We perpetuate Kenya’s malaise by blaming leaders

Sometimes voters in a democracy give themselves too much credit for no good reason. We often blame the political class for almost everything and do nothing about it. It is as though  we are always right and the people we elect are a group of self-seekers with no history.

Today, hundreds of thousands of Kenyan children are on the brink of missing lifesaving immunisation due to a shortage of vaccines, while doctors and thought leaders in the health sector are all over social media making noise about the vaccine crisis.

Well, the details of the crisis are certainly complex, and Kenya is expected to fund the bulk of the cost of vaccines as development partners wean us off the support they have been giving us. Ironically, the annual allocation of Sh2.6 billion for vaccines has been cut by almost half in the proposed budget.

With the high taxation regime, one expects that a framework should have been in place and that the increase in taxes, some of which are draconian and harsh on Wanjiku, would be channelled to such critical sectors as health. But clearly our self-significance thoughts are to blame. We assume some moral high ground and blame politicians for everything and nothing.

We are like watchdogs and all we do is bark and do nothing, hold no one accountable and even when the same thief who broke in the last time tries robbing our households again, we rarely connect the dots to identify the thief and follow up.

You see, making noise about the cost of the president’s state visit to the United States, celebrating the bag of goodies he received or even making noise that there is nothing in it for us makes a mockery of the power that we have. Worse still, after the noise is made, everyone moves on, and our political class understand that we always move on anyway.

Returning to the vaccine crisis, very soon, unless something is done, only the rich with the resources for private medical care will have access to the necessary vaccines, because our leaders are hellbent on winning the next elections and not protecting the next generations. Blaming leaders, venting on social media and assuming this moral high ground of responsible citizens let down by leaders is not only unfortunate, but a sure way of perpetuating this malaise that is eating up most voters in emerging democracies.

It is time to ask ourselves what our choices have meant against the backdrop of our failing health system, minimum guaranteed returns to the farmers and the cost of goods such as milk, vegetables, and basic commodities. It is not about who we voted for or will vote for in 2027, but about our situation today and how to make the best out of it.

How come we elect people who are supposed to represent us and provide oversight for  executive and still complain about issues they should address. When elected leaders go from one media platform to another speaking about the need to tax bread more and support the draconian motor vehicle tax, are we supposed to blame them or introspect? It is not them; it is us.

They can eat cake and they are wondering what the fuss about bread is. They own big vehicles, and the vehicle tax favours them at the expense of Probox hustlers, who by seeking to improve their lot by adding another Probox and increasing their fleet will pay a much higher percentage from the limited capital at their disposal compared with the owners of fuel guzzlers.

We are funding the opulence of the rich garbed in some hustler ideology that makes us question anyone but ourselves. We the people should stop focusing on politicians and instead pay more attention to what is happening to us, and to the cost of food, education and health.

— The writer is a Research Associate and Lecturer at Aga Khan University’s Graduate School of Media and Communications