Vote all MPs out

For a long time now we have been entertained by the controversies that have erupted as our dear beloved MPs clamor and jostle, spitting, scratching and hissing to do everything in their power and beyond to increase their harvest from our nation. So much for it, they have got their way. The first time it happened, just about the last days of the Moi years, it was almost unnoticed. Come the NARC Government and the first motion was on the topic. The story has continued up to this year and God knows when the next time will be.

At face value it does not appear to be anything really big- we are content to just complain about it for a few days, then everything cools down and we go back to normal business. However, if we carefully and critically analyze the implications of this, both short and long term, if we examine where this mindset comes from, and if we question the system that we have that allows this, then there is a very disturbing message for our nation. Sample this:

- Our unemployment rate of about 40%

These are just a few statistics where we are comparing our country with just one other country. We could look at more staggering figures of comparison with other economies and most of these patterns are repeated and re-emphasized.

The question here now is: If our MPs are the policy makers who we are relying on to chart the policies and guidelines that will drive the future of this nation, why are they doing this? Why are they unable to draw a line between the challenges that our nation faces and their personal ambitions? In fact, why should the increase of their personal wealth come before the increase of that of the common Kenyan? If they can afford to increase their pay to the level of that MPs in developed countries, why can they not increase the Kenyan minimum wage to the same in those developed countries? If they clam that this will wreck our economy and bring inflation, why does this not happen from their salary increases? In fact, why do they think that they deserve special treatment from other Kenyans who are also suffering from fuel price hikes and other adverse economic occurrences? If the price of fuel has risen to a level that it is eating into their benefits, who is there to cushion the effect on the common Kenyan?

A county's economic prosperity is not determined by the amount of pay that people get at whatever level. It is determines by sound governance. It is a product of well thought out strategies being implemented with clinical precision. Above all it should be built on two all-important economic priorities-equitable distribution of wealth and specific policies aimed at wealth creation for the poorest in the nation.

By our MPs opting to increase their salaries and benefits, they take us further away from these basic national priorities. In addition, in outdoing their western counterparts they demonstrate their unbridled personal ambitions. Given the comparative poverty in our country, this can only be interpreted as greed and selfishness of the highest order possible. The fact that not one among them, NOT A SINGLE ONE OF THEM, stood up to protest against the move in parliament, especially in 2003 after many economically devastating years, shows that we do not have a voice of conscience in that house. In fact I would have expected so many there who have professed to care for the people like Balala, Wangari Maathai and Kibaki to stand up for the common man- but alas, not one.

We should not have anything personal against these great ladies and gentlemen. In fact they are just the latest in a culture of selfishness that has permeated this country to the last person. We all look to see where we can grab or eat at the expense of the other person. If you make a careful analysis, you will realize that this is an attitude that we created in this country at the time of independence. In fact, Kenyatta is the one who I have deepest reservations about. Why should he have risen to become the richest man as well as the largest landowner in Kenya simply because he was president? Unless evidence of honest acquisition of all this can be availed, then I am ready to declare him not only the most corrupt Kenyan who has ever lived, but also the biggest thief. I am sure there were many Goldenbergs and Anglo-leasings at that time but thanks to the level of autocracy and dictatorship, we never heard of them. That explains how some people who have always looked so rich over the years may have got their wealth after being politically correct at that time. We may never know some of the inner details.

Moi and Kibaki were in the first Government and saw all that Kenyatta and his people (including themselves) did. How else could we expect them to do anything different from what they saw their political father and mentor do? That explains why these two as well as all the others who have inherited the ways of that first parliament will never see any reason to stand up for the common man. That verse does not exist in their political scripts and agendas. The most alarming thing is the way this disease has spread and infected many young and upcoming politicians and even ordinary people. I know a few fellows who are currently bracing themselves to try out parliament and to say the least, their track records and ethical behaviors are nauseating. A brief description of what sort of people they are in the society- just cheap crooks who lack integrity and whose real intention is not the people or sound economic management but -yes- the big money in being an MP.

My dear brother and sister, fellow Kenyan, do you not see that we are now in a trap? Can't you see that if we do not take radical steps to break this vicious cycle that we have inherited we are on the way to destroying our nation? We call it our mother-land not only because it is the nation that we all belong to, we were born in, we live in and from, but also because it is the nation of the mothers who have borne us. Would we treat our mothers this way and refuse to take action against people who want to rob and loot from them as these policy makers have opted to do?

It is also not just enough to replace these MPs. In fact, they are our sisters and brothers and we should learn to forgive each other including those among us who have done the worst to our nation. The path of revenge, hatred and killing will not make us different from them. Instead it should be clear that we want a break from the tradition of selfishness and we wish to bring the birth of a new age of patriotism. And it should be for the good of all and not a few. We should realize that unless the poorest and the most helpless in the society are well protected and catered for, then we are all insecure, since we too have the potential of deteriorating to that point. And the best way for a new parliament to demonstrate this is to

1) DRASTICALLY REDUCE their salaries and benefits to a half or even a quarter or less of what they currently are. Parliament should not be a place to enrich people but should be a place where some of our finest minds meet to chart out and execute noble causes for our dear nation. That is why we should ensure that we do not replace these current people with like-minded ones but with people who we have thoroughly scrutinized for integrity. In the Bible, the book of James explains in details about how to analyze potential leaders.

2) In addition, a just parliament should repossess all the property that has been corruptly stolen from Kenyans from the earliest days of independence. It is useless to follow Moi and his people if we have not fixed the Kenyatta lot first. In fact, unless we do justice from Kenyatta’s personal property, there is no way we are going to cleanse this nation. It will send a strong message to all who have stolen that they must pay back with interest- just as Zaccheus did in the Bible. It is double standard to go after a clerk in a looted department and ignore the senior managers who have taken even more. No wonder this political elite circle that has held power since Kenya’s first Parliament are so tightly knit that politically they are virtually invisible. All they do is to play mind games with us the poor Kenyans. That why there is no difference between the fundamentals of the Moi and the Kibaki Governments. And take my advice, this won’t change if we continue letting these same people go back and lead us again and again.. Sine they have no real enemies or friends among them as they say, then it means they play a ball game between themselves to protect each other and remain at the top all together as a team. Can you not see it? We ordinary Kenyans are left clamoring to get dish-outs and handouts from them. And once new promising ethical national figures come up they are either bought out to betray the people that they should protect (bought for a cheap 30 pieces of silver) or they are conveniently disposed of.

3) Another top turning point move should be to acclaim the greatest Kenyans who have stood for justice in this nation. From the little history I know, I think the greatest of these is none other than Menza wa Mekatilili who lived over 100years ago. She was a great coastal lady who led her people in standing up to the early colonialists. Kenyan history shows she is probably the first documented person within the borders of present-day Kenya to stand up for freedom and autonomy. In addition, there could have been some who resisted the early Arab settlers way back in 1000 and whose names are not available. Menza represents them all. Of course we do not know too much about her as well as the other great nationalists since it was probably not convenient for the self-centered first Government to allow much information on others who were the real nationalist. Menza is probably the earliest known leader who did not betray her people with cheap gifts from the cunning colonialists but fought to her end. There were probably those who opted to betray her for their personal. This notorious lot has persisted in every freedom initiative of our country. However, her spirit lives on in us as we aspire to liberate ourselves from this same lot that we are suffering under today.

The other real great person was Koitelel arap Someoei. I stand to be corrected but he did not opt for silent agreements and treaties with the colonialist like Waiyaki wa Hinga, who did this only to cry foul later after he was conned. Somoei saw though this and stood firm for ten years until they eliminated him. These nationalists fought for a free nation they did not know but believed that it would one day exist. It is their faces that should appear in our offices and currencies and national literature instead of those who have presided over and perpetuated a culture of looting, destruction and impoverishment of our nation.

The third and last national hero who in my view joins these other two is Dedan Waciuri Kimathi.

He too represented the true spirit of nationalism by refusing to betray his people and cut secret deals but opted instead to die in combat. Between these three people, there were thousands others who stood with them. Many others died fighting in the two World Wars against enemies that they did not know. There were many others known and unknown but I believe these three represent all who joined into a war for freedom and all those who died in combat. They are the ones who gave us our freedom today not the traitors and the collaborators that sided with the colonialists. The Bible says that the laborer deserves his wages. We enjoy the freedom to do all that appertains to freedom because all these thousands of great people opted to fight for the cause. Have we honestly given them what they deserve as wages for liberating our nation, whether in life or in their death, least of all decent recognition? Where or not Britain ever compensates them does not absolve us from our obligation to them since we are the benefactors of their sacrifices. These are the true Kenyan EBS’s, CGH’s, and MBS’s..(What have our present day MPs and leaders done for our nation that can compare)?

By acclaiming them, the spirit of nationalism and selflessness that these people represented will once again be respected and cherished in our nation. By upholding this spirit as the most desirable national virtue, we shall restore pride and ownership for our nation and redirecting it along a course of justice and prosperity for all.

A good starting point to achieve this today is to vote all the current MPs, Ministers, Government, opposition and Kibaki their president-ALL OUT. We forgive them and we love them - they are still our people and we must remain united. But we must prove a point and make a statement at the individual level. And they must blame this to their shameless display of selfishness and greed.

VOTE THEM ALL OUT 2007.

GOD BLESS KENYA. GOD BLESS AFRICA.

Edward Maina.