Where's the beef?

It is strange being in a country that does not live or breath politics 24/7. The experience is strangely disorienting. I have been here now a week and it is unusual not to have the faces of politicians plastered all over the TV screen like it is back home. There is a leadership battle in the Labour Party and Prime Minister Julia Gillard is facing opposition from members of her coalition but you would not know it. In Kenya, when William Ruto and Musalia Mudavadi had a falling out with their party leader, it became a story that lasted months on TV and in the Op/Ed pages of the newspapers. In Australia, the biggest news is the Olympics and then the 2014 G20 meetings in Brisbane and Cairns.

Kenyans have elevated their politicians to the levels of the gods of Greek mythology without getting any love in return. It is embarrassing to compare Kenya and Oz in this regard: politicians Down Under are important but their importance is seen in the context of the work they are supposed to do including the proper management of the economy in the face of such global cataclysms. In contrast, Kenyan politicians are important because they are politicians not because of the achievements or the policies they may or may not advance. Looking at the state of the economy or the environment or education in Australia, one is struck by the conscientiousness of the local politician in meeting the needs of his constituents. The same cannot be said for the his Kenyan counterpart who is more interested in being re-elected to the total exclusion of everything else. What a vomit-inducing parasitic class!