We are stakeholders in government

The on-going suffering of Kenyans due to the vagaries of drought and famine in the northern parts of the country, and in some parts of the coastal belt and Ukambani, have once more led to calls for the government to do something by members of the Fourth Estate and the Third Sector, with faith-based organisations, among others, taking the lead interventions to avert what everyone, including the executive branch of the Government of Kenya, as a national disaster. Those calling for a more muscular intervention by Mwai Kibaki's government are also stating that they are willing to partner with the government, in their capacity as stakeholders, to deliver aid to the drought and famine-stricken parts of the country.

This is language that has been promoted ever since the Third Sector came into its own, but more so since the 1992 Earth Summit held in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil by the United Nations. The 2,400 NGOs represented at the Earth Summit developed a whole new vocabulary of their own and, consequently, changed the manner in which government, all three branches of it, was perceived by the ordinary citizen. The use of terms like 'stakeholder' and 'partner' came to dominate the discourse regarding the proper role of government, and in Kenya, where the government has abysmally failed on many fronts, this language evoked a powerful image among the citizens, one in which they no longer had to suffer the failures of the government but could contribute meaningfully to solving many of the problems that made their day-to-day lives a great challenge.

The risk inherent in this kind of language is that citizens begin to see their government as an abstract, something that can be wished away at best, or merely ignored, in the hope that it will stop its meddling in their lives. As a result, it is now fashionable to describe the government as a 'stakeholder' in development when it should be that people are the stakeholders in their government. The view of the government as an abstract must be destroyed; the elected branch of the government, that is the legislature, has traditionally provided members of the executive branch, who in turn have appointed the public, and other, officers responsible for carrying out the mandate of the government. In a roundabout way, the mandate of the government is the mandate of the people. Therefore, there is no way that the government could be considered a stakeholder in the sense that the Third Sector is trying to portray it as. The idea that the government has a stake in what is its mandate is wrong. It is the citizenry who have a stake in the government, and hence who are in need of assurances that where their government has failed in its duty to them, it will find alternative solutions or strategies. Unless we change this perception, then it matters not the reforms being implemented in the government, for they may not enjoy legitimacy.

The government only exists at the sufferance of its people. Without its people, the government ceases to exist or enjoy legitimacy. This is the reason why absolute monarchies and dictatorships are illegitimate; their subjects are not stakeholders in their governments and hence do not, in any way, shape the agenda of the government. It is for this reason that the reforms in Kenya are critical; Kenyans must also re-involve themselves in the affairs of their government, participating fully in the manner that it is constituted, how it conducts itself and how it prioritises its affairs. Had we maintained a proper relationship with our government the speed and depth to which its officers fell into corrupt ways would perhaps been reduced and effectively managed, and Kenyans would not be begging for food and water every time the rains failed.