Who will read BBI report? Certainly not ‘Wanjiku’

In the 25 years that I’ve taught at the university, getting students to read an assigned reading has been a major issue. Last year, I assigned students a text to read and make a presentation in class to demonstrate that they had actually read it. At the end of the course, a female student remarked that I had initiated in her the culture of reading.

My feeling on the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) is that most people will not read the report and will rely on what politicians or the media will tell them about it. The report is written in English, yet not many Kenyans can read and comprehend that language. Worse, it is written in technical legalese yet a Twaweza study says some Standard Seven pupils cannot tackle a Standard Three reading assignment.

Besides those impended by their reading inefficiencies are others who do not see the sense of reading it. The majority are apathetic and sceptical of Kenyan politics, have given up and do not believe anything can change for the better in Kenya.

They are jobless, their businesses have collapsed, they have been denied jobs because of their ethnicity, their children have failed examinations, they have to foot hospital bills and they have watched their patients die at home. Their tea, sugar and coffee and milk go unpaid, their roads are impassable and they have been wrongly imprisoned. They are, generally, angry with the system.

So, how do we get these Kenyans to read the BBI report and vote objectively without duress. On an FM radio talk show, the presenters asked when the BBI ‘researchers’ interviewed people, and most callers said they were not interviewed.

‘Wanjiku’s kind of governance recommendation would have been similar to that of the chama or an African market. So, where did this idea of a prime minister come from?

Religion is another feature that ‘Wanjiku’ would have focused on. In her eyes, leaders are God-given. Peace and harmony are from God. So, where did this concept in BBI that we should move from blood ties to ideas come from?

‘Wanjiku’ values blood ties; her mission is to connect people in space and across generations; she could not have trashed the public participation meetings.

‘Wanjiku’ is concerned about thriving and flourishing families and transfer of life across generations. She is concerned about solidarity with other women. She votes for protection of life and security of her children. Her concerns would be alcoholism and drug abuse that are wasting away the youth. ‘Wanjiku’s concern is bringing up healthy children. Her kind of report would reflect food, farm input and seed quality issues.

The BBI is not based on the norms, logic, values and strategies of ‘Wanjiku’, but is an elitist imposition that ‘they’ are asking Wanjiku to read and endorse. But is ‘Wanjiku’ a conservative or liberal progressive? The answer should determine whether we can bank on her to pass the document for us and do it without coercion.

But ‘Wanjiku’ knows it is not her document and will wait to be told what next. The one with the loudest and most convincing voice carries the day. She will walk to the ballot box emotionless, after being coerced, for she is loyal to her cause of caring and nurturing.

Like the Constitution or many elections she has participated in, she knows it will not address her issues; so, just give me the sugar and leso so that I give you a job for the next many years.

Dr Kinyanjui is a researcher at the Institute for Development Studies (IDS), the University of Nairobi, and author. yahoo.com.