Hold their feet to the fire

They don't even have the competence to do bad things well. It is amazing that even decades after Kenyans finally started to attend institutions of high learning and to obtain degrees and post-graduate degrees, their political leaders continue to think of them as complete morons, stealing all they can in the brief time they enjoy executive or parliamentary privileges. They behave as if the power that has been conferred on them also confers invisibility, going about their affairs with the arrogant disdain of the gods of Greek mythology. It is staggering that they continue to play about with the rules that they swear to uphold, manipulating their executive or legislative authority to award themselves privileges that they do not deserve. When they make rules that instead of protecting the weak and the poor, empower the corrupt and deceitful, they are poking their fingers in the eye of the Almighty Himself and daring Him to rain down Holy Fire upon them for their perfidy and corruption. They go about their business quoting from Holy Scripture while milking the good people of this nation for every cent they can lay their greedy, grasping hands on.

Take a look at the laws that they have passed to fight corruption or to remove the stain of tribalism from public life and you are left astounded that they think so little of the men and women who toil in the burning noonday sun for a pittance. They have created Commissions to combat the evils that assail our politic ensuring that these bodies spend so much to achieve very little. Since President Moi created the Kenya Anti-Corruption Authority, then disbanded it, and President Kibaki oversaw the creation and destruction of the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission and, recently, the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission, billions of shillings have been spent fighting corruption but not a single politician has been arraigned in court or convicted of pilfering public funds. Goldenberg and Anglo-Leasing have become bywords for impunity, a cruel reminder that regardless of the promises made every election cycle, Kenyans are going to find themselves bent over a barrel with their pants around their feet with their political class taking carnal liberties.

Look again at the laws that they have passed to cleanse ourselves of the shameful stain of tribalism. All that the National Cohesion and Integration Commission has achieved in the past three years is a library-full of warnings against the true purveyors of hate and disintegration. While politicians of all stripes parade themselves in front of adoring crowds, spewing hateful vitriol at their political opponents and their opponents' constituencies, the Commission is holding cohesion and integration conferences to teach Kenyans how to live together as one. Other than the fatcats living in Nairobi, enjoying their comfort and surfing the web for progressive ideas, the vast majority of Kenyans do not give two hoots about cohesion or integration, but about their daily bread, the safety of their families and a roof over their heads. No one has the time or the energy to sit through a do-gooding lectures on the need to keep a civil tongue in their heads while dealing with their fellowman. Hate keeps them going every day of their difficult lives and they do not need a well-fed lecturer reminding them that their lives could be so much better if only they observed the Golden Rule.

As the nation is dragged to the general elections by their political masters, the air is thick with uncertainty. The man and woman on the street is not sure that the nation will not be pushed to civil war once again just to satisfy the ego of a politician. As the Central Bank of Kenya keeps its bankers happy, the cost of living for those who can barely afford a bank account keeps climbing, pushing more and more Kenyans below the poverty line. While the Ministry of Roads oversees the construction of the highways to the future, dozens of children of those who walk for a living keep getting mauled by the driving population. As the children of the ruling class enjoy a tax-funded education, those of the forgotten masses study under trees or in classes without teachers. Or text-books, desks, chairs or black-boards and frequently, far too frequently, on empty stomachs. Kenyans have frequently refused to hold their leaders to account, keeping their politicians honest and they may yet fail to do so again at the next general elections. They don't have the competence to do bad things well and Kenyans will keep forgetting this abject lesson every time they are reminded that their community comes first, no matter the consequences.