MPs should be the last people to hurl stones at governors

The alacrity with which human beings see faults in others and point them out is legendary. Blaming everyone else apart from ourselves is as ancient as mankind. From looks, conduct, to general comportment, it never ceases to amaze me how swift people are in judging others.

In the Holy Bible, the book of 2 Samuel 11 to be precise, we read of King David of Israel. Fondly referred to by God as a man after his own heart, David was an irrefutably valiant warrior. But one time after dispatching his army to war, he retreated to the comfort of his palace. While walking on the roof of his residence in the evening, he spotted a beautiful woman bathing and on inquiring who this lady was, he was informed that it was Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, one of the soldiers doing battle with the enemy.

Overwhelmed by the urge to sleep with Bathsheba, David send for her and indeed committed adultery with the woman. As if this was not sufficiently disgusting, David instructed Joab, the captain of his army, to position Uriah at the front-line of the battle. His intention was to have Uriah killed so that he could take the now widowed Bathsheba to be one of his wives.

When God sent Nathan to go register his displeasure with David's sordid act, Nathan delivered the message but indirectly. He commenced by sharing with David the story of a rich man who owned many flocks and a poor man whose only possession was one well-fed ewe lamb which he treasured immensely.

One day a visitor called on the wealthy man and rather than take one of the many sheep he possessed and give it to the visitor, he forcefully took the poor man's lamb and gifted it to his visitor. So enraged was King David with the heartless action of the rich man that he cursed such a man deserved nothing but death. And then Nathan dropped the bombshell by informing David that the cruel rich man was him while the poor man was Uriah whose wife David (the rich man) had taken away.

We see something more or less similar to David's judgmental attitude towards the unjust rich man in modern day society. Nowhere are such scenarios played out with remarkable clarity more than in the political arena. Last week an MP introduced a motion in the National Assembly to ostensibly discuss the conduct of the 47 county governors. It was the contention of this honourable member that the kleptocracy and profligacy of governors had reached horrifying proportions and the sooner they are tamed the better for the country.

Like safari ants, MPs rallied behind their colleague's motion heaping all manner of blame on the governors. One by one the honourable members tore into the conduct of governors terming them as the foremost enemies of devolution and a good for nothing lot. One of the MPs shared of how while attending an event in his constituency he heard some of the people in attendance refer to someone as 'His Excellency' and wondered why the President was visiting his constituency without his knowledge. But on closer look, he learnt with disbelief that it was the area governor being referred to as 'His Excellency'. Another member regaled his colleagues and the public with tales of how governors were now mini presidents with first ladies to boot and called for urgent action to be taken to cut them to size.

Admittedly, since the inception of county governments, governors, with the exception of just a few, have, in every respect, conducted themselves in a manner that is indisputably inimical to the ethos and objects of devolution. Their gravitation towards big spending has confounded friend and foe alike. Fears abound that unless sobriety prevails, the whole devolution project may as well come a cropper.

The question we must, nonetheless, pose to MPs is, do they have the moral authority to roundly lampoon and chastise governors? Since when did austerity become one of the lode stars by which MPs navigate? In my view MPs should be the last people to hurl stones at governors. MPs are largely to blame for the burgeoning wage bill that the already heavily taxed Kenyan taxpayer has to bear. Rather than be part of the solution they have unapologetically elected to be part of the problem.

Like King David, they are seeing the speck in the other guy's eye and turning a blind eye to the speck in their own eyes. Like governors whose greed for power they are faulting, they recently declared themselves to be superior to senators and insisted that the National Assembly and not the Senate is the lone repository of real power. Like governors whose appetite for astronomical salaries and allowances they find reprehensible, they recently arm-twisted the Salaries and Remuneration Commission into awarding them perks that can hardly be sustained by our economy.

Lashing out at governors for doing the selfsame things MPs are guilty for reeks of unacceptable hypocrisy. MPs cannot delude anyone. They are in Parliament to further their own interests and not that of the people they purport to represent.

This article was published in the Star Newspaper on 20-7-2013