Behavior defines culture and what
the leadership of a country values affects the way they behave and subsequently
the entire nation. Citizens for their part, shape their behavior to match what is acceptable
and what’s not acceptable according to behavior of the institutional
leadership.
Kenyan political leadership evolved first as traditional and paternalistic
led by the first president -Kenyatta - who due to circumstances, having being
jailed and in his seventies was considered to be the father of the nation. Moi
administration that followed was more concerned with maintaining the status quo
and managing instead of leadership or mobilizing resources. Moi and
Kenyatta both emphasized personalized power and the deference to elders, which probably conditioned the patriarchal style after
independence. With colonization, Kenyans learnt of the monarchy and aristocracy
and imitated these forms of leadership whereby they handpicked persons to
leadership, created and surrounded themselves with a class of ostentatious
consumers, and treated any opposition as treason.This has shaped the leadership quagmire in Kenya, be it political or otherwise.
Most African cultures
emphasized belonging, connectedness and community participation; it was always
assumed individuals can expect their relatives, clan, or other group to look
after them in exchange for unquestioning loyalty. This features aren’t unique
to Africans, all cultures pre-modernization were collectivist, with time and
evolutionary forces, societies become more individualize to match with modern
institutions which demand and reward individual responsibility.
Already Kenya
is transitioning, and while communitarian features still persist due to
poverty, the well off members of society practice individualism while still
seeking the adoration and deference from their less off members.
Why
don’t our economic elites and companies invest in public goods where they
operate e.g. put time and resources into local schools and colleges, and engage
in civic organizations? This engagement would establish ties based on
performance and activity setting an example of meritocracy instead of adoration
and deference for merely being wealth.
Kenya desperately needs to identify and assert positive values
and traditions – those that make a nation of people where the public has a hope
for the future, and in which the people know right from wrong and know there
are serious consequences for violations. Society needs figures of authority,
firmness, consistency and certainty, a national identity, and a plan. Being
purposeful is not incompatible with democracy.
I have meandered a bit, but generally my argument is that we have a leadership void that can be explained by our culture which was in turn shaped by history. Secondly, the leadership gaps are by design i.e. there are vested interests in keeping the status quo. Thus we need a strong leader to change the structures.
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