Politicians' verbal insults betray lack of regard to policy

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Hypocrisy is underrated. Whether in our personal and family lives, or in public, we rely on a fair amount of tolerance for hypocrisy to maintain our collective commitment to aspirational values.

This schema allows for flawed people – which is all of us – to rhetorically (and at times through demonstration) shame those who flout the values that we aspire to as a society. In other words, we need not be angels to work towards a well-ordered society. All we need is an accountability mechanism where even flawed people call out bad behaviour when they see it, and are willing to sanction those who step out of line.

Take away this accountability mechanism and society descends into a state of value-free nihilist cynicism. And such a society is one not worth living in. I say this in light of events of this past week, in which President William Ruto repeatedly engaged in levels of mudslinging unbecoming of the highest public office in the land.

When reminded of the need for public decorum, the president’s allies retorted that those who were correcting were themselves not perfect. In other words, because we live in a deeply flawed society, we need not bother with any aspiration for presidents who model good behaviour. This is nihilist cynicism at its best.

It concedes to the worst versions of ourselves and gives social licence to the kind of behaviour that not only corrodes the soul but also yields a heartless society. The heartlessness is expressed in poor public services and extreme forms of exploitation of the vulnerable members.

We deserve a society where the President’s word is bankable. So when the President publicly accuses his former deputy of murder, we have to ask several follow-up questions. Did he know these facts before appointing the same man as his running mate? Have the police started investigations? If not, what does this say about our willingness to tolerate either brazen lying (on the part of the president) or impunity (murder is a capital offence)? What may sound to some like harmless mchongoano in market centres actually has serious implications.

Furthermore, the politics of Mchongoano betray a lack of seriousness among our political elites. At a time when we should be discussing how to achieve food security, make our infrastructure resilient to weather patterns, and unlock jobs for our youth, we are forced to spend time parsing unprintable words from senior politicians.

Some may argue it is possible to compartmentalise the mchongoano culture of campaigning from the hard work of governing. I disagree. Politicians and policymakers who revel in mchongoano in public tend to be equally unserious in private. A willingness to engage in public conduct that is shameless and unconcerned about the need to model good behaviour reveals character.

And character is not something one can switch on and off. Again, no one is calling for perfection. What Kenyans need are leaders who aspire to model good behaviour in an effort towards a well-ordered society.

The writer is a professor at Georgetown University