Beyond the blind clan support, what is at stake in the 2017 elections?

By: Khalif Goodman

Four years have elapsed since the 2013 elections. But even before we have fully absorbed the experiences of the last four years, the villages of NEP are awash with political propaganda and euphoria in preparation for the 2017 elections.

Devolution and its attendant County Government units have served as a revelation to the people of the North. Despite the lackadaisical performance of the Governors, it has given us a sneak preview of what we can achieve with a sustained cash flow of sh 30 billion per year (to the three counties of the North).

It is however disheartening to learn that Treasury will reduce NEP counties annual share of the national revenue by a total of about sh 2 billion, following a determination by the courts that the 2009 census figures from the North were exaggerated. It is a matter that should have elicited an outcry in the North, but our people are busy with a less important stuff—clan “worship”.

The spirit of devolution was to entrench equity in the sharing of national resources, both financial and political. This was a turning point in the history of Kenya and it can rightly be dubbed as the birth of the third republic, the first being independence and the second rebirth was the repeal of the section 2A, which allowed for multiparty democracy in Kenya.

The people of the North did not contribute greatly to either the independence of Kenya or the birth of multipartism. But as for the 2010 constitution, the North was ably represented by the young and highly educated Mandera Central MP, Abdikadir Mohamed. Whether it was by sheer destiny that he midwifed the process or it was a deliberate act on his part, he undeniably played a critical role in the birth of the third republic.

And it is due to this little snippet of history—which shall forever remain etched in the hall of fame of Kenya’s progress—that we ought to own the devolution process. But perhaps the bigger reason why we should jealously guard the devolution spirit of the 2010 dispensation is that we needed it most.

While the rest of the country got an inordinate share of the national revenue, the North’s economic oppression was normalized with a piteous term “marginalization”. We were termed as a bunch of clan-conflict ravaged, illiterate and barbaric set of pastoralists who roamed the wilderness of the deserts and who neither provided revenue to the government nor deserved equal government attention as the rest of the progressive Kenyan provinces.

Thanks to the 2010 constitution, this analogy no longer holds. Our share of the national revenue is ours by right and no government minister or department can arbitrarily withhold it, which brings me to the important question: what is the best road map for an efficient and sustainable utilization of this treasure trove that is in our disposal?

To quote the famous 20^th Century American Jurist Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, “If my fellow citizens want to go to hell, I will help them. It’s my job.”

It is the job of the public servant to do as his people wish. Unless one chooses to be a dictator, he has to abide by the desires of his constituents. Once democracy by the ballot is codified in both the laws of the land and in the political reality of a country, one cannot opt to implement his utopian ideals, unless he wants to be a one term politician.

That is why it is necessary to understand that the means through which we elect our politicians directly decides what we get after the ballot. Democracy builds its premise on the inherent knowledge and understanding of the common man and woman to decide what is best for them.

But should this “knowledge” be based on the force or ruse of the elites, or the sentiments derived by the common man from the strategies of the elite? In plain terms, the message I intend to convey is: the masses are the authors of their own destinies in the world of democracy. But that is easier said than justified, because the masses are not protected from the manipulation of the elites. It is a case of willing seller (the politician) and willing buyer (the voter).

In the North, the common man’s predicament is monolithic—it is poverty and deprivation throughout the land. The elites on the other hand approach their political and economic struggles from a single perspective—the ability to rally their poor kinsfolk to a political movement that is advantageous to themselves.

It’s a no brainer that in Wajir, the elites from the South and those from the East and West seek to employ a similar political strategy, uniting their kinsfolk to support their respective political ambitions. I know, for the common unlettered man and woman in the villages, it is difficult to make sense of democracy and good governance, it’s just as arcane to them as it is for a city-girl to milk a camel.

But for those of us who have had the privilege to attend school and do some basic reading, it definitely is a possible venture to analyze and critique political movements and predict their outcome.

I have been a vocal critic of the clan inspired politics, which in my view is the basest of political and social structures. It is bereft of any imagination and creativity and its outcome is as witnessed in the last four years.

If I could write an executive order to “REPEAL and REPLACE’’ clan based politics as it is played out in the North, I would do it in a blink of an eye. It’s that bankrupt. The justification used by our disingenuous Mandera Senator, that it cultivates equity between the people is a farce, and you all know it.

A politician will do anything that his constituents- and by this I mean his supporters- are comfortable with, his personal conviction notwithstanding. It is therefore not appalling to see the product of clan dictated politics now warming up to other clans in Mandera-You guessed right, its Governor Roba.  He, just like a typical politician, does what his constituents want.

There is, however, a silver lining in all this. As we hurtle towards the dark abyss of total political collapse, as happened to our neighboring country Somalia, there are voices of reason piercing through the murmurs of the clan gods—as embodied by an aspirant in Wajir, Salah Abdi Sheikh.

He has, through the trenches, battled it out with the clan gods and he is seemingly not gasping for air yet. He once said it is reminiscent of the fight between David and Goliath and that points to unwavering determination to slay the giant clan gods and have their bones rot in the wilderness. It is my hope that his intervention will spark off a wave of reformists who will find no shame or fear in standing up for social justice and openly defying their clan gods.

As I stated earlier, it is the obligation and duty of any schooled Northerner, who doesn’t identify with the political class and their attendant power brokers, to play his part by voting or more importantly, campaigning against the clan gods. Clan alliances and associations are transient and utilitarian—they are only a means to an end, and the end is the winning of a certain politician, nothing more.

Clan based politics, as it is played out in the North has shifted our focus from our real enemies of illiteracy, poverty, disease and under-development. The forces behind clan based politics in the North have grown stronger and are metastasizing like a cancerous wound, we need chemotherapy to contain them and this can only be administered through the effort and initiative of those of us who understand its implications.

In conclusion, understand that politicians will never appreciate the urgency of our anti-clan cause. To quote the famous writer Upton Sinclair, “It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.”  The politician is worried about his salary and about his corrupt deals and has no time to think about social justice. It is you, the informed citizen, who should get the ball rolling.

You can reach the author on abxika@gmail.com