Who says that 'professionals' are the answer?

One of the best comedies to come out of the post-Referendum phase is the idea that 'professionals' are the saviours our Counties, or future Counties, have been waiting for. Stories abound of 'professionals' meeting and crafting strategies for the effective management of their Counties, or Counties from which they 'traditionally' hail. During these sessions, sometimes hundreds of 'invited' guests pontificate on the priorities of the Counties while at the same time blaming the relative backwardness of 'their' Counties on the incumbent and past Members of Parliament. By professionals we of course mean doctors, lawyers, university dons, engineers, architects and accountants and others who are so professionally trained. It has become a truism that the future success of the County is in the hands of trained professionals capable of managing the huge resources that are soon to be devolved to the County Government. But is this vision reasonable or even true?

At the close of the Twentieth Century President Moi decided to professionalise the civil service, either willingly or as some would have it after being arm-twisted by the World Bank and IMF. Towards this end, he appointed Dr. Richard Leakey, the renowned paleontologist and conservationist, as the Head of the Civil Service. He in turn, put together what came to be known as the Dream Team. Among their first order of business was the retrenchment of thousands of civil servants, offering them Golden Handshakes to retire early. It was argued that the civil service had become so bloated it was virtually the cause of the poor service delivery by the government. 

A decade on, the effects of the ministrations of the Dream Team are being felt and government is still as inefficient as ever. Poverty, disease and ignorance still stalk the land as colossi and the blame is still being heaped squarely on the civil service. 

When President Kibaki was sworn in in 2003 he promised that the government would serve the people better. He gave up many of the trappings of power that President Moi had so made his own. He allowed university vice-chancellors to be chosen on merit and professional credentials in the hope that the quality of higher education in Kenya would be improved. Today, sadly, the University of Nairobi is facing stiff competition from the new kids on the block, including the Mount Kenya University and the Kenya Methodist University. Indeed, when one walks along University Way, one cannot but notice the new edifices of higher education that bear the names of these new upstarts. 

The University of Nairobi, on the other hand, is still caught in a time-warp, reacting to the changing market situation rather than leading the charge. Prof. George A. O. Magoha, the vice-chancellor, is out of his depth. So is Prof. Olive Mugenda, his counterpart at Kenyatta University. They do not have the managerial experience to manage institutions that have thousands of staff and billions of shillings in resources. The proof of this can be seen in their interference in students' elections and the fact that their institutions are incapable of competing with the best of the best globally, regionally or locally. Year in, year out, our state universities trail international ones in rankings of universities published by global institutions. This situation will not change unless there is a change in the manner which they are managed. The only qualification that seems to matter to the thousands of academic staff at these institutions is the fact that both vice-chancellors are professors in their respective fields and not whether they are effective managers, or even managers at all.

Many academics have been tapped to manage government departments and other institutions. Dr. Ayub Macharia, the acting Director-General, came to NEMA from Kenyatta University. His predecessor, Dr. Musya Mwinzi, came from Moi University. The Ministry of Environment and Mineral Resources' permanent secretaries, barring the incumbent, have lately been from academia. Dr. Bitange Ndemo is in charge of the Ministry of Information. Dr. Alfred Mutua is the official Government Spokesman. Their records, as are those of other academics tapped to be managers in government, have been anything but stellar. And now a narrative is being promoted that 'professionals' are the answer to what ails us in an executive sense, that they will make the best option for the leaders of the County Governments set to be inaugurated in 2013.

What we need are politicians with managerial experience or managers with political skills. One of the most pernicious fall-outs of the end of the KANU Era was the complete abandonment of the political arena by 'professionals'. They do not participate actively in the management of political parties and they do not contribute their time or their intellectual capacity to addressing the political challenges that face the nation. 

The idea that politicians are solely to blame for the quagmire we find ourselves in should be discounted. Politicians do not exist in a vacuum. They must play to the gallery to secure votes. That their ideas remain unchallenged is a testimony to the political apathy of 'professionals'. Now they purport to have all the answers and wish to lock out the current and past crop of politicians from the management of the County Governments come 2013. Given that their involvement in government and governance has not been salutary, someone should remind them that simply because they have become the best in their fields, be it in a professional or academic sense, does not mean that they can transfer those skills to the political arena. And, governing the county will be a political act first and a professional one second. 

They purport to speak for the silent masses, prescribing solutions to the problems of 'their' people. None of them has shown whether they have the support of these people. None of them has proven that they have the political skills required to negotiate the political settlements that will arise with the creation of the county government. None of them has displayed any political skills necessary to ensure that not only will they be elected to govern, but that they will enjoy the support of the masses when they do decide to enter elective politics. The solution to the problems we face today will not be found in the managerial skills of these men and women, but in the political skills of the the men and women eventually elected as governors and deputy-governors. If they are incapable of understanding and navigating the treacherous waters of the political world, their skills and experiences will count for nothing and 'their' people will continue to be assailed by the triple problems of disease, ignorance and poverty.

Before we can count on the skills and experiences of 'professionals', we must first re-create the political systems at the county level. The numbers of political party members must go up and these parties must allow for the diversity of opinions in addressing the needs of the communities. These so-called professionals must lead the way in re-awakening the political party system, where political ideas and solutions can be found. Only then can they purport to speak on behalf of 'their' people. Only then can they offer themselves for high office. If they are incapable of shaping the political discussions within their Counties, they cannot expect to succeed in their quests to become governors, or senators, or MPs.