This was President William Ruto's statement last week as he locked out some Cabinet Secretaries, Principal Secretaries and heads of parastatals for arriving late to the performance contracts signing event at State House, Nairobi.
I applaud the President for this move, and I am sure those honourable leaders who were locked out, have learned their lesson already. Timeliness is the first point of accountability, to Kenyan citizens and by our leaders.
Let me elaborate.
Time is so important in the human life that if you did not have any, you wouldn’t do anything at all. We can spend time on work or leisure, that is, we spend time reading, at work, raising family, being in social gatherings, cooking, travelling, sleeping, exercising, the list is endless.
From a cultural point of view, in the study of intercultural communication, Geert Hofstede, a dutch social psychologist, goes ahead to distinguish time in his theory of cultural dimension. He then created long-term orientation and short term orientation.
Cultures that rely on long-term orientation like China and Japan have this view about time: They insist on persistence,relationships are ordered by status, for instance, when your superior says you keep time, then you must.
Personal adaptability is important, meaning when you go to Rome do what Romans do, that is when you find a good work culture in terms of time, adapt to it as fast as possible. Well, leisure time not too important. Relationships and market positions are important, so doing all you can to keep your relationships and network, including keeping time as desired is important. Good and bad deeds are unfortunately subjective and with no definite punishment in these cultures.
Then there are cultures that reference on short-term orientation like the US. They have created emphasis on quick results, so time is of essence. In the culture, status not a major issue in relationships, for as long as one does the right thing at the right time. Personal steadfastness and stability is important. Leisure time is important. The bottom line of any timely discussion is important. There is an absolute view of good and bad deeds
On the other hand, African time, according to Wikipedia, is the perceived cultural tendency, in parts of Africa and the Caribbean towards a more relaxed attitude to time. This is sometimes used in a pejorative sense, about tardiness in appointments, meetings and events.
While African time occasionally works, in terms of us being accommodative, to keep Kenya modern and democratic, without eroding our very warm nature and our wonderful cocktail of cultural beliefs, then our leaders should choose what is positive that they can borrow a leaf from some of this cultures for prosperity's sake.
Better use of time by our leaders enhances governance through accountability and transparency and it also allows ordinary citizens to access information, voice their needs, evaluate performance, and demand for better governance, after all time is ticking to the next elections.
Part-time lecturer and communications researcher
