There are various accounts, in the media and on the street, concerning furious lobbying for plum positions expected to be available in the Kenyan public service following the power-sharing agreement between PNU and ODM. It is understood that, on the one hand, all and sundry have rushed to submit their CVs to and through whomever they believe have influence; and, on the other, that the parties to the accord (particularly ODM) see that this is the time to reward loyal activists (mostly friends and relatives) and even professionals. Therein lies the problem, if these accounts are largely true.
Certainly, professional head-hunting should never be conducted this way, and true professionals should never offer their skills in this demeaning way (though one suspects that many already have). Two wrongs don't make a right. Loyalty and professional/intellectual merit are two very different things. Loyalty as the over-riding criterion breeds sycophancy -- and this is not the way to tackle the many developmental and equity issues that Kenya is going to face in the 21st century.
Moreover, if it is true that the retirement age (55 years) is going to be strictly observed when new appointments are made in the next two weeks or so, then many who have spent countless hours proving or professing their loyalty through acts of commission or omission are going to be terribly disappointed.
This will not necessarily be a bad thing, as the professionals/intellectuals will quickly discover that their lives can and will continue pretty much as before. The losers will be the politicians themselves, whose hold on the minds of these well-educated Kenyans will dramatically weaken -- as they will no longer be able to promise a personal future they obviously have no capacity or real inclination to deliver.
I think we are going to see the emergence of a more independent-minded professional/ intellectual class (and not just within the legal fraternity). I think it is going to be more assertive and more critical. I think the country will be so much the better for it. Our future cannot be secured by "cheering crowds" alone.
