Sunday, January 15, 2012

Public outcry against Baraza points to high-handedness of civil society



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Gitau Warigi 
By GITAU WARIGI
Posted  Saturday, January 14  2012 at  16:30
Nancy Baraza is all but finished in the Judiciary. Yet all along it was clear the extravagantly expressed public revulsion over her now infamous encounter with one Ms Rebecca Kerubo at the Village Market was – up to a point – only incidentally about her.
Rather, her reported intemperate behaviour was seen as emblematic of a wider problem being manifested in civil society as the roll-out of new governance institutions gathers pace.
The long and short of it is this: the Baraza saga afforded an outlet to Wanjiku to express her deep disquiet over what many see as the unseemly thrust by members of civil society to dictate and even dominate the new governance structures taking shape.
Ms Baraza found herself in the crosshairs of the public because she was part of this civil society brigade that has been making its triumphal entry into high public office.
In a past life, I dabbled in civil society activism and got to see this particular world from fairly close up.
There are indeed some remarkable personalities who inhabit it, men and women of genuine sincerity and passion who want to make a positive difference in their country.
But I also encountered many disreputable types who would not hesitate to throw their mothers under a bus in exchange for a donor pay cheque.
I certainly never counted Ms Baraza in this category of disreputables, and I never got to know her personally.
Yet the ‘reformists versus non-reformists’ argument being trotted out in this particular saga is a red herring.
My sense has always been that humility is one thing in which civil society is woefully lacking.
Members of this world would do well to learn to see things with a sense of proportion as they hanker for every vacancy in sight – including, we hear, the new office of Inspector-General of Police.
Ms Baraza’s media “advisers” made the egregious error of imagining the matter at hand was a simple one that would go away by sweet-talking the aggrieved security guard to drop her complaint.
At the most, they thought an apology to the woman, together with several packets of chapati flour, would do.
But the police made it very clear in the file they forwarded to the Director of Public Prosecutions and to the Chief Justice that the case was of a criminal nature and that they were recommending prosecution.
The DPP has since decided the evidence of the gun misuse aspect has gaps and gave the police a week to close them.
The second foolish mistake, which may not have been of Ms Baraza’s doing, was the pathetic attempt to politicise the matter when the amorphous Luhya Council of Elders joined the fray.
I didn’t think this was something that was going to register very well with CJ Willy Mutunga, for starters.
He has serious civil society antecedents, but he is fast demonstrating that the NGO creed of arrogance can’t fly in public office.
To me, it is evident civil society has much to learn about the new world to which they aspire to belong – and control.
I have spent a good part of my career writing about politicians. I don’t necessarily like them as persons. I certainly don’t hate them either.
If anything, I have developed a healthy respect for the contortions they take their voters through. They don’t pretend to be angels, nor do they try to play that game.
Conversely, if you think you are the Pope, don’t try to play other roles. Stick to what you know. This message needs to sink into civil society.
Wanjiku can be very unpredictable. She will sing your hosannas today, but tomorrow she will be reading your obituary.
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Give it to the politicians: they understand her and her moods much better than civil society does.
United Republican Party? Yuk. News of the latest political party on the map produced my biggest yawn of the year.
I am told the party symbol is a horn, a rather loud and irritating instrument. Still, I guess that’s a lot better than a bow and an arrow.

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