About 19.6 million Kenyans will go to the
ballot this 8th day of August 2017 to elect representatives. We will
delegate power to men and women who must bear true allegiance to the People and
the Republic of Kenya as well as uphold and defend our constitution.
But our responsibility does not end at the
ballot. And more importantly, our engagement with elected representatives does
not cease with their election. Somehow we have come to accept that our
representatives metamorphose into honorable members of the houses of
legislation, and suddenly become bosses and not servants of the people.
As the bosses, elected representatives have
no sense of duty or obligation to the people. They become too important and inaccessible.
Most of our leaders forget why they ran for public office. They bear no
allegiance to we the people. They chose not to obey or respect our laws. In
fact most elected leaders break the law with impunity and use the privilege of
their elective office to subvert justice and due process.
Rule violation and impunity often pays high
dividends. Elected leaders often use the powers and privileges of their positions
for personal financial gains or to secure favors or business contracts for
themselves, relatives or political benefactors.
Unfortunately, a large majority of elected
leaders are not motivated by a burning desire to make a difference in how our
society works. They are motivated not by a commitment to public service but
self-aggrandizement. Somehow the path to wealth is through public service – as
a civil servant or elected representative. Essentially, the incentives are
warped and inherently selfish.
In a sense, once elected public purpose
becomes subsidiary, incidental. Instead elected leaders become consumed by
power, privilege and their own self-importance. Self-interest becomes the
overriding goal of public service.
We the people are accomplices in this
metamorphosis. Once elected, we make the peoples’ servants believe that they are
omniscient and omnipotent men and women whose favor we must seek. We venerate
them in ways that make it unambiguous that we are subservient supplicants
sustained by their majestic magnanimity.
Those who will earn the high privilege of
representing us should be driven by the highest ideals – a sense of duty, honor
and integrity. The trust we bestow upon elected representatives must be bridled
by an awesome fidelity to service to others. Leaders must be willing to put
their interests last.
Serving the people must not be about having
first dibs. It is not about a front row seat of privilege and access to
government tenders, land, and scholarships for your children. It is not about
jumping the queue. Leadership is about coming last. It is about having the peoples’
back.
And to my fellow citizens, delegating power
to representatives comes with eternal vigilance against abuse of power. We the
people must guard against systemic political corruption where politicians and
their friends deploy virulent personal interest to influence decisions,
appropriate favors and subvert public interest.
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