Editorial:
Nairobi — The American government has made good its threat to deal firmly with Kenyan leaders slowing down the reform process. It handed, or is handing, letters threatening travel bans on the supposed recalcitrant leaders, signalling the Obama administration’s distaste for poor governance.
By all counts, Kenya’s reform process has been disappointingly slow. Two years after signing the National Accord, most items listed under Agenda Four are yet to be acted upon. But this is not to say that nothing has been done.
The electoral process is undergoing changes, the police force is under new leadership and land policies are being reviewed.
However, the Judiciary, under Chief Justice Evan Gicheru, the State Law Office under Attorney-General Amos Wako and the civil service under Mr Francis Muthaura are untouched. Thousands of internally displaced people are still languishing in camps.
The appointment of kenya anti-corruption Commission director Aaron Ringera, which has consumed national energies in the past three weeks add to the disappointment about structural reforms. Even so, carrying out reforms is a long, tedious and arduous affair. It is not a one-person affair either; it is a collective undertaking.
So, whereas we welcome the push from friends like the US government to expedite the constitutional, institutional and political changes, we recognise the fact that the approach with which to deal with a leadership at a crossroads like Kenya’s matters most.
There is the danger of being seen to be too intrusive, patronising and antagonistic and, in the process, creating a backlash. Anti-reformists may seize this opportunity to whip up nationalistic emotions and turning the tide against the reform agenda.
It is questionable, for example, how in a situation in which several variables are at play, one can pin down 15 people as the obstacle to change.