Why Ocampo Six matter more than 38m ‘stupid’ Kenyan

http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/news/-/2558/1106234/-/o69p3mz/-/index.html

Why Ocampo Six matter more than 38m ‘stupid’ Kenyans...
By Patrick Gathara


On my way to work last week, I had an epiphany.

As I sat in one of the unending traffic jams that have become part of the daily ritual of trying to get to work, fuming as matatus “overlapped” the queue, it occurred to me that it wasn’t they who were the stupid ones.

The rule of law, whether we’re talking about the highway code, commercial law or criminal statutes, assumes a universal application.

So, when I agree to religiously abide by it when others consider it only as a guideline, to be discarded whenever it is convenient to do so, then it is me who is refusing to see the reality as it truly is.

This notion was reinforced when I finally got to my office and read in the papers that Rift Valley MPs were planning to ditch the National Accord in a bid to replace Raila Odinga as the prime minister with William Ruto.

According to the Standard, the plot is an attempt to shield Ruto from potentially facing charges at the International Criminal Court relating to the 2008 post-election violence.

“If it means repealing the Accord, then we will act and move with speed to replace the PM,” the paper quotes the chairman of the Rift Valley Parliamentary Group, Dr Julius Kones, as saying.

Putting aside for one minute the questionable wisdom of the move (after all, Omar al-Bashir’s position as president of Sudan didn’t save him from similar indictments), the statements simply emphasise the fact that there is one law for some and another for the rest.

Just like the enlightened matatu drivers, our politicians believe that the rules do not apply to them and can be discarded whenever one of them gets into trouble.

Our whole system of governance aids and abets this logic. So when Cabinet ministers are forced out of office after being caught with their hands in the till, the government creates a new taxonomy in which those who “step aside” are allowed to keep their fat salaries and allowances without actually having to work for them.

That, they tell us, is how we will win the war on corruption!

I now believe that it is the ordinary, hardworking, tax-paying, law-abiding Kenyan who is stupid.

We agree to faithfully pay our taxes, even celebrating when the government exceeds its revenue collection charges, while those who actually pass our tax laws do not feel obliged to live under the same regime.

We pay salaries to policemen and civil servants and then agree to supplement these with bribes.

We accept that the leaders of the same government supposed to ensure roads are properly built to cater for the booming numbers of vehicles and that traffic rules are obeyed, should not themselves be inconvenienced when they fail to do their jobs.
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