Why councils of elders shouldn't abdicate core responsibilities for politics

The once revered and impactful councils of elders have lost their mojo. Today, most of them are either a collection of failed politicians rejected by voters, or motley of village elders curated to advance the interests of politicians.

The councils initially wielded clout and advanced the interests of their communities, with bias for cultural enforcement and enhancement, and in ensuring the moral fabric of society remained intact. 

The respectable elders often met, deliberated and passed judgment or gave verdicts that resonated with society. It was never about national politics. Today, however, elders’ councils are all about politics, echoing vacuous statements from morally bankrupt politicians and fighting among themselves on behalf of feckless politicians. 

In a typical case of the kettle calling the pot black, the Western Elders Forum met in Kakamega last week for two reasons. First was to be apprised of what is going on within ODM after the death of party leader Raila Odinga. Secondly, they met to castigate the current leaders in the region, ostensibly, for their inability to address issues critical to the community, especially the deaths of once lucrative industries in the region. 

No doubt, these concerns are genuine, but the elders lack the moral authority to castigate leaders over things they themselves could not handle. 

Chairman of the Western Elders Forum Patrick Wangamati served as a nominated MP between 2013 and 2017. Previously, he served as the mayor of Webuye town. Noah Wekesa, who is a member of the forum, served several stints as MP Kwanza constituency and Cabinet Minister between 1988 and 2007. The two have nothing much to write home about on matters development in their areas. 

Where is the nexus between the exercise of democracy within ODM, and the revival of industries in western Kenya, notably Pan Paper Mills, Nzoia Sugar and Mumias Sugar Company? As groups, councils of elders have no business with political parties except in their members’ individual capacities. 

And neither do they have authority to summon political party leaders. In its misguided zeal, however, the western elders forum reportedly summoned ODM Secretary General Edwin Sifuna and Vihiga County Senator Godfrey Osotsi to explain developments within ODM. What bearing does ODM’s internal party mechanisms have on development in Mulembe nation remains a mystery. 

The politics of industries in western, indeed, anywhere else in the country is not in the province of elders, not even Members of Parliament, who many falsely believe have power to act on virtually everything and anything in their constituencies. 

Where big industries and multinational companies are concerned, local leaders can only petition the national government. Yet if there is no political goodwill from the national government, there is nothing anybody else can do except grumble. The drawn out cases over sugar industries and Pan Paper Mills in western Kenya attest to this. There have been too many perfunctory attempts at finding solutions that point to a lack of commitment. 

It is, therefore, dishonest for the Luhya elders’ leadership to blame current leaders when their hands were equally tied while they occupied influential positions of leadership. In the words of American actor, Groucho Marx, what our elders are doing is perfecting the political art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies. 

There are better things the elders can channel their energy into. Land, family and marital disputes, for instance, can be tackled by competent councils of elders, which would free courts from the backlog of such cases. The elders ought to be instrumental in reviving some of our valuable cultures that modernity is strangling. 

The also have a duty to ensure good customary practices stay while the harmful ones like female genital mutilation and forced wife inheritance are expeditiously done away with. The African society is patriarchal, which is why elders must stay the course to give direction.