the utility of these legal instruments, are branded as sell-outs and enemies of progress.
In hindsight, perhaps we ought to consider remunerating these politicos some more, because it cannot be an easy task to think for millions of Kenyans.
A minor error in your CV, or overlooking a simple instruction in your job application or interview, can cost you the coveted job. This is why we go over our CVs, instructions and Terms of Reference with a fine-tooth comb to ensure that they are accurate, and that we have adhered to all the requirements as instructed. By doing so, we unknowingly apply the Brown M&M Principle.
Why then are we so dismissive in applying the same to matters political that could mean life or death?
Finally, my unsolicited advice is to Wanjiku. It is impossible to make a man understand something when his salary, perks and incentives depend on him not understanding it. This is why the politicos have chosen to condescendingly disregard the Brown M&M principle in matters and instruments that govern us and our future generations.
Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of liberty – Thomas Jefferson
(Edited by V. Graham)
