All compromised politicians should remain locked away in social jail

The personalisation of social accountability is one of the best things to emerge out of the protests against the Finance Bill 2024.

It started with protesters sharing the phone numbers of legislators for direct feedback from constituents. Then followed the refusal to give discredited politicians the platform to practice their usual politics of false promises and infantile mudslinging.

The social sanction came as a shock to politicians used to constant adoration from desperately poor dependents. Most have long lost their moral compass as indicated by their tolerance of the murder of dozens of people on Tuesday. Their idea of leadership has become little more than dressing expensively and constantly crisscrossing the country in choppers to dusty villages where dilapidated schools and clinics are barely operational.

These people deserve neither our respect or attention. This is why it has been refreshing to see youth throughout the country de-platform politicians. They have been booed at night clubs, churches, funerals, and other public places. People who condone the cavalier murder of our children in the streets do not deserve to be heard. They should all be de-platformed until they change their ways.

Of course, these politicians will still have the constitutional right to free speech. What we do not owe them is a right to be taken seriously as social actors. As long as they continue to rubbish the social contract that underpins Project Kenya, they should remain locked away in social jail.

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As witnessed by Parliament’s refusal to reject the Finance Bill 2024, formal institutions can only take us so far as mechanisms of accountability. To achieve optimal constraints on politicians, we also need informal institutions in the form of norms. Elections only happen every five years. Pivotal actors in Parliament and the courts can be compromised. The president can ignore our pleas for reforms. The same goes for the various independent agencies we have, including the Police Service.

Developing the right norms and mechanisms of social accountability necessarily requires making the political personal. Individual politicians and bureaucrats must feel socially obligated to adhere to the formal stipulates of the constitution and related institutions. To this end, norm enforcement must be personalised. To be blunt, thieves and murderous should not be celebrated. Not by their family members, not by congregants in churches, not by revellers in clubs, and not at public rallies.

-The writer is a professor at Georgetown University