CONSTITUTION BUBBLES OF PESSIMISM: WAS IT A CASE OF IRRATIONAL EXUBERANCE?

August 27 will forever remain engraved in our minds. It was characterized by euphoria and a sense of patriotism never seen before. Each and every one of us had so many lofty dreams of the new constitution. The Prime Minister was upbeat that this day was the “start of an equal, just and united society.” On the other hand the Vice president said that this “was the beginning of a new era in the life of our great country.” We never imagined that this healthy optimism can quickly turn into irrational exuberance. Hardly a month after the much touted promulgation, our hopes about the new constitution are gradually inflating in to a pessimism bubble.

We have witnessed Cabinet Ministers speaking in dissonance on matters constitutionalism. Their deliberate missteps coupled with their half-hearted political gestures are threatening to derail the efforts at anchoring the new constitution. Forgive me if I should as much as cast some of them as self-serving clowns who will hasten to sacrifice their political convictions for the convenience of the hour. You will know them from their ability to flip flop on issues of national importance. In the words of Adlai Stevenson, these are politicians who will cut down a redwood tree, then mount the stump and make a speech for conservation. I bet you now understand why Will Rogers opined that “…people are taking the comedians seriously and the politicians as a joke.”

Already we are witnessing dangerous partisanship in the interpretation the phrase “restructuring of the provincial administration’ to suit the operation of the counties. We have also seen them differ on the extent to which the government should cooperate with the ICC. It would seem they are too happy to go along with a strategy of pause and delay lest they imperil disharmony in their fragile parties ahead of the 2012 general elections.

Unfortunately, these ministers are not the only doomsayers. The confusion in the cabinet seems to have percolated into the uniformed police force. Last week, media houses profiled the General Service Unit (GSU), a paramilitary wing of the regular police force; make a mockery of the police reforms. The country watched in consternation as the GSU vent out their pent up emotions on the Administration Police. So ruthless and brutal were the GSU that they kept on bludgeoning and punching APs who had crouched in total submission. What if it was a civilian who had been unfortunate enough to be a victim of their torture? Believe me you; this marauding pack would have bludgeoned him to death and perhaps even earned a promotion for a job well done!

Hardly a week later media outlets beamed footage of bullet riddled bodies of suspected Mungiki adherents scattered in the Kinale forest in Kiambu County. It does not take a genius to figure out that these are just but a fraction of the so many cases of extra judicial killings.

Sad, right? Well, even though I am far from being pusillanimous, I am tempted to believe in the vice president`s change of heart. His latest advice to Kenyans is that they should not place so much hope on the star-spangled constitution. Is this his way of telling us that we should brace up for more shockers? Is this gloom pervasive?

TOME FRANCIS,
BUMULA.
http://twitter.com/tomefrancis