The Monster tamer
How to resist corruption? How to elect the right way? And what is democracy all about? – Kenya’s civil society hungers for maturity and sovereignty. How to achieve them is explained by Reverent Jephthah Gathaka…
Once upon our time, there is a small village on the edge of the Rift Valley which in this part of Kenya forms a lush and green dream landscape. It looks like the perfect setting for a fairy tale. A fairy tale with a greedy monster that indeed haunts this peaceful village and the whole country. That monster is called Corruption. It is a big, ugly and very old monster that has four favourite dishes: Society, economy, culture and politics. In Kenya, this monster has been growing for years. Of course, the small village on the edge of the Rift Valley also has its own experiences with the monster and its ugly sisters called mismanagement and fraud. Recently, they gulped the plans for a new health care centre and digested them to an exclusive personal toy for the local Member of Parliament: He misused the means of the “Constituencies’ Development Fund” which once was meant to be what it is called but has become a invitation for self enrichment of the MPs who manage the money that is given to their constituency.
“Old Africa” as bad it gets.
But there is a growing number of friends of modern Africa that try to tame the old monsters.
One of them is Reverend Jepthah Gathaka, head of the Kenyan NGO Ecumenical Centre for Justice and Peace (ECJP). A monster called corruption is the name of brochure which is written by Jephthah Gathaka. He uses it and other media that are written and illustrated in a very popular way for his civic education workshops all over the country.
In the small school of the small village on the edge of the Rift Valley, Reverend Gathaca speaks in front of about 50 adults on children’s chairs: “You can resist corruption and bad politicians! You need to know your rights, you need to inform yourselves and vote for the right people! Your vote counts and the leaders you elect is the service you get!”, says Gathaca. His listeners eagerly take notes. Their hunger for information is big.
For ten years, Jephthah Gathaca and his team have been organising civic education workshops all over the country. The ECJP trains “multiplicators” to organise workshops by themselves and to bring the message to the grassroots level. The workshops deal with issues like fighting corruption, human rights, the political system, local government and development etc. This year, they focus on the general elections that will take place in Kenya end of this year. How does the election system work? What qualities should a politician have? How can one get information about candidates, parties and programmes? And how can one resist common tries of the candidates to buy one’s vote for a sum which is worth a lunch? “A politician should be a servant, not a king”, says participant Livingstone Shikuku after the workshop with Reverend Gathaca. Shikuku wants to registrate as a voter, he wants to inform himself about the candidates and he wants to chose the one that promises the best way for the development of the area around the small village. “I don’t want to be the ball anymore, I want to be the player.”
But do these modern Africans sustainably succeed when the old monsters are still there? “A lot has changed in the last years”, says Reverend Gathaca: “Kenya has become freer and the civil society has become stronger. We have more self-confidence to overcome the monsters.” That is thanks to modern Africans like Reverend Jephthah Gathaca.
