What President must do to save Kenya - what a laugh!

 What President must do to save Kenya

Story by MAKAU MUTUA
Publication Date: 11/25/2005

The stunning referendum vote was an unequivocal repudiation of the Government. Even so, it gives the President an opportunity to clean house and renew Kenya. There is no doubt that the unprecedented dissolution of his dysfunctional and bilious Cabinet is a welcome first step. How he reconstitutes his Government will determine whether he rises from the ashes of defeat or goes down in historical ignominy.  Most Kenyans want President Kibaki, an individual they overwhelmingly elected just three years ago, to succeed. Recent public polls indicate that he is still the most popular politician in the country.  That is why the referendum should be seen as a protest vote against the Government, and not an endorsement of the Orange camp or its leaders.  However, the rejection of the proposed Constitution can quickly turn into an embrace of the Orange leaders unless the President fully comprehends – and decisively acts on – the message delivered by voters. Thinking robustly and boldly Kenyans have resoundingly told him that they reject his administration. He now must go back to the drawing board and start the process of climbing out of the pit into which he dug himself.  First, President Kibaki must retrace his steps and recapture the reform agenda on which he was elected. He must, in effect, go back to January 2003. But he cannot take these dramatic steps unless he thinks robustly and boldly. His only real test – the one should matter to ordinary Kenyans and reformers – will be how he reconstitutes the Cabinet. This will tell the country whether he has understood its message. For a start, he cannot bring back to the Cabinet despised individuals who have been repudiated by Kenyans. Nor can he afford to surround himself with sycophants who are unable, or unwilling, to offer him genuine, and sometimes painful, advice. In June 2004, President Kibaki consolidated the anti-reform faction in the Cabinet when he formed the so-called government of national unity. He must not repeat that mistake. Instead, he must appoint a fresh, competent, vigorous, and reform-minded Cabinet.  He must include in the Cabinet sophisticated, clean, and respected technocrats. The new Cabinet should be designed to be effective.  President Kibaki must impose the principle of collective responsibility without pity. He cannot afford to reproduce a Cabinet that only fights and does no work. Secondly, the President cannot pretend that the referendum did not cause an irreparable chasm in Narc. That is why he cannot afford to bring back the most vocal protagonists into the new Cabinet. Thirdly, the President must take this opportunity to rid the Cabinet of past and current looters, perpetrators of human rights violations, incompetent cronies, and tribal nativists. Many Moi-era Cabinet members have been credibly linked to various scandals and atrocities. They must not be allowed back into the Cabinet. A good number have been implicated in the Anglo-Leasing scams and other horrible scandals. They, too, must be shown the door for good. He should draw his Cabinet and civil service from Kenya’s diverse communities. He must not be seen to favour any community. Fourth, the President must clean up the upper echelons of the civil service because reforms need a competent and corruption-free bureaucracy. He greatly disappointed the country when he retained Moi-era bureaucrats and then appointed aged cronies into senior positions.  A new Cabinet, no matter how competent, cannot deliver on the reform agenda unless superb and committed technocrats back it. Fifth, the President must realise that Kenyans' thirst for a democratic constitution cannot be circumvented. President Moi tried it, much to the detriment of Kanu. Kenyans believe that NAK hijacked the constitutional review process to protect the imperial powers he enjoys. This is a state of affairs that he must reject. He must spearhead afresh a new process to deliver a democratic constitution before the 2007 elections. But he cannot do so if NAK, LDP, and Kanu continue to play the zero-sum game of obstruction and one-upmanship. Cleaning up Government Yet, it is the President as the nation’s leader who must selflessly lead this exercise. It is urgent that he reaches a consensus with other stakeholders for international mediation. Sixth, I believe the President should now be very concerned about his legacy. For this reason, he must admit to himself that his first three years as Head of State have been a disappointment, and spend the balance of his term doing the people’s work.  But he will not rise to the challenges ahead if he focuses on re-election in 2007. It would tremendously cool the national temperature were he to forgo a second term. Instead, he can put all his energies into the reform agenda for the next two years – fighting corruption, writing a new constitution, and cleaning up the Government. Finally, we must all grasp the import of the referendum. If we do not, the President will not succeed, no matter how hard he tries.  The referendum was a riddle of three main plots. At one level, it was a contest between the Bomas Draft and the Wako Draft. At another, it was a power struggle between the President and Minister Raila Odinga, NAK versus the LDP.  There is no height that Kenya cannot scale if President Kibaki, the people, and the elite heed this critical lesson of the referendum. Let us look at the poll as a new lease on life for our country. Prof Mutua teaches law at the State University of New York and is chair of the Kenya Human Rights Commission.