If only our leaders took responsibility, they would have a lot more authority

Vehicles stop as digital traffic lights control the jam in Nairobi

By Mutuma Mathiu

In Summary

• The story was not fondled by as many editors as it normally would, and therefore it went to press with one of the worst mistakes of the year.
• The moral? Responsibility. It was my responsibility to ensure the accuracy of the newspaper I am entrusted with.
• I am writing because people in public life in Kenya have no sense of responsibility and are never held to account.

I had a terrible time last week. One of our very good reporters had a Freudian moment.

Back-grounding an innocuous little story about the First Lady, Mrs Margaret Kenyatta, he referred to her as Mrs Margaret Kibaki. I have seen references to President Uhuru Kibaki as well, a couple of times.

Now, you are free to speculate as to why seasoned, hard-bitten reporters would make errors like these. I think it has something to do with the way the brain trains itself. If you say President, it fills the rest, from habit.

Editors looked at that little construction, they read ‘First Lady’ and their brains used experience and frequent usage to fill the rest.

Because it was a little story, or perhaps because we were having a bad day, it was not fondled by as many editors as it normally would, and therefore it went to press with one of the worst mistakes of the year.

The calls started coming in at 4am, at which point there was not much we could do. Hundreds of thousands of copies of the Daily Nation had already been printed and were in vans en route to the market.

The Twitterati were the first to work on us, followed by the rest of the netizens. I had little conversations with the First Lady’s press team which left me feeling not very clever.

As for my bosses, let us just say that they were not sending flowers and biscuits for publishing 127 clean stories and one with a few morphemes wrong.

The whole world was at my door. It was clear in their minds whose fault the whole thing was. The moral? Responsibility. It was my responsibility to ensure the accuracy of the newspaper I am entrusted with.

If anything goes wrong, there is no hole big enough to hide me. Many are the nights I get home, then come back to the office to make sure.

Well, I am not quite writing this to boast about what a fantastic system newspapers have. I am writing because people in public life in Kenya have no sense of responsibility and are never held to account.

This week we have had the most horrible traffic in Nairobi. Even at 10pm, it is sometimes still impossible to get around. Two days ago, I took almost an hour to move barely two kilometres. Thousands of other motorists were in the same position.

That day the economy lost millions of shillings in squandered man hours and good petrol burnt for nothing. And it is happening nearly every day. So whose responsibility is it?

Who spends sleepless nights because he knows that it is his responsibility to keep the city moving?

In the coming days, hundreds, possibly thousands of Kenyans, including young children, are going to be killed. They will be driven at breakneck speed on the wrong side of the road and massacred by maniacs who have no regard for life. Whose responsibility is it?

Maj-General Hussein Ali, a man I have some regard for, once said something profound. He said you can delegate authority, but never responsibility. He means the mistakes of your juniors are your responsibility.

If I was the President, I would issue a memo spelling out my expectations of every public official. So, if Kenyans died in a bus because an officer was bribed to overlook that it did not have a speed governor, the Inspector-General of Police would take responsibility.

If students failed exams, the Minister for Education would take responsibility. If doctors misdiagnose patients, the Minister for Health would take responsibility. Their job would be to find solutions.

In six months, there would be pools of bureaucratic blood on the floor, many mistakes would have been made, a lot of people would have lost their jobs unfairly, but this would be an efficient and well-functioning place.

And the systems would be refined to eliminate their mistakes and we would have a civilised country.

Responsibility is the price you pay for authority. You can have authority without responsibility if you are Attila the Hun.

* * * *
Where I come from, there is a saying that to an idiot, his foolishness looks like the pinnacle of refinement.

Do you really think that a shackled press is in anyone’s interest? Do you think it is a smart way to do business? Do you think anyone will respect a country that respects no rights?

Do you think investors will be interested in a country whose leaders do not value democracy?

Kenyans, your leaders have planted a little breeze. Please take out your baskets for the typhoon harvest that will surely follow.

mmathiu@ke.nationmedia.com