Drip-drip-drip to a deluge.

The late Samuel Kivuitu once bullied Daniel Toroitich arap Moi into re-appointing him as the chairman of the Electoral Commission of Kenya. His career ended in ignominy, his Commission disbanded by law, it's reputation shredded to tatters. The Interim Independent Electoral Commission, with an all-new cast of commissioners, engendered trust and that trust was repaid when Red versus Green was declared free and fair by one and all. Then came the revelations in a faraway court about chickens.

Kenyans love the sack-them-and-things-will-change formula, especially when the sacked come from the wrong tribe. The Schadenfreude that accompanied the dismissal of Joseph ole Lenku, David Mwole Kimaiyo and James Oswago in recent months revealed that when the Other side loses "their position" most of us will be happy enough if "one of our own" is appointed to replace him. Lost in the maelstrom of accusations and counter-accusations is the question of whether such dismissals lead to reforms, improvements in performance and reacquisition of the public trust.

Until the chairman of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission and his lawyer performed for the galleries at the Supreme Court during the hearings on the presidential petition, most rational Kenyans were willing to give the Commission and it's chairman the benefit of the doubt. many Kenyans were willing to accept the argument that the Commission had done an exceptional job in very difficult circumstances. The language and tone that the Commission adopted when responding to Raila Odinga's petition watered down the goodwill it enjoyed and painted it as just another partisan government agency out to maintain status quo, riven with conflicts of interest and in office for the sole purpose of stymieing the political career of one man.

The same is true about the reshuffling of senor civil servants in the interior ministry and the dismissal of the Cabinet Secretary and the Inspector-General of Police. Their replacements are not a beacon of hope to those looking for reforms in the security establishment; they are the proof that status quo is the raison d'etre of the men and women in charge of security. It is no wonder that the same financial integrity  doubts that sunk the former IEBC CEO's career have not been addressed, no reforms have been proposed, and rational Kenyans don't seem to care that new faces don't mean things have changed. The only difference between the IEBC and the defunct ECK is that the IEBC has a more polished public relations machinery compared to the shambles that was the ECK public communications.

Change, though, is coming in small and unexpected ways. The increasing reach and depth of social media means that very little remains hidden for long, especially where that being revealed is embarrassing to the national Executive, it's ministries, departments or agencies. It is no longer a question of "if" but "when" leaks will occur and someone is scrambling to contain the scandal. Even the recent amendments to the Kenya Information and Communications Act that so spooked the media and bloggers will not stem the coming deluge of revelations. Our jails are already overflowing with the sexual offenders Njoki's Law nabbed; where does the national Executive think it will incarcerate all the bloggers and Twitterers who will not kow-tow to its every whim? These revelations are surest way that change will come; secrecy has always favoured the corrupt and the dishonest. Those days are at an end and Chicken-Gate is just the beginning.