The last two years of the Jubilee government have been extraordinarily eventful, some for the better but most for the worse. Hardly a week goes by without scandals that touch at the very heart of the Kenyan government. Be it insecurity and terrorism, corruption, bad rulings by the courts, administration blunders and bad coordination of its programs and pronouncements, failures to review its own protocols even perfunctorily, the failure to address even the most mundane issues of policy to the larger issues of security even in the face of mass murders by terrorists notwithstanding several advance warnings by several intelligence services. To say the government is hopeless in disarray is an understatement.
The sum-total of these events are a clear indictment of a government that is hopelessly disorganized that is in dire straits of which a remedy can't arrive soon enough. It is a reflection of not only the people but also the government that leads them. The question is not just how we got here but also how can the government be so clumsy, so reckless, so uncoordinated, so tone deaf, so out of touch and so off the rails? It is not just one item but a myriad of them that the government seems not to have any real grasp of.
If I didn't know any better, I would say the country is being run by a bunch of amateurs, maybe it is, but I refuse to believe that. Those of us who support the president are particularly at an awkward position trying to defend the indefensible while his opponents and detractors are having a heyday. And I don't blame them, I would do the same. I bet they are taking inventory of these gaffes in readiness for the next elections, they are gifts to them. Nonetheless, President Uhuru Kenyatta is not a failed president but a well-spoken, well-educated man; an accomplished businessman on his own accord; he is not corrupt, I have not heard or read of any untoward conduct by President Kenyatta anywhere unlike what we read about those in his circle; he is arguably one of the most influential presidents in Africa, his influence continues to expand globally; he is a man who beat insurmountable odds not the least of which was the indictment at the International Criminal Court, to be elected President. You don't overcome such odds and accomplish such fetes by being an amateur, so what is the problem Mr. President? Why is your government not reflective of your capacity to lead? Methinks this President is either captive to and encapsulated in a bubble by a bunch of special interests interlopers or incompetent cronies, or both, who deny him the opportunity to be an effective leader, and by extension are doing him and the country a great disservice. Whether is knows it and tolerates it is debatable but ultimately he is responsible for what his government does. Kenyans are disillusioned about their government, fear and frustration have replaced hope and promise of a brighter future. We need change Mr. President.
From insecurity wrought by the persistent terrorist acts that indiscriminately massacred innocent women, men children, not once, not twice, not even thrice but several times while the government literary watches it all go down, notwithstanding several ample advance warnings- this government, like a deer caught in the headlights, is always caught awkwardly unprepared with equally awkward responses; to a broken judiciary and perverted justice system; to deeply entrenched corruption within its ranks that not even the president seems to know how best to respond; to a perverted and superficial so-called "Diaspora Policy" and Diaspora engagement; to corrupt county governments and charlatan governors who have curved their own little "fiefdoms" and subsequently declared "open season" to brazenly plunder and fleece taxpayer resources willy-nilly with such arrogance; they seem to be the modern day Al Capone with such an aura of invincibility; to a collapsing education system run as a personal experimental lab that rewards mediocrity and punishes hard work as in the case of the recent Form One selection process where best performing students were relegated to mediocre schools while average performers were rewarded with admissions to well performing national schools and the asinine retrograde justification offered by the Cabinet and Principle Secretaries responsible; to the yet to materialize "laptops" for first graders fiasco; to the embarrassing feud with Tanzania over the country's discombobulated tourism policy; to the now infamous incredibly cockamamie knee jack reaction to expel refugees to Somalia and build a border wall with Somalia and stop Al Shabaab- oh what an epiphany? The last I checked, xenophobia won't stop terrorism.
To further illustrate the systemic dysfunction in this government, when the terrorists struck, Foreign Affairs Secretary Ambassador Amina Mohammed told the world on CNN's Christian Amanpour program that the government's response to the Garissa Massacre was adequate and that the government "saved" 600 plus people, a completely irresponsible statement by a high ranking official in light of the massacre of which the government was warned about by three foreign intelligence services way beforehand, http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/06/world/amanpour-kenya-attack-foreign-minister-garissa/ Not to be outdone, newly appointed Interior Secretary General Joseph Nkaissery just put it bluntly and said the government "was caught by surprise" http://mobile.nation.co.ke/news/Garissa-University-attack-Nkaissery/-/1950946/2674706/-/format/xhtml/-/15qld50/-/index.html – really general? Three warnings and almost pin-point accurate intelligence weeks and days before and you were still caught by surprise? Do you want to rephrase that? While Secretary Mohammed was patting herself and the government's shoulders on CNN, the president's communication team was simultaneously busy contradicting her in Kenya's media but to their credit, they at least owned up, begrudgingly that is, to the government's mistakes. That is how uncoordinated and incoherent the government was about this, one of the most straight forward protuberant national security matters.
Then we find out that the taxpayer funded police service plane that could have been used to transport the first responder unit, RECCE squad, was in fact on a pleasure trip for one of the Police commanders' daughters instead of being in use for life saving operations? While they were trying to manage the fallout over the maladroit government, yet another presidential communications fellow, one Dennis Itumbi took to social media and basically rubbished and insulted the bereaved families with an insensitive comments to the effect that "enough with the sideshows (meaning the massacre) and let's get back to the real work and achievements of the jubilee government over the last two years" I kid you not- talk about rubbing salt on a wound. Not to be left out, Deputy President William Ruto promptly "ordered" the staff at the "Immigration and Registration of Persons" department to return to work and identify the victims of the Massacre, can you believe that? I don't know what forensics expertise that these staff members have to actually go to Morgues and look at victims and their wounds and tell them apart for identity purposes. It is impetuous beyond the pale. When even as high up as the Deputy President appears clueless on what resources to deploy in certain situations and when, so who we rely on to guide us? Shortly thereafter, in a kneejerk reaction to the Garissa killings, DP Ruto also announced the immediate construction of a wall fence with Somalia, an epitome of an impulsive and reckless administration, absolutely rudderless and disorderly. Just who is running the country?
My point is, with these kinds of performances and characters, this government doesn't need enemies, it does badly all by itself and it is really unfortunate for the common mwanainchi. The country needs a complete overhaul of its government structure and personnel if it is to mitigate these common place and yet dire consequences of its failures. Get it right folks..
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