This week I have learnt a new terminology, thanks to a book I am reading: ‘low-intensity democracy’ or ‘elite democracy’. But before I go into the details about what this is, I have two stories about two women I wish to share: a happy story and a sad one. I will start with the happy story. A guy I have known for many years in Kiambu County is this week extremely joyous and he has organised a thanks-giving ceremony at his home to share his joy and to express his gratitude to God. I met him at the pub days ago and he told me, “My wife is now completely cancer free!” We shared a drink. The young woman has suffered terribly in the last few years. The man and his children have suffered as well. But now it is all over! She is on course to full health. The other story is about one of my aunties in our village – the petite, light-skinned and extremely clean lady at whose house, as a boy, I drank countless tins of very potent busaa for years during Christmas. Her house is a stone’s throw away from my mother’s. Over the years we have shared lots of things: fire, salt, flour, water. I learned yesterday that she is now dying of cancer. She has been undergoing treatment at public hospitals (because she could not afford better) in the last few years. My Kiambu friend doesn’t have loads of money, but his family isn’t poor. That, plus the fact that he lives near Nairobi and knows quite a few people around enabled him to access some good medical services in the city for his wife. My auntie has had no such privileges. A few years ago, two prominent Kenyans announced that they had cancer. Prof Peter Anyang’ Nyong’o and Beth Mugo, then Cabinet ministers, flew out of the country and got treated at some of the world’s best hospitals – at public expense. They are now cancer free. This January, BBC journalist Anne Waithera and media consultant Jerry Okungu joined thousands of Kenyans who have recently succumbed to the illness because they could not afford the very high cost of treatment. Let’s now go back to that concept: low-intensity or elite democracy. It means governance arrangements that are based on the rituals of elections, constitution-making, institutional reform, etc but which do not change in any fundamental way the conditions of life for the majority of the people. Only the elite – and a few lucky people - enjoy the fruits of this type of democracy. The rest of the people are essentially on their own, though they pay taxes and are bombarded with lofty pledges at every election. My auntie is on her own. She is going to die because she has no money to afford better treatment for her cancer. The public hospitals she can access lack adequate equipment, medicines and personnel. If the government of Kenya had invested substantially in health and medical services, perhaps my auntie, like my friend’s wife, would now be cancer free. Most Kenyans are on their own. The country has wealth and is discovering more in minerals, oil and gas; and the people pay lots of taxes. Foreign loans amounting to dizzying figures are procured in our name every year. But you will have to get your own money to access quality medical care, education for your children, water, personal security, housing, etc. In a nation with limited opportunities for most people, you will have to work extremely hard, deny yourself lots of things, ‘plant a seed’ to assorted prophets and apostles, pray and fast, steal, give bribes, kiss people’s asses, humble yourself before heartless brutes in the name of boss, etc to get the very basics of life. Is this freedom? How is this Independence? Whom does this democracy work for? The elite. We may have 50 national dialogues a year. We may have ten referendums on the Constitution. We may even throw out the entire Constitution and write a new one. We can digitise everything. Give school kids laptops. Look East. We can wait for the next election and eject Uhuruto and his tyranny of tribal numbers…We can elect Baba as President, or Peter Kenneth. Whoever. But nothing is going change for the masses of the people. Trust me. The system – our 50-year-old neo-colonial political project – is rotten. Utterly. It is incurable. It works for a few. Only a people-centred democracy, a revolutionary Socialist democracy, will overthrow elite hegemony and put power and resources in the hands of ordinary citizens. Revolutionary Socialist democracy! It is either that or low-intensity (elite) democracy. How do we go about this? Watch this space.
Posted on: Wed, 16 Jul 2014 12:00:56 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015