Courage is not enough

This past week while this blog was dominated by a group of young Kenyan activist and patriots demanding accountability at the World Social Forum, the main stream media was dominated by another Kenyan patriot, John Githongo and his demands for Kibaki’s government to show some accountability.

At first glance it is hard to see what the two groups have in common. The protest at the WSF was lead by a youth group from Korogocho, the third biggest slum in Nairobi. Their demands were simple: cheap food and free entrance into the WSF. Many of them laughed when they were asked if they were registered to vote. To register to vote you need an ID card. To get an ID card in Korogocho is, to put it politely, difficult. This group had never addressed their MP, saw ministers only on TV, and the only time they appeared on the president’s radar – indirectly – was when the first lady, while interrupting the party of her neighbor and tenant the World Bank Country Director, ordered the music to be turned down at his party, informing him “This is Muthaiga, not Korogocho.”

John Githongo on the other hand is an acclaimed journalist, has a degree in Economics and Philosophy, founded and run the Kenyan chapter of Transparency International, was appointed the first ever Permanent Secretary for Governance and Ethics reporting directly to the president. His demands involve investigations into corrupt multi million dollar government contracts which involve hiring forensic accountants and getting threats direct from the top of the government which forced him into exile in Oxford, England. This has lead to accusations that he is an agent of the British government, that he has betrayed his country, that he has betrayed his president, that he has betrayed his tribe and even the online wanainchi joined in calling him disappointment of the year 2005.

(Aside: how things change:
2005 – whistler blower called disappointment of the year
2006 – (different) whistle blower named person of the year.)

These two groups, the Korogocho youth at the WSF and John Githongo, seem to have little in common. But they do.

First of all they are patriots. The youth group started each speech at the WSF with a loud, “wazalendo muko?” They were clear in that they were not just fighting for themselves but for the soul of Kenya. Githongo is a patriot as his actions show. The man left a top job, security and comfort because he could not sit back and watch while the country was fleeced. Integrity. How many times do you hear that word when talking about the political elite in Kenya?

Secondly, both the youth and Githongo have the same lesson for us. Courage is not enough. If you want to fight, if you want to stand up for your rights, if you create a fairer system, you need courage, yes, but you also need a strategy. A well defined, well worked out strategy. Then you can shake the system. I wrote how the youth group was organised, had a team of spokespeople, knew who to target, had a list of grievances, had a list of demands, and had a way of making sure they were implemented. They were courageous to take on the WSF organising committee in the eye of the world media, the eye of the police and in the eye of the Red Berets a.k.a GSU. But that courage would have taken them nowhere if they did not have the strategy behind it to make sure their grievances were dealt with.

Githongo, as well is proving to be a master of strategy, just as they think they have him in mate, he manages to come out with an unexpected move. He wrote a dossier, they rubbished it, so he released audio tapes with damning evidence. They wanted to interview him, he agreed, but in London at the Kenyan High Commission. They “lost” the recording, he released a written statement. Eventually after months of dilly dallying the anti corruption authorities decided to close the case, the attorney general said the tapes were inaudible (as Madd asked – kwani they rest of us who could hear the recordings clearly have bionic hearing?), he released more tapes with more explosive evidence. Now everybody is wondering, what else does he have? Does he tapes of Ringera? Does he have tapes of the president? Suddenly Githongo seems to be holding all the cards again.

Courage is not enough. We saw it from the youth, we saw it from Githongo. To succeed in your goals, you need strategy as well.