Pull the other one. It has bells on.

It is important for Kenyans to take a moment and reflect on the self-delusions of their elected representatives. These characters believe themselves to be our saviours, out to right the wrongs of history. In the here and now, many portray themselves as the saviours of devolution against all other enemies. Therefore, the Senate claims to be the safe-keeper against the Governors; the Governors claim the same against the Senators. Meanwhile the National Assembly members are torn between kicking the Senators while they are down or kicking devolved government because it is more prestigious than their piddly little constituencies.

But every time the esteemed members of the Senate, the National Assembly or the Governors' council stand in front of crowds to speak, they ooze the milk of human kindness. When they are comfortably ensconced in front of TV cameras on high-brow TV shows (or what passes for high-brow in Kenya), they sound as if they have read and re-read the Constitution of Kenya from cover to cover. The reality, sadly, is that each and every one of them is peddling snake oil with the charm of a Louisiana second-hand car dealer.

Someone needs to whack us really hard on the head to remind us that elected representatives have been the bane of this nation since the much-loathed Legislative Council was inaugurated. The mzungu taught us all sorts of legislative tricks when it came to disenfranchisement, land-grabbing, "development" and "representation." we took our lessons to heart and perfected the art of governing by misgoverning. We are past-masters of sophistry and cant, and we deploy these vices on a national scale when we seek elective office and are actually elected. Kenyan elected representatives have the capacity to stand in front of cameras and deny scientific fact. (There was that Rift Valley worthy who declared it as fact that "trees do not bring rain!") They are capable of causing bloodshed and mayhem and do not have the capacity to admit that they were wrong.

When we see them on TV or hear them on radio or read of them in the newspapers speaking with authority regarding their determination "to make devolution work", we need to remember that when they were required to ensure its success, they were more concerned with fattening their wallets. They did this at the expense of the transition process. They did at the expense of dialogue to prepare the nation for the changes devolution would wring. They did it at the expense of advising their president that the uneasy lies the head that wears the crown.

The fires that are burning because of the devolution challenges were foreseen but nothing was done. Anyone who claims to be devolution's defender is flat out lying. It is time we called them out on it. And laughed in their faces.