​This statement is to express complete opposition to, and disgust with, the Huduma Bill (2019). No sovereign country that respects the humanity of its people should contemplate translating into law the inhuman ideas that are entrenched in this bill.

The bill is due for public participation today, Wednesday 31 July from 9 am to 1 pm at at the Kenya School of Government, Lower Kabete campus, off Lower Kabete Road. 

The draft bill can be found here, and details on to send views to government can be found here and here.

This is my statement.
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1. MANDATORY STATUS OF HUDUMA NUMBER

a. The stated purpose of the Huduma Bill, which is “to promote efficient delivery of services,” is contradictory, because access to health and education are inalienable human rights, both under the United Nations Charter for Human Rights and under the Bill of Rights in the Constitution of Kenya (2010). Therefore, the respect of these rights cannot be made conditional upon bearing a document of the state. 

In their book “The Big Conservation lie,” Mbaria and Ogada chronicle how KWS’s historical disregard for science and scientists has made the organization fail to protect the sovereignty of this nation, which includes our biodiversity and wildlife. 

One major element of this failure is the fact that KWS directors have rarely been scientists. Based on the managerialist myth that all organizations are run well if run as businesses, KWS has appointed a succession of directors who put more emphasis on business-style management than on actual environmental science or the sovereignty our nation. And by the Kenyan nation, I mean every living thing here, not just human beings.

I feel so great to have listened to this TED talk by Susan Cain because - and this may surprise some - I don't and have never liked limelight. I hate administration. I don't like to turn to my neighbor during church service and whisper some thing the pastor wants us to repeat. 

I do play along, but only because I want to be part of a community. Or better, I want to get things out of the way so that what needs to be done gets done. For me, there are only two things that need to get done at work - facilitate students to learn, think and innovate, and protect my colleagues from the shenanigans of no pay and work overload so that they can maintain their dignity and can grow as academics. Because Africa needs ideas. And there can be no ideas if the people trained to think are hassling instead. Everything I do at work boils down to those two things, but my attempt to get things done is misinterpreted as my apparent "talent" for administration, my supposed promotion, and God calling me to "leadership," because Oprah and a whole host of other motivational speakers think that leadership, changing the world and other dramatic stuff is the only way to be human.

I actually like silence. I like quiet prayers. My favorite passage of the Bible is 1 Kings 19, where God did not appear in the earthquake, the wind or the fire, but in a small voice. I like to read and think. I love beauty, color and ordinary moments like a smile, a touch, a thoughtful text, or a good poem. I do express my opinion a lot, but it's not because I want to be clever. It's because much of the stuff I comment about is what I consider an obstacle to enjoying ordinary moments. We cant have a good life when politicians are wasting money that should go to public services like transport, healthcare and education. We cant have genuine relationships when love and intimacy have been distorted by commercialization and an omnipresent, hyper-sexualized media. We cant work in dignity and live harmoniously when people are obsessed with power instead of placing focus on people. Ideas can't flourish in Africa if the institutions that are supposed to encourage them are more focused on money, power and conformity. If these evils din't happen, I would be happy to spend quiet days, marveling at God's creation, writing poetry and mentoring the young people who pass through our corridors as they blossom. Yes. I'm an introvert.

My favorite quote from Susan Cain's talk:

Enjoy.

Recently my colleague Larry Ndivo and I travelled for the second phase of a discussion over a service we’re thinking our department can offer the community. Personally, this was my dream: that we would be offering our greatest asset: our ideas. However, for those ideas to work, the government officials had to be clear in their heads what the goal was, and our job as the creatives and as thinkers would have been to thrash out the details of getting to that goal.

At our first encounter, everything sounded quite great as they spoke of what they wanted to do. There were big dreams and big names involved. Fair enough. It all sounded great, until I chewed on it a few hours after the meeting and finally realized that actually, we had nothing to go on. I went and vented with Larry later that evening, feeling quite disappointed because I had been excited about this project.

So when the officials called to ask for a working document, I said that we needed to hear from the person in charge so that it was clear in our heads what the bigger picture was. They considered that fair enough. We set up the date a week in advance, and on the day itself, Larry and I travelled and arrived two hours in advance. I had taken this thing very seriously and dressed up. But do I say.

By the time we left the place, we had a clearer picture of what the officials were looking for. But we got it not from what they explicitly said, but was from what they talked about. Again, I don’t mind that as much as the fact they gave us no indication of what they were willing to commit in terms of time and resources. So right now, we’re going to work on some ideas, and spell out the resources those ideas will need for them to work, but frankly speaking, I’m a little skeptical of what will be available.

Until this week, I always used to think of the story of Thomas, the disciple who would not believe Jesus had risen until he had placed his fingers on the Lord’s hands and touched the Lord’s side, as a story reprimanding people for not believing without direct experience. After all, Jesus did say that that those who believed without seeing are blessed. 

But now I realize that Thomas did a good thing to doubt, and that’s why the story is there. Because he was honest enough to doubt, the Lord used the opportunity to prove that He had resurrected in the flesh. And Jesus was gracious – He did give in and allow Thomas to touch Him, because what was most important to Christ was that Thomas believed, not that Thomas was proved wrong. And if Christ could die on a cross so that people believe, appearing to Thomas to clear doubt is such a small thing in comparison. 

And Christ’s action shows us what leadership is. The leader knows that there’s no resurrection without pierced hands, a wounded side and death on the Cross. And that’s why the leader is confident enough to be challenged and to answer questions. Leaders know that there is no resurrection without death, and no faith without doubt. They say “blessed are those who believe without seeing,” only after allowing doubters to put their hands on their wounded hands and pierced side. 

That is why doubt is godly. Christ will use our doubt to help us experience the faith and power of the resurrection. And because of that experience, we Kenyans can have the confidence to ask our leaders to do the same. If the people we voted in promise big things, they must allow us mere mortals to touch their wounded hands and their pierced sides. If they instead turn around and call us names, they are simply confirming our doubt. 

A week or two ago, I was chosen to represent administrators at our university’s council. Initially, I hadn’t been thinking about the council but about how honored I was to continue the legacy of two colleagues whom I greatly admire for being rigorous scholars and leaders who take care of the “least of these.” 

I would have remained blissful if I didn’t start receiving congratulations.