Interesting times as Kenya shows way while West confounds

The United Kingdom just elected, with a massive majority, someone who rugby-tackles school children, flew around on a crane waving a Union Jack as Mayor of London during the Olympics, and is widely considered to have lied to a nation during the infamous Brexit campaign.

He is someone who lied about Turkey being on the cusp of joining the European Union. He lied about the UK being flooded with refugees, and he lied about the UK’s National Health Service ‘dividend’ of hundreds of millions of pounds upon an eventual exit from the EU.

At the same time, Boris Johnson’s opponent was certainly no better; indeed, many would say he was a lot worse. Jeremy Corbyn, an activist who did not seem to have graduated from his days of extreme left-wing student.

In the meantime; over the pond, we have Donald Trump, a misogynistic populist who called Hispanic voters from Mexico “rapists and criminals” and whose clown act appears on Twitter on a daily basis.  His opponents on the left are also creeping towards the shallow extremes.

In US politics, as with the UK, the sensible centre ground has gone missing.

And extremist shallow politics is lethal for both the US and the UK. It is alienating, disenfranchising and polarising entire political classes and ethnic groups.

In the UK, the Muslims claim Boris Johnson is an Islamophobe, while the reports of institutionalised Jew hatred in Corbyn’s Labour party led to the mass resignation of Jewish Labour Members of Parliament. 

Likewise, in America, bipartisanship has almost disappeared entirely from Congress. Republicans and Democrats no longer socialise in the same friendship circles, and social media, political news sites and cable networks create echo chambers, which instead of bringing people together, actually tear them further apart.

Meanwhile in Kenya, things are being done a bit differently. After generations of polarisation, of hatred between ethnic communities and political dynasties, the leaders of our nation are making an attempt to bring the people together. To build bridges!

And in order to do that, a conscious decision was made that deep foundations must be built. Not just another political alliance which can be broken overnight. Not just another party which will spring up in one election cycle and disappear in the next. But a Building Bridges Initiative that will be built on real depth, real roots, real content.

This is why the BBI research team went across the country, far and wide, on a listening tour to ensure that the people’s voices were heard. Every single county was visited on this research project.

While of course the BBI was instigated by two previously warring political dynasties, it was to be built and designed from the bottom up. A political reform process for the people by the people.

Furthermore, both Raila Odinga and Uhuru Kenyatta have stated that any real constitutional, or deep and lasting political reforms, must also be ratified by the people. And learning again from their Western counterparts they knew that a simple, shallow question would not be enough.

The simplistic Brexit question of ‘in or out’, ‘remain or exit’, for example, left Britons with a Hobson’s choice. No one knew what they were voting for as to this very day, people still do not know what Brexit means, what Brexit is, and how Brexit will look.

The BBI on the other hand touches on a plethora of crucial matters for the country in a thorough manner. From how to fight corruption to what type of political system we should have, from how to enfranchise minorities, to how to build a responsible, unifying and peaceful national ethos.

Unlike the UK and the US who have chosen the path of division, polarised politics and shallow political discourse, we, in Kenya, are charting a very different course built upon deep foundations and a real desire for peace, unity and inclusivity in our politics.