The date is 26th August 2011 and the stage is the World Athletics Championships in Daegu, South Korea. Edna Kiplagat, from Kenya, overcomes a couple of setbacks to claim the first gold medal in the women’s marathon.
Kiplagat is, surprisingly, a policewoman back home and had this opportunity to grant Kenya and its National Anthem another cameo appearance on the world stage. Unfortunately, this is not the only time that the Kenyan Police Force has gotten the attention of the world’s spotlight.
Due to its inglorious 5-year political cycle, Kenya has come to expect a dirty end to every 5th year. And the police force, urged on by the incumbent administration, seems to be always at the centre of it.
During the 2007 General Election, the police were reported to have used excessive force in bringing the country to order after the countrywide protests against the disputed results. The previous 5 year period had seen the country’s GDP reach a high of 7% in growth that year.
In the short period that followed, the country remained in the spotlight, with foreign dignitaries sweating out in the capital, Nairobi to come up with a workable solution to the widespread violence that threatened the state’s existence.
It was not that this every-5th-year violence was new. Rather, it was because this time round the violence was claiming lives at an alarming rate-1500 people killed in 3 months and thousands more evicted from their lands.
These, and to the added pressure from the incoming Obama administration ensured that the situation was saved earlier. But the underlying problem/problems were only swept under the carpet awaiting the next cycle. Despite the multitude of pundits masquerading as ‘political analysts’ none has been able to pinpoint the exact cause of this vicious 5-year cycle.
But 3 main players should be singled out for blame in this scenario.
The first finger should be pointed at the electorate for ignoring their own good judgment and conscience to put less-than-average leaders in government and their own respective political parties. It’s not unusual to find voters, both in the urban and rural areas, switching their preferences for a packet of sugar or maize meal.
But their worst choices are those made due to tribal and clan affiliation. Kenyans are invariably choked with tribal and clan pride every 5 years despite little or nothing being gained in return for this ‘investment’.This ends up putting people in leadership positions not because of merit but by virtue of their surnames.
Politicians, the 2nd player in this scenario, also came in for blame as they resort to speeches inciting their ‘fellow tribesmen’ to evict/attack/maim people from other tribes and clans. These so-called leaders spend the rest of their 5-year terms detached from the electorate stuffing themselves with goodies and kickbacks in the big towns. When hunted down for prosecution or needing re-election, they resurface in their hometowns claiming that their tribe/clan is being hounded out of town.
The 3rd player could be the main culprit as it acts as the middlemen between the politicians and the electorate. The media comes for the biggest blame as they are the most respected by the electorate but seem to be bankrolled by the politicians during election time.
Their worst style of reporting during election time is dwelling on clan and tribe stereotypes instead of highlighting important local and national issues. It’s not unusual during this time to hear or read that the vote in such and such a place will go to such and such a person because he comes from this or that tribe/clan which has always voted in a certain way.
Needless to say, the Kenyan media is very efficient in propagating such stereotypes due to the confidence placed in them.
A public policy think-tank in Nairobi, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung once suggested that the media’s role is to do investigative research and objective reporting. And these 2 are most lacking in Kenya’s media -bell this cat and the cycle should stop.