A story is told of a Fox that had by some means got into the store-room of a theatre. Suddenly he observed a pretty face glaring down on him and began to admire it; but looking more closely he found it was only a mask such as actors use to put over their face. “Ah,” said the Fox, “you look very fine; it is a pity you have not got any brains.”
The moral of the fable is that the outside show is a poor substitute for inner worth.
Put differently, many things that we encounter with everyday are nothing but a masquerade; many of these things, if keenly searched for 'brains', would appear as empty as the mask in the fable.
BBI Report
This particular fable is perhaps the best descriptive analogy that the BBI report could ever get closer to being.
Resulting from the much tauted handshake between President Uhuru Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga in March 2018, the much awaited report had initially appeared like the beautiful mask until it was released on Wednesday, only to prove to 'have got no brains'. Senseless document one must admit.
Right from the onset, the backers of the frivolous handshake have been in a marathon offensive to persuade and convince Kenyans that the BBI is the much needed antidote to country's volatile unity and divisive elections.
Download PDF: Here is the Final BBI Report (3MBs)
However, a deep scrutiny of the BBI report reveals that indeed its outside showing is a poor substitute for its inner worth.
BBI not Worth the Paper it's Written on
Nothing in the 204 pages report shows that the unsolicited document funded by taxpayers sweat, has the ability to put to an end the divisive and fragile electioneering cycles that have dogged the country since the advent of multiparty democracy in 1992.
The BBI doesn't seem to address the historical injustices, uneven distribution of resources among other things that have been at the core of the violent electoral culture, yet the champions of the report want those of contrary view to embrace it as the mask that is outwardly pretty but a shell inside.
The truth, however, remains that the BBI is nothing more or less of a masquerade to massage the egos of political elite and perennial election losers who cannot simply live with the fact that in a democracy where competitive elections are regularly held, there will always be winners and losers.
How does expanding the executive solve the so-called 'the winner takes all' puzzle that the political leadership wants you and I to believe is the cause of electoral chaos?
Are they not the same politicians who incite the same for their parochial and selfish gains? Is it not even ironical that a document that purports to unite the country appears to be the most divisive ever?
The BBI offers no creative ideas on how to address the humongous challenges we face as a nation and as such, the best thing to do is to put the document to where it rightly belongs - the dustbin of history.
The real antidote to Kenya's endemic electoral violence lies in the full implementation of the current constitution and reports like the TJRC's that continue to gather dust in government shelves because the political class doesn't feel favoured by them.
In conclusion, let no one be blinded by the so-called 'pro-mwananchi' recommendations cunningly inserted in the report to make it marketable and acceptable among Kenyans.
These are nothing but disruptive smokescreens meant to deviate Kenyans from the real motive of the BBI which is to reward the political class at the expense of the poor masses who bear the brunt of the former's power con games and their egocentric Machiavellian tactics.
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