We elect the government. We are not the government.

Pedantic it might be, but the constitution sets out the Government of Kenya. It is made up of the Executive, both at the national and county levels, Parliament and county assemblies, the Judiciary, parastatals, independent offices and commissions. 

Just in case it is not clear, voters are not part of the Government of Kenya, even as they elect the Executive, Parliament and county assemblies. You will notice that voters do not elect holders of independent offices, commissions or the Judiciary. Citizens, including voters, have specific roles to play, key among them being to obey the law and pay their taxes.

Article 4(1) declares Kenya to be a "sovereign Republic." "Republic" means representative government. Article 4(2) states that Kenya shall be "a multiparty democratic state." One meaning is that the Government of Kenya shall be formed through free and fair elections and that more than one party shall be permitted to participate in the elections. 

Citizens can either vote as members of political parties or they can vote without being members of political parties. Their most important role in the formation of the government is to elect representatives who who represent their interests in the government. The role of elected representatives is to hold the Executive to account, as well as the other arms and agencies of the government. The role of the citizen, including the voter, is to hold the elected representative to account, the most common way being by way of elections, including recall elections. More expensive means of holding them to account include constitutional petitions to the High Court.

That should be pretty straight forward. I pay my taxes. We all do, unless we are unpatriotic tax-evading private developers. When pooled together, these taxes are applied, in theory, to projects, programmes and expenditures for our benefit. Among those benefits are public safety and national security. In public safety and national security, our role includes providing information should we suspect that our safety or the security of our nation is at risk. 

While we may have a limited power to arrest those suspected to be threats to our safety or national security, we have a trained police service and defence forces to do the heavy lifting. When the members of the national Executive declare that "security begins with you and I," I take that to mean that I will give relevant information to relevant authorities and they will act based on that information for my benefit. When our safety is threatened or our national security is compromised, we will demand that our elected representatives hold the Executive and its agencies to account. If they do not hold the Executive to account, we will take our frustrations to the streets.

It is a fallacy to state that because we elect the Executive, Parliament and county assemblies that we are part of the government. We are not. We hold our government to account indirectly through our elected representatives. If our elected representatives fail us, we can take advantage of Article 37 and assemble, demonstrate, picket or petition the government or any of its agencies such as independent offices or commissions.