Jubilee has done a pretty good job!

A little optimist goes a long way!

Have you ever heard a person who speaks only in the superlative? At any one time, they are either burning or freezing, wildly ecstatic or deeply depressed, having the best day of their lives, or the absolute worst. We would find such people ridiculous. And unbelievable. Why? Because it’s impossible to travel so quickly between two poles, without passing through a diverse topography of experiences and, therefore, emotions in between. People of superlatives speak as though human experiences are binary; as though they can be counted on two sides of a coin—and such volatile individuals are always a coin toss away from the best and the worst of things.

Well, public assessments of the present administration can often sound like this.

Between official opposition propaganda incumbency supporting sycophants, there is little room for critical, thoughtful, reflective discourse on the state of the nation, and the performance of our Executive.

One has to appreciate that the Executive itself has demonstrated a considerable level of maturity and self-reflection. They trumpet their triumphs but they also admit to the challenges that they face. They are willing to say: “We have made progress” but “we are not there, yet”; “we have done well in this regard” and “we have made mistakes on this issue, which we are learning from”. I mean, they are even willing to apologize, sack people, and review their stance on issues—an unprecedented and welcome addition to Kenyan politics.

And the President himself is willing to admit “I am only human” and ask his country to “pray for me”. That is the kind of sincere, self-assessment that leads to genuine progress. It is the kind of honest self-assessment that suggests that the Executive is not merely concerned with engaging in public relations “spin” that makes it look good, but is actually concerned with the altogether bigger business of actually becoming good. It’s the kind of thing that is worth celebrating, not dismissing as resignation, or criticizing as reluctance.

In fact, the ardent critics, and, to be fair, many supporters of the regime, would do well to take a leaf from this book of balance.

Unfortunately, many critics and supporters can only conceive of Government as one thing: the Executive is either primary perpetrator or chief victim of corruption, the Government has either done nothing at all, or it has done everything it possibly can; the President is either a leader unto darkness and death and the worst thing to happen to Kenya, or he is an irreproachable island of innocence sadly surrounded by seas of sleaze and incompetence; he is either almighty and able to fix all of Kenya’s problems or he is powerless — held hostage by powers beyond his control.

Surely these extremes are silly? Surely these narratives are simplistic? Surely there is still an attendant danger that comes with these kinds of political single stories?

The negligence of nuance in public assessments of our Government, our President and our State will, in the end, serve to hinder rather than help us. And the danger is that many ill-intentioned or blithely ignorant people can exploit the naivety that this negligence betrays, to carry out their own self-interested agendas.

So for our own sake, let us wake up. Let’s stop parroting and start thinking. If we are going to have a court of public opinion, let us at least make sure that we, the judges and jurists are concerned with justice—with being fair, objective, reasonable and honest, not one-sided, bitterly biased, and bone-headed in our denial of the facts.

And if we were to be a more just court, we might talk something more like this:

Is our country perfect? No. Is it making progress? Undeniably, yes. Is our President perfect? No. Has he moved our country forward—well, if it is making progress then presumably he has. Is our Government perfect? No. But is it becoming better? I certainly think so. Will our politics and governance be transformed overnight? Not a chance. Will they be transformed in the very near future? Hardly likely. But are we seeing a progressive transformation of the political space? Bet on it. Truth be told.

And with an election coming up, the question on Kenyans’ minds should be whether those who are presenting themselves as alternatives to this regime, offer rational assessments of the regime’s strengths and failures, realistic solutions to the existing challenges, and concrete plans of action to move Kenya forward, or whether they are merely opportunists offering the kind of mindless, superficial opposition that’s decadent in its dissent, high on simple superlatives, and low on real substance.