The Shame of it all

I am still amazed that Kenyans expect the politicians to do the right thing. When the Communications Amendment Bill is signed into law, it will not be because Kibaki does not understand its implications - he understands them only too well. When he and Raila arrived at an arrangement to deal with the matter of the tribunal, we were not privy to what was discussed. It is entirely possible that they are trying to bring the matter to a close in the most judicious manner possible. However, our experiences of these two principals is different.

Kibaki has betrayed his political allies in the past. So has Raila. So why won't they betray us on this small matter of investigating, trying and punishing those who caused so much death and destruction earlier this year? Why? Because it is in their nature.

I once asked why Kenyans reposed so much faith in their local politicians during elections. I still do not have a convincing answer, except that Kenyans are political idiots and they swallow the lines that politicians lay down. It is this level of stupidity that has persuaded the political class that they can ride rough-shod over us, shit on us and take us for granted.

It is why when the parties held their elections to comply with the Political Parties Act, cabinet ministers and 'senior' MPs took over the paerty organs at local and national level. This is in stark contrast to other mature democracies where the party and the state are two separate entities. These people are repeating the same errors of the KANU dicatorship. It is only a matter of time that our hunger and anger grows to be too heavy a burden to carry and we will act.