OF FOXES AND LIONS

On a Monday morning, nothing makes my day than Dominic Odipo's article on Kenyan politics. Today its about leaders who are foxes and lions aor a mixture of both. Its quite incisive and very informative. I have put it here for my readers to have an idea of what we need in Kenya.

The sly foxes and lions in our political landscape

By Dominic Odipo

As the General Election nears, would you like to elect a President who is a lion, a fox or both? According to the distinction by Michael Maccoby in his book, The Gamesman, lions are natural leaders, responsible, powerful, aggressive, courageous and at ease in the ways of their group.

The foxes are cunning, sly, quick and rather poor at group thinking though they may have to feign respect for it. At the very highest level, men or women sometimes combine the virtues of the lion and the fox to some degree.

How have some of America’s recent presidents fared against the Maccobian distinction? Franklin D Roosevelt, who led the US during World War II, was a lion in courage and ambition, but also cunning, sly and secretive — all fox-like traits — and the combination made him a formidable president.

Harry S Truman was a lion all through, a man eager to accept responsibility as indicated in his famous statement: "The buck stops here."

John F Kennedy was a lion in the making who, nonetheless, had fox-like qualities of cunningness, caution and fear of groups. Richard Nixon was all fox. He was hardly even able to put on a show of lion-like qualities. It is not clear whether the fox in the man contributed directly towards his involvement in the Watergate Scandal that led to his resignation from the presidency in 1974.

According to Maccoby, lions are natural responsibility takers; the foxes attempt to achieve success without taking on any more responsibility than they have to.

Lions move directly, the foxes indirectly — lions take stands, foxes make compromises. Ultimately, the ambition of every fox is to become a lion, and the secret of every successful leader is to combine both qualities in the right proportions.

Notice that in this distinction, being a fox or a lion is not something that is cast in stone at birth. A person born with predominantly fox-like qualities can become a lion and actually end up both as a lion and a fox and vice versa.

Looking at contemporary British history, the quintessential lions were Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher. Both ended up as prime ministers and were, incidentally, from the Conservative Party.

Kenyan foxes and lions

The undisputed lions of our independence struggle were men such as Jomo Kenyatta, Oginga Odinga, Masinde Muliro and Tom Mboya. The frontline foxes were Mboya, Mr Charles Njonjo and former President Moi.

Perhaps the top foxes were Moi and his sidekick, Keiyo South MP Mr Nicholas Biwott. And if you want to see the personification of the Maccobian lion, all you need to do is look closely at Mr William ole Ntimama, the MP for Narok North.

Chances are the next President will be one of four men: Mr Musalia Mudavadi, Mr Kalonzo Musyoka, Mr Raila Odinga and the incumbent, President Kibaki. How would the men fare against the Maccobian distinction?

It is clear that Mudavadi is neither a lion nor a fox. He does not move directly or take controversial stands. Neither is he cunning and sly as foxes would ordinarily be.

Kalonzo is harder to place. He is certainly not a lion in the Ntimama mould, but is clearly a lion-in-the-making — like Kennedy. He is more of a fox than a lion, but the capacity for metamorphosis is there for all to see.

Raila is probably the most interesting of the pack. The man is both a fox and a lion and has been almost all his adult life. He is a natural leader, aggressive and courageous and often moves directly and takes controversial stands.

Yet, at the same time, he is sly and cunning and nobody quite knows what he is likely to do next. In his courage and ambition, he is much like Roosevelt. And he is as cunning, sly and secretive as Mboya. This is obviously a man that opponents will have to watch very closely.

What about Kibaki? Certainly, he is not a lion. He does not move directly or take controversial public positions. If he sees a fence, he will probably sit on it. Like a fox, he is achieving success by taking on no more responsibility than he has to.

He is making compromises and moving indirectly. And, above all, he is already the President. Lion or not, this is the man every politician ought to watch.

This is article appeared in today's EAStandard and posted here by assidous