YVONNE'S TAKE: Lessons from Hungarian president's resignation

Something rather unusual in Kenyan terms took place in Hungary, a small European country close to 7 seven times smaller than Kenya, with a population of roughly 9.6 million.

So, here is what happened. The President of that country, Katalin Novak, resigned not more than a week ago. I know, right? A whole President resigned! Meaning she left office, left power, motorcades and all!

Here is what led to that unusual happening. It turns out that last year in April, she, as President pardoned a person convicted of covering up the sexual abuse of children. The man was part of 25 pardoned by the President and signed off by the country’s justice minister.

News of this only came to light following the publication of a story by a local media house this year. This led to widespread uproar, both by the opposition and the public.

The decision to pardon was ironic; this is because Ms. Novak and her party are largely conservative with strong family values, campaigning on the platform of protecting children from abuse and indoctrination by ‘anti-family’ values. 

She wasn’t the only one to resign. The Justice Minister Judit Varga, who signed off the clemency also resigned and the ramifications went further. The justice minister’s ex-husband, who enjoyed close ties to those in government, also resigned from positions he held in State-owned companies, saying; “I do not for one minute want to be part of a system in which the real people responsible hide behind women’s skirts.”

Now, even with the protests, the resignation was termed unexpected, considering the position of the party and the 14-year grip they have had on power and considering an upcoming EU Parliamentary election in which the justice minister was to play an important part.

It has had some serious political ramifications for the prime minister of that country, even though the presidency is largely ceremonial.

It is, for me, what she said in her 6-minute resignation speech that is worth remembering and the lessons that can be drawn from that.

“I adopted a clemency decision which has left many people confused and unsettled. They understandably want an explanation.” – Here, you see her take ownership of the decision and the understanding that people deserve an explanation.

She goes on to give her reasons for the pardon, saying it was based on the information she had at the time that led her to believe that the convict had not in fact taken advantage of the vulnerability of children. But, it is what she says next that is profound:

“I made a mistake,” she says. A leader taking responsibility goes on to explain that the decision raised doubts about a much-touted policy of the party and the administration on zero tolerance for child sexual abuse. She then went on to reiterate this position, assuring the country of its commitment to protecting children.

“As a Hungarian, I would expect the President of Hungary not to make mistakes. If they did, I would expect them to face those to whom they are accountable and take responsibility.”

She clearly has standards as a citizen and is asking the populace to hold her to the same standard. She understands why people would ask questions, and require answers. She also understands the role, mandate and responsibility of the office she holds and asks the citizens to hold her to the standards of that high office.

“I apologize to those whom I offended”: So, not only does she own up to her mistake, not only does she take responsibility for her decision, she makes an apology, an unequivocal one. Note that it is not a conditional apology. She doesn’t apologize “if” she offended people. She goes further to apologise to “victims who might have felt that I failed to stand up for them.”

Then she resigned and explained why. She said that she does not believe she can perform her duties as president while remaining faithful to the oath she took. In other words, she admits to breaking the oath of office.

She then reaches out to her political base and has some lessons for the young people, about holding fast to their values, about perseverance but most importantly, about taking responsibility for their mistakes and not putting themselves above country. As she ends her resignation speech, she now focuses on the life ahead of her. Her family and other parts of her life that she will now focus on indicate that there is life after public service.

Now, imagine if that were to happen here, in Kenya, with elected leaders indicted in the eyes of the public for betraying the oath of office, implicated in mega corruption scandals.

Have they resigned? Well, remember terms like, “I will not resign, who is my accuser?” Remember another one like, “I would rather die than resign.” Yet another said resigning would be tantamount to political suicide.

All of these statements are followed by tribal groupings being shipped in from the village to protect their kinsman. I wonder where the Hungarian president’s tribe was. They should have been there to do the Kenyan thing. Which is to protect the pardoned or the convicted, withdraw the charges, cite coercion by some other faction and then, once they are off the hook, proceed to appoint them to a plum government position.

What we have in Kenya is a political takeover of the justice system in Kenya. It is very easy to predict for example, which way a case will go. In fact, it is even much easier to know whether prosecution will happen at all. So every case that doesn’t involve a fish small enough is basically collapsing.

My overall lessons from Hungary; Governments and elected leaders actually can and should listen to their citizens and respond when they are unhappy. Leaders can and should own up to mistakes, and take responsibility for their actions. Resigning is not the end of the world and there is life after public life.