Jomo Kenyatta with his cabinet on January 22, 1965. The cabinet Mzee Kenyatta formed in 1963 included such giants as Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, Thomas Joseph Mboya, Joseph Murumbi, Julius Kiano, Mbiyu Koinange, Njoroge Mungai, Ngala Mwendwa, and Ramogi Achieng Oneko.
Professor at SUNY Buffalo Law School and Chair of the KHRC.
What you need to know:
I want to reflect on the institution of the Cabinet, the most important body of personages in the Executive. The Cabinet is the “government”. The men – and increasingly women – who bestride it are the nation’s most important political leaders. They are the face of Kenya whether or not they reflect its diversity.
Let’s dig deeper. I write not to laud, or pillory, anyone. But it’s that time of the political cycle when nominees for Cabinet are sent up to the Legislature for vetting. This is especially the case in the wake of the 2010 Constitution. This week, Kenyans have been treated to a parade of one nominee after another on the National Assembly’s “chopping” board.
We are told they are being “grilled.” Reminds me of pork, or nyama choma. But that’s where the hyperbole ends. That’s because the outcome is pre-determined, and in a hung Parliament – where one party has performed a legislative coup – there’s no mystery where this will end. The whole damned lot will be jammed into the throats of poor Kenyans.
I want to take you back to another time, at the dawn of Kenya’s independence when Mzee Kenyatta picked his own Cabinet. Then, unlike now, he had untrammelled power to make anyone – even a thief or murderer – a minister. But he didn’t.
I admit he had one, or two, dimwits in that Cabinet, but this land has never seen such a stellar Cabinet since. OK admit that he failed miserably on gender – a historical blight of the time – but he chose historic figures. No Cabinet has come closer in terms of heft since then in spite of the lofty requirements of the 2010 Constitution.
In fact, with every successive government, the quality and character of the Cabinet have gone south. Let me awaken your noggin in case you are one of those who hate history. The cabinet Mzee Kenyatta formed in 1963 included such giants as Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, Thomas Joseph Mboya, Joseph Murumbi, Julius Kiano, Mbiyu Koinange, Njoroge Mungai, Ngala Mwendwa, and Ramogi Achieng Oneko.
Others of repute were Jackson Angaine, Dawson Mwanyumba, Lawrence Sagini, James Gichuru, Bruce McKenzie, Joseph Otiende, and Njoroge Mungai. I admit the list was a little heavy on Gema and left out many Kenyan identities. It became more inclusive with later additions, reshuffles, and changes.
But one thing was clear. These were men of substance. Some later fell off the moral wagon, but that’s a story for another day. But giants they were. I can say this of Mzee Kenyatta’s first cabinet. None was a known murderer – accused, or convicted. None was an open ethnic baiter and bigot.
None was a known thief, although that came later. To my knowledge, none was an accused rapist. On the contrary, a few of them were pioneers. Mboya was a brilliant trade unionist who spoke several languages including Kikamba and Gikuyu. Odinga was an iconic liberation hero. Mwendwa, though born with a silver spoon in his mouth, was an impressive leader and nationalist.
Koinange and Kiano were among the first Kenyans to obtain PhDs. Mungai went to Stanford for medical school. These are no mean feats for the 1950s and 1960s. In contrast, look at later Cabinets by Mzee Kenyatta’s successors. Most of them barely register on the political Richter scale. Like the biblical prophets, such people aren’t born anymore. But such reasoning is a copout.
What’s true is that the dregs of our society now rise to the top faster than the speed of light. Here’s a hint. How many of the current nominees are mired in scandal or outright illegalities? How many can pass the test of Chapter Six of the Constitution on Leadership and Integrity? How many have serious criminal cases in court?
Unthinkable. Where a British PM and minister resign, the latter for using a private email address for state business, a rape accusation is nothing in Kenya. We will get a Cabinet of moral dwarfs, school dropouts, and outright thieves. That’s a fact, not fiction.
Many don’t read anymore, others are barely literate. They can’t tell you the last time they read even a single chapter in a serious book that’s not a romance novel, or a motivational screed. And yet these are the people who are supposed to bring Kenya out of its most severe economic crisis since 1963. God save us all. One thing is clear – they are all fat cats.
Some literally – from a net worth of Sh4 billion for the wealthiest to Sh100 million for the “poorest”.
Makau Mutua is SUNY Distinguished Professor and Margaret W. Wong Professor at Buffalo Law School, The State University of New York. @makaumutua.
Professor at SUNY Buffalo Law School and Chair of the KHRC.What you need to know:
- Jomo had one, or two, dimwits in that Cabinet, but this land has never seen such a stellar Cabinet since.
- No Cabinet has come closer in terms of heft since then in spite of the lofty requirements of the 2010 Constitution.
- In fact, with every successive government, the quality and character of the Cabinet have gone south.
I want to reflect on the institution of the Cabinet, the most important body of personages in the Executive. The Cabinet is the “government”. The men – and increasingly women – who bestride it are the nation’s most important political leaders. They are the face of Kenya whether or not they reflect its diversity.
Let’s dig deeper. I write not to laud, or pillory, anyone. But it’s that time of the political cycle when nominees for Cabinet are sent up to the Legislature for vetting. This is especially the case in the wake of the 2010 Constitution. This week, Kenyans have been treated to a parade of one nominee after another on the National Assembly’s “chopping” board.
We are told they are being “grilled.” Reminds me of pork, or nyama choma. But that’s where the hyperbole ends. That’s because the outcome is pre-determined, and in a hung Parliament – where one party has performed a legislative coup – there’s no mystery where this will end. The whole damned lot will be jammed into the throats of poor Kenyans.
I want to take you back to another time, at the dawn of Kenya’s independence when Mzee Kenyatta picked his own Cabinet. Then, unlike now, he had untrammelled power to make anyone – even a thief or murderer – a minister. But he didn’t.
I admit he had one, or two, dimwits in that Cabinet, but this land has never seen such a stellar Cabinet since. OK admit that he failed miserably on gender – a historical blight of the time – but he chose historic figures. No Cabinet has come closer in terms of heft since then in spite of the lofty requirements of the 2010 Constitution.
In fact, with every successive government, the quality and character of the Cabinet have gone south. Let me awaken your noggin in case you are one of those who hate history. The cabinet Mzee Kenyatta formed in 1963 included such giants as Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, Thomas Joseph Mboya, Joseph Murumbi, Julius Kiano, Mbiyu Koinange, Njoroge Mungai, Ngala Mwendwa, and Ramogi Achieng Oneko.
Others of repute were Jackson Angaine, Dawson Mwanyumba, Lawrence Sagini, James Gichuru, Bruce McKenzie, Joseph Otiende, and Njoroge Mungai. I admit the list was a little heavy on Gema and left out many Kenyan identities. It became more inclusive with later additions, reshuffles, and changes.
But one thing was clear. These were men of substance. Some later fell off the moral wagon, but that’s a story for another day. But giants they were. I can say this of Mzee Kenyatta’s first cabinet. None was a known murderer – accused, or convicted. None was an open ethnic baiter and bigot.
None was a known thief, although that came later. To my knowledge, none was an accused rapist. On the contrary, a few of them were pioneers. Mboya was a brilliant trade unionist who spoke several languages including Kikamba and Gikuyu. Odinga was an iconic liberation hero. Mwendwa, though born with a silver spoon in his mouth, was an impressive leader and nationalist.
Koinange and Kiano were among the first Kenyans to obtain PhDs. Mungai went to Stanford for medical school. These are no mean feats for the 1950s and 1960s. In contrast, look at later Cabinets by Mzee Kenyatta’s successors. Most of them barely register on the political Richter scale. Like the biblical prophets, such people aren’t born anymore. But such reasoning is a copout.
What’s true is that the dregs of our society now rise to the top faster than the speed of light. Here’s a hint. How many of the current nominees are mired in scandal or outright illegalities? How many can pass the test of Chapter Six of the Constitution on Leadership and Integrity? How many have serious criminal cases in court?
Unthinkable. Where a British PM and minister resign, the latter for using a private email address for state business, a rape accusation is nothing in Kenya. We will get a Cabinet of moral dwarfs, school dropouts, and outright thieves. That’s a fact, not fiction.
Many don’t read anymore, others are barely literate. They can’t tell you the last time they read even a single chapter in a serious book that’s not a romance novel, or a motivational screed. And yet these are the people who are supposed to bring Kenya out of its most severe economic crisis since 1963. God save us all. One thing is clear – they are all fat cats.
Some literally – from a net worth of Sh4 billion for the wealthiest to Sh100 million for the “poorest”.
Makau Mutua is SUNY Distinguished Professor and Margaret W. Wong Professor at Buffalo Law School, The State University of New York. @makaumutua.
Source: Sunday Nation tomorrow.
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