Two Politicians Only?

Anyone who has gone through any political science class will affirm to you that from their Introduction to Political Science, politics is defined as “who gets what, when and how.” A politician is thus anyone who will at any given time be in the pursuit of an identified object of desire. The methods or means of obtaining his or her objectives are what define the nature of his politics.

Applying the above in society and testing for its applicability reveals some rather interesting observation-that virtually everybody is a politician by nature. The only difference is that the trait is more prominent in some individuals than others. It was no surprise thence, that a compact majority of the public voiced their disquiet over the nomination of two of the old-guard to the Jubilee cabinet last week.

To begin with, it is commendable of the president to nominate such a promising team of technocrats to head the ministries. He acted within the constitutional stipulations and showed a true intent to honor his words-to respect the supreme law of the land. At least that was a break from our dark past where breaking the law and going scot free was more of a norm than a vice.

The nominations of former Mvita MP, one Najib Balala and political warhorse from Ukambani, Ms. Charity Ngilu is however seeming to brew a storm in public circles. It is feared that being astute politicians, they are likely to bring in their political antics and tactics into their dockets. Kenyans are highly weary of such an occurrence, since they know its impact only but too well from the past regimes. Applaud them for guarding their new constitution so jealously.

Against the backdrop of being against having politicians in the kitchen cabinet, it becomes imperative to interrogate their concerns to see whether they are defensible. This leads me to first seeking to understand the essence of ministries in a government. They are there to implement any adopted policies in the spirit of public service. Just so you may know, this is derived from the concept of the state being a social contract between it and its citizens. It is aimed at bettering the lives of these citizens- human development-in economic verbatim. This brings in a whole new paradigm to the whole story; economics.

Borrowing from my Development Politics classes, politics and development are inextricable. They are responsible for shaping the economy any state. This being the case, and bearing in mind that it is through the integrated activity of all the ministries and economic sectors that economic growth is achieved, then the dynamics of political economy come into play.

Now, political economy is concerned with the interaction of political and economic processes in society; the distribution of power and wealth between different groups and individuals and processes that create, sustain and transform these relationships over time. What other words describe the jobs of the so far 16 distinguished men and women who have made it to Uhuru’s cabinet?

To any keen observer, it is clear that this job description borrows and draws particular attention to politics as understood in terms of contestation and bargaining between interest groups with competing claims over rights and resources. Having their jobs cut for them in such a fashion, a task is placed by the citizenry on each respectable man’s and woman’s shoulder to fully deliver the public goodies.

In light of the above, the stir, pessimism and denouncement being directed at the selection of Ngilu and Balala should therefore be shunned. Their prior political experience should in my opinion give them an edge over their fellow secretaries. To further pour cold water on these deprecations, why are there no complains over the appointments of Ambassadors Rachel Omamo and Amina Mohammed? Does it occur to you chronic complainers that ambassadors are some of the shrewdest politicians? The mere objection at these nominations by virtue of Balala and Ngilu being politicians thus is too simplistic and nonsensical in my view. Please nitpickers, seek further grounds to justify your contemptuous attitudes. Let me add some salt in your wounds by reiterating that everybody, including the rest of those ‘unknown fish’ in the cabinet nominees list (with all due respect) is a politician in their own way. Roger that!

That there would be no politicians in cabinet save for the dynamic duo of the president and his deputy, thus, begs a thorough examination and explanation. As Jesse Ventura, former governor of the state of Massachusetts would have rhetorically asked, “they (read Uhuru and Ruto) are politicians; they would not lie to us, would they?” I rest my case.

(This was composed a week after the second cabinet appointments were made in Kenya after the March 2013 elections)