Kenyans awoke Friday morning to the “shock and awe” of fuel prices shattering the historic and psychological barrier of Sh200 to the litre. There is also the looming threat of more and more taxes, levies and duties being imposed on an already heavily saddled population struggling to make ends meet in an economy that is in depression in all but name.
The fear faced by most Kenyans is the implication the record-breaking fuel prices and taxes will inevitably have for the already unbearable high cost of living. Many are now wondering what the government’s plan or endgame, if any, really is. Does the government really have a plan? How on God’s green earth do you lower the cost of living by increasing it?
Never trust those in power
Today, I want to educate the average Kenyan who believes that the government actually cares. Two things you must never do as a responsible citizen. One you must never trust people in power. They will always say whatever suits the public and do whatever suits them. Two, you must never expect the government to act in your best interest.
Ronald Reagan, the 40th president of the United States, once said “the nine most terrifying words in the English language are I’m from the government and I’m here to help.”
We are a country of serikali saidia and the biggest mistake that ordinary (uneducated, undereducated or poorly educated) folks tend to make in their elusive quest for good leadership is to imagine that the government cares about them.
So every election cycle, poor and desperate voters enticed by hollow slogans and empty promises and still reeling from the stupefying influence of cheap infotainment and even cheaper propaganda, flock to the polls hoping against hope that those they entrust with political power will lift them from their squalor and ease their daily struggles. This is hardly ever the case.
The reality of the matter is that governments all over the world are a mindless, heartless juggernaut obsessed with one thing and one thing only—statecraft. That is the (sometimes not so subtle) art of obtaining, applying and keeping power.
In the delicate art of statecraft, the government may from time to time appear benevolent or charitable but only to the extent that such benevolence advances its primary objective of obtaining, applying and keeping power.
The key determinant of how well or badly a government behaves or how it uses, abuses or expands its power is not usually the character or quality of those in power but that of the electorate. In other words, the people determine how the government (mis)behaves.
An electorate that is steadfast and vigilant—and which knows what it wants and how to demand it—will always get more out of government and vice versa. In the difficult business of running public affairs, the public only gets what it demands, not what it deserves.
Governance is a competition between the ever-expanding needs and expectations of the people and the greed and ambitions of the ruling class set against a backdrop of limited time and resources. In this zero-sum game, the more the government gives or yields to the public in the form of better services, amenities and civil liberties, the less it has left to meet the greed and ambition of those in power, hence jeopardising their primary objective of applying and keeping power.
Naturally, therefore, unless the people are highly alert, proactive and fiercely protective of their interest, the government will always take as much while giving the people as little as it can possibly get away with.
For the people to get more out of government, they must stop agonising and start organising – to paraphrase Professor PLO Lumumba. But there can be no organisation without leadership. This is where the role of the opposition becomes critical.
In a democratic society, it is the business of the opposition to ensure that the government doesn’t go rogue or run amok, and to rally the people against government policies and actions that are contrary to the welfare and wellbeing of the people. Whenever the opposition is too weak, ineffective or compromised, the government is likely to ride roughshod over the rights and welfare of its people.
In next week’s Article, I will examine the weaknesses of the Kenyan opposition and interrogate whether it’s now time for Raila Odinga to resign from opposition politics.
The writer is an advocate of the High Court of Kenya and author of ‘Why Baba is not The 5th' ([email protected] ; @Saitabao).
