Which way kenya?................Fostering nationhood and democracy long read!

Congratulations are in order for H.E president Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta on his re-election as the president of the republic of kenya. Am no intellectual so I will save you all the bullshit and go straight to the point. As young men and women( across the political divide) in this country we need to tread carefully since its us who have a huge stake in this country and are likely to pay a stiff price should anything go south. Foolishness is doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results just like ostriches that bury their heads in the sand, the kenyan project continues going through the same shit every 5 years of political uncertainity, violence,hate speech, tension, losses of business opportunities etc. We have just emerged from an extended electioneering period and just like that we are swiftly moving on applying cosmetic solutions to real problems rather than addressing the root causes only for the same cycle to repeat itself in 2022. For how long are we going to continue?

        Since independence we have chosen to remain a state and not a nation. Our hope was in the 2010 constitution , however a constitution needs the populace to read and interpret it in letter and spirit those two are mutually inclusive without which even the constitution is not worth the paper its written on! Much has been said about the just concluded electoral cycle and here I will reprimand both Jubilee and Nasa for not having the interests of the citizen at heart but serving their own. For instance When a candidate threatens to tear the country apart because he doesnt have their way that is selfish and hypocritical, I dont for instance require a visa to visit nyeri or moyale , Kenya is one and one it shall remain on the other hand its not right for the other side to brandish numbers(real or imagined) of tyranny and carry with it a huge sense of entitlement. Its unfortunate whole party leader claiming that certain sections of the populace do not have a stake in the economy and that what we need is benevolent dictatorships! what message does that carry to some ambitious person say from the el-molo community? Its plain simple and in black and white that you dont have the numbers and you will never be president of kenya! This has been amplified in the way some leaders talk after the two supreme court judgements ! both celebrated like tomorrow depended on it ! I have always quipped that in very competition there will be always be a winner and a looser and hence need for being magnanimous in victory and gracious in defeat.

     Democracy and constitutionalism is a continuous process and not stagnant therefore it calls for constant revisiting and revision. Lately I hear a loose term 'dialogue' being thrown left right and center ! dialogue on what??? We have a validly elected president until 2022 Nasa erred in withdrawing from the fresh presidential elections ordered by the supreme court after it had stuck its head for them ! A feat they wont do again any time soon, the only dialogue acceptable is meeting at the ballot then ! What kenya needs in the meantime is an ammendment to the constitution and address the root causes that push us to the brink each electioneering period. On this I have a raft of proposals that can be fine tuned further feel free to critique or add others.
  1. The presidency is the root cause of our problems , many kenyans believe only their own at the helm will solve their problems, past presidents have not only propelled this notion but perfected it by skewed appointments, development etc on this we need to have a one term non renewable of seven years OR a two term of four years each . Whether presidential or parliamentary is subject to consensus. A high turnover in the office of the president is a welcome break.
  2. Strengthen devolution and send 51% of the revenues to the devolved units. The remaining 49% to be used for Roads,Defence,Internal security and foreign affairs the only functions remaining with the national goverment. With greater resources sent to counties much scrutiny to be given also by appointing county auditors, prosecutors, attoney generals, county anti corruption etc.
    3.Strengthening party democracy by reducing the number of parties to not more than seven but not less than three which are publicly funded after conducting free party primaries. The registrar of political parties to be transformed and given enough teeth to deal with matters like party discipline, party hopping etc. Affairmative action has terribly failed through the archaic rules requiring that not more than 2/3 elective or appointive positions be not be of one gender, this is unimplementable except we can try through party nominations by funding twice parties that sponsor women for any elective posts. The paries that sponsor youths,marginalized and people with disabilities to be funded and one and three quarters rate. This will force parties to sponsor more women,youth,marginalized and people with disabilities.
  3. Scrap all nominated shit from mca,mp,senator,women rep etc everyone wanting any position must sweat it in the trenches like everyone else so is any office falling vacant due to death of its substantive holder just like it happened in nyeri recently. Any office of the mca,mp,senator,women rep, governor and president falling vacant must occasion an election 90 days later. If left to the deputies to ascend naturally after the death of a governor and president what stops the mischevious and conniving deputies from scheming to eliminate the holders. Fans of house of cards will recall frank underwoods statement that those in proximity of power delude themselves that they wield it so he puts a stop to that before it happens!
  4. Elections of the parliament to be separated from those of the president prefarably in the midterm of the presidency for instance considering my four year term presidency, parliamentary elections(mca,mp,senator,women rep) to be carried out in the second year of the presidency. This separation will unchain parliament from the executives shackles that has been the case since independence. Parliamentarians will be free to exercise the role without being beholden to who is the president and party whims. Election date to be pushed from august to the month of december in the years they occur.
    6.Finally inclusivity is key to heal a divided nation hence need for establishment of office of the official opposition that is publically funded from funds saved after scrapping the nominated shit.

President Uhuru is a good chap and I know deep down he wants whats good for kenya his second term should be used to unite the country, remedy historical and electoral injustices and secure his legacy. Raila Amollo odinga political losses are not personal go back strategize and make a comeback you have done it in the past you can do it in future kenya’s unity depends on you do not be the democrat who burnt his credentials . Peace!

Very true…

quote the source chief

Deep inside my brain

I watch NatGeo Wild alot (peasants can only afford Gotv, I am one of them). Out there in the jungle, an antelope kid barely out of the mother’s womb, or a chettah cub will be attacked by a lion and killed as the cameras roll. The guys filming will do nothing to save the poor creatures. I always feel bad, but then I am reminding of my science teacher in primary school who introduced us to the rule of the jungle; survival for the fittest. It is nature’s way of dealing with things.
This scenario can be compared to those small communities in Kenya. Is it their fault that they are small? on the flip-side, is it the big communities fault that they are big?
As long as a nation we ascribe to democracy, and it’s tenets, then the one man one vote policy holds, and what that means is that the bigger communities will almost all the times carry the day.
Sasa wacha nimalize kusoma hii hekaya yako.

edit Nimesoma
Your raft of proposals are good, really good. However, reducing the presidential term is not the solution. The presidency is not the problem. And on the issue of political parties, Jubilee has set the ball rolling by merging about 15 parties to form one big party (we all had something to say about this and some even threw some insults)
Our problems are only one person. The moment he is out of the way, you will be surprised at how smoothly things will run.

reducing contribution of the communities beats logic to me and is zero sum because they will feel unwanted and hence resentment start from there… I think there should be a mechanism that does not necessarily zero down to numbers
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This is commendable however there are still briefcase parties that need to go.

and with him carries ambitions and aspirations of millions of cultic followers i wouldnt just wish him away!

Equity only exist in a nuclear family, trying it a national level leads to communism which steals from hardworkers and reward laziness. The problem is not the system rather the opposition leader, the same demicratic system made obama ‘minority’ to whitehouse. Sasa amepeleka umalaya yake zanzibar, and his followers here are planning ‘chaos and anarchy’ for his home coming celebration.

No changes to the presidential terms, strengthening devolution, party democracy, changes to constitution, electoral process etc. will bring about necessary tangible economic benefits if there is no implementable local vision. Political structures can only enable through policies and infrastructure. The political class lucks the ability to perceive opportunities and solutions to issues or what needs doing to sort out local economic problems even when opps and solutions are obvious. Hence, they cannot influence positively devolved Gov local policies.

A few years ago someone made the point that a lot of funds central government allocates to the regions especially those that often claim marginalisation was always returned back to central government because the regions were unable to utilize the funds.

Based on recent Audit Reports appearing in the papers, it appears those funds are now funnelled into people’s pockets through diabolical schemes. The consequence, certain areas are left feeling neglected.
Perhaps it is time to setup an independent Development Task force working with a dynamic think tank, free from political interference to help identify and aid regional implementation of viable development\economic projects, especially in value addition as this is where jobs are created.

Not all regions have a highly educated population with the capability to scope and pull through projects. Further, certain areas such as Nyanza (sorry to single this one out) which has a highly educated population is lucking in creativity\ideas and initiative.

The Development Task Force would do some handholding and give confidence to local initiatives. Development should not be left entirely in the hands of politics and politicians. People look up to the politician who blame other ”tribes” when there is no local vision to do things which could possibly be accomplished outside of politics.

Also, if a team successfully implements an economic project in Tharaka they could be called upon to aid support another like project in Lodwar or Wajir and Vis verse.