Two events were reported by the local media recently that though appearing unrelated, are actually bedfellows, united in concert to incessantly deny us the ability to initiate and sustain progress and development.
The first news item concerned a proposal by Parliamentarians to hike their pay from the basic salary of Ksh 871,000 to Ksh 1.2 million. The Prime minister and the Vice President would each earn Ksh 3.2 million and Ksh 2.7 million respectively. Lawmakers debated and unanimously approved the report by the Public Service Commission in a record 30 minutes! If this proposal is signed into law, it would put the MPs salaries on par with members of the United States Congress, with the Prime Minister making more than the President of the United States!Story HERE
The other news story was from a suburb outside the capital city, Nairobi. A neighborhood in Ongata Rongai was raided by machete wielding thugs at night. The thugs demanded that the residents open their doors whereby they were robbed. Neighbors who answered the distress calls were set upon by the thugs and two residents succumbed to their injuries. This particular story touches this writer on a personal level because we settled in this area having moved from Nairobi to escape the hustle and bustle of the big city and adopt a homesteading lifestyle. My parents were victims of a raid previously. Incidences such as these are on the rise in major urban areas of the country whereby idlers raid homes of hard working decent people in a bid to acquire minus the labor. This is a method of enrichment taken from the politicians, only that they, the politicians rob us minus the violence while in office. But during election time, the bloated politician and the scrawny thug sport no difference in their use of violence to attain their nefarious means.
Unbridled unabashed greed permeates all levels of Kenyan society from our lawmakers to the clerks in the civil service to the police force. From the theft of public resources, practiced and refined to a fine art by politicians to the ‘toa kitu kidogo’ (give something small) demanded by the police force manning unauthorized traffic checkpoints. This ingrained culture of impunity threatens to derail us from moving forward as a nation imbued with the capacity to provide for its citizens the basic economic and social necessities.
The private sector has not been spared from this insidious avarice. National exams are being leaked to students for a price. Employers are demanding a bribe from potential employees. We no longer have a nation of supportive and caring neighbors.
How then do we move forward to ensure a peaceful Kenya with hope and promise for the youth and assured security for those that have labored to attain a semblance of relative comfort amid the deplorable squalor suffered by many?
Some ideas
Police reform
-We propose that the government recruits the police force from the universities and high schools. Perhaps a course such as Criminal Justice could be introduced to focus on investigative techniques, evidence gathering, surveillance and other modern methods of combating crime.
- We also propose that police recruits have a minimum educational background and are proficient in both English and Swahili.
-We propose that community awareness be a mandatory course of police training. Topics to be covered would include: polite interaction with the public, how to deescalate a non violent altercation, humane treatment of offenders among others.
-We propose a salary increase commiserate with the risks involved.
-We propose, most importantly, that police officers live in the locality they have been posted to. In addition, the government should actively recruit locally with the aim of sending recruits to their home towns as active duty officers upon graduation. The advantages of this are: the new recruits are familiar with their surroundings and more or less know who local trouble makers are and will be quick to spot visitors with suspicious intentions. They would also be more vigilant as they would be working among relatives, friends and neighbors they grew up with.
-We also propose that significant and severe deterrents be imposed to those officers found to be engaging in misconduct. Sting operations and tip lines to an independent body to report police abuses of power would be helpful.
-We also propose that police officers be well equipped with the latest equipment. In the above story of the raid, two officers ran quite a distance to respond to the victims. The Minister for Internal Security visited the victims the next day in an imposing contingent of escort and security vehicles. All this while local police do not have even one vehicle to respond to the woes of taxpayers!
Youth Empowerment
The population of Kenya is mainly made up of the youth. The politicians in power now are not a representative sample of the people they purport to represent. It would therefore be prudent to take any advice from these rulers with a hefty dose of cynicism and a side of wariness. The bungled elections of 2007 and the violence that followed after, shows us how the youth is vulnerable to the machinations of our nefarious rulers. The attempts made by this government to uplift their living standards have failed. An example is the Kazi Kwa Vijana (work for the youth) program. Its aim was to engage the youth in activities such as digging trenches, environmental clean ups such as the Nairobi River and also tree planting. Some projects were started but there was no follow up, an example, trees being planted but not watered only for them to dry later on. Also payment has not been forthcoming for a majority of the participants with the money either being withheld in bureaucratic tie-ups or embezzled altogether.
Some ideas
-A massive effort needs to be exerted at the local level to educate the youth on civics and the role of law in their lives. This should not be a nationally driven effort but a local undertaking focusing on the needs of the particular locality. The perils befalling the urban youth are not the same as those experienced by the rural youth. Urban youth may need to be enlightened on how to live peacefully with neighbors from different backgrounds despite exhortations by tribal leaders to engage in genocidal mayhem. Rural youth may need to be enlightened on the futility of gang life and the benefits of abiding by the law.
-We propose the establishment of village level polytechnic institutions where budding entrepreneurs and talented inventors may be provided an avenue to learn and flourish. They would be funded by the local government and local business people with an aim to employing them or taking a stake in their innovations.
-To diffuse the latent restlessness in our youth, we propose every locality has a year round calendar of sporting, social and cultural events that will fill up their spare time in a positive manner. Regional tournaments would be a way to further engage the youth in pastimes such as sports, drama, music and dance showcases and other cultural events.
-Regarding employment, there are no obvious or easy solutions. The government has proven unable to provide for our youth so we should instead try to approach the private sector to secure economic opportunities.
-We would suggest unpaid internship/mentorship programs for the youth. Local trades-people would take in students as apprentices to study trades like mechanics, green house farming or environmental trades like making and installing solar panels among others. Upon the successful completion of the apprenticeship period, the graduate would get some kind of certification or stamp of approval from their mentors. Local banks would then issue start-up capital or they would be employed by their mentors. The business of the mentors would then grow and things that used to be made far away would now be manufactured locally. Less inter-regional trucking would mean lower prices and customized options for the consumer.
Conclusion
We will leave the task of trying to reform our moribund civil service to weightier minds than ours. What we do know is that our rulers today are not serving the people who elected them thus a revolution is needed at the next general election to elect leaders with the moral fortitude to eradicate corruption in government.
The above ideas are but a sample of what can be done in a participatory form of democracy whereby all participants are vested in the success of the society at the local level. To this end, I will be offering my candidature for the position of a local area councilor or assembly man if the proposed constitution passes. We will register our budding movement, the African Economic Democracy Party as a political party next year. Economic revolutionaries are welcome to join us as we retake and reform our nation. People Power and progress for all!
