We hear unbelievable stories of the
bench on a go slow and being for all
intent and purpose an activist bench.
They cannot even resolve a matter that
we believe could and should have been
resolved out of the public scrutiny. The
judiciary is in a crisis.
As citizens we submit to the rule of
law because we trust that in law we
find collective safety as underpinned
by the constitution. If then the highest
court of the land cannot agree with
itself we find ourselves in a quandary
and perhaps then street protests look
justifiable and inevitable.
The judicial vetting exercise brought
home the sad realisation that judges
are not beyond reproach and in the
Kenyan situation display a level of
avarice that is not tenable by persons
who are meant to safeguard sanity in
society. The rot in judiciary also makes
street protests inevitable.
The last arm of government, the
legislature is in such a sorry state that
Ochieng’s friend once jokingly stated
that the only career open to criminals,
conmen and fraudsters in Kenya is
politics. In our parliament you will
find those that are perennially in court
for defrauding Kenyans.
That is why the dishonourable house
that houses our Mpigs, so dubbed
because of their excessive greed
and lack of service to Kenyans, is a
veritable den of thieves. What is so
galling is that these are the charlatans
mandated to make laws for Kenyans.
Kenya must be the only parliament
that your stature improves with the
type of crime that one has committed.
The bigger and the more daring the
crime the closer you move to the front
seats reserved for these special people
whose aim is to fleece Kenyans with
no apologies.
The drafters of the constitution saw it
fit to give us a bicameral legislature and
thereby opening a true Pandora’s Box.
96 MAL 12/16 ISSUE
The two houses cannot see eye to eye
and are engaged in turf wars that ensure
that they are suspicious of each other.
The two houses seem spend time
devising ways and means of tripping
the other and as can be imagined it
is hardly the type of set up geared to
producing great laws. It is quite certain
that many will leave the houses in the
next elections without knowing what
the two houses were meant to do.
Then that famous constitution gave us
a new monster in the form of counties
and their impossible structures. We
got rid of an imperial presidency and
created forty seven demi-gods who
are a law unto themselves and the new
hub of corruption.
The counties were our drafters answer
to devolution and in their wisdom they
had too many and inadvertently created
them around tribes thereby dealing a
death blow to any hope that Kenyans
had of building a nation state.
The first and only qualification to
getting employment in any county is
what tribe you are so our much harped
song about why Kenyans are so tribal
can be answered simply by the fact
that tribalism is enshrined in our
constitution.
What is doubly annoying is that the
same drafters created an expensive
system that was largely unsustainable
and have made the government
an employment bureau without
specifying how this huge expense will
be financed.
Any analysis from whichever angle
leaves one with the conclusion that
what is ailing Kenya is a constitution
that is impractical and expensive.
Whether or not we have selfless
or greedy staff will not correct the
fundamental flaws in the document.
So it behoves us, the people, to
find a solution to this ogre that we
created and stop these self serving
‘‘The last arm of
government, the
legislature is in such
a sorry state that
Ochieng’s friend once
jokingly stated that
the only career open
to criminals, conmen
and fraudsters in
Kenya is politics. In
our parliament you
will find those that
are perennially in
court for defrauding
Kenyans.’’
mini protests to alter parts that affect
particular stakeholders’ interests and
look at the document wholly with a
view of overhauling the document in
totality.
What is on trial is our version of
democracy, one cannot choose and
pick what parts they wish to espouse
given the situation. If we agree on
term limits they must be sacrosanct, if
we claim independence of ins titution
they must be independent for all.
We cannot have a constitution that
guarantees a cyclical five year brawl
that we require to look for outside
referees to ensure that we do not
murder each other in the name of
democracy. This nation is not going to
develop on the wings of entitlement
and intolerance.
If you think you have heard the last
word on the shenanigans of voting
for a beauty queen wait until you
get to 2017 to see how the politics
of the stomach shape how the
criminal elements in Kenya bribe, rig,
intimidate and bully the citizens to
vote for them. Is criminality in the
Kenyan DNA?