Mid term results: Kivutha Kibwana on Ruto's Duplicity, Conmanship, Feilya!

[gout]

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AN OPEN LETTER TO H.E. WILLIAM SAMOEI RUTO, C.G.H., PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF KENYA AND COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF THE DEFENCE FORCES
FROM:
YOUR FELLOW CITIZEN
KIVUTHA KIBWANA,
MAKUENI COUNTY.
Dear Sir,
“WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?”
Allow me to address you on behalf of our country’s Gen Z-Ote and, of course, myself. But first things first. Accept our salutation of Shalom, Mr. President. I hope and trust you will receive, read and consider this communication from a fellow citizen in good faith. I promise, as is expected, to address you respectfully.

Let me, incipiently, confess why my resolve to pen, to borrow Gen Z language, this missive. Our historically divergent paths crossed when we served in President Mwai Kibaki’s government, you as a cabinet minister, and I presidential advisor for constitutional, parliamentary and youth affairs.

As you campaigned during the 2022 presidential ballot, we had a few encounters. As Deputy President you on several occasions came to church in Makueni County where I served as governor (2013-2022). Several times you beseeched I join the Kenya Kwanza Alliance (KKA). I knew you sought my support because you wished to enlarge your vote potential in the Lower Eastern Region, and among progressive forces.

I remember you once affirmed that your Hustler philosophy was in sync with the National Convention Executive Committee’s (NCEC’s) Wanjiku ideology. You advanced this correlation because you knew of my previous role as the spokesperson of our country’s pro-democracy movement in the 1990s. You emphasized our twin visions made us birds of the same feather who should flock together.

Indeed, like many, I was tempted to swallow hook, line and sinker, the idea that your frequent advocacy of Hustler – Mama Mboga, Boda Boda, Mkokoteni, Wheelbarrow et cetera et cetera – narrative would, when conscientiously implemented, consummate the Kibaki legacy.  You would therefore be the one to finally liberate Kenya from the proverbial aridity of poverty, disease and ignorance, leading the nation to the Canaan of milk (or if you wish mursik) and honey.

Remember you asked me to join your legal team after your electoral victory came under assault. I did so pro bono. I had been the target of perfidiousness in Azimio La Umoja – One Kenya Alliance where I nonetheless remained anchored. But that is a tale for another season.

A mere few months after you took office, I, like most Kenyans, began to harbour misgivings about your fidelity to hustlerism. And thus, the justification of this epistle.

But another context matters. One day in church, if my mind serves me right, you proclaimed you wished to rebuild Kenya “ruined by the Uhuru Kenyatta – Raila Odinga opportunistic handshake” like Nehemiah of the Bible restored the Jerusalem wall and Israel. Many in the congregation must have believed that was a solemn promise before God and Kenyans. But, as time would tell, you had a way and play with words. Your eloquence then always charmed your captive audience. The people hung on your every single word. And the rest is now history.

Just to jog your memory, Sir. You premiered in politics at age 26 when a Gen Z courtesy of Youth for KANU. Logically, therefore, one would expect you to be buddy-buddy with such a generation. However what has subsequently transpired is, to say the least, mind-boggling. What happened along the way?

President Daniel Moi affectionately mentored you paving the way for your meteoric rise. When the Forum for the Restoration of Democracy (FORD) opposition tsunami raged over the land in 1992, like a devoted son you proved your mettle as a key architect of Baba wa Taifa’s controversial re-election. A decade later, you inherited his tribal kingship without his blessings.  Took his crown and crowned yourself.

You then patiently waited to attend his wake and funeral when you saw him because his family had barred you from visiting them. Whatever we Kenyans think of Moi, a father must – talk of respect- be honoured by his children because the Almighty God of the Bible commands: “Honour your father and mother, so that you may live long.” (Exodus 20:12). It still behoves you to make peace with Mzee Moi even through priestly intercession since you are a confessed believer.

One essential detail that even inquisitive Kenyans disregarded as they evaluated your 2022 suitability is you have never concealed your aversion for the Constitution. In 2005 as a key member of the Orange Pentagon, you opposed the constitution. But let us give you your due credit by acknowledging that the Wako-Kilifi Draft spearheaded by Amos Wako and Murungi Kiraitu had mutilated the Yash Ghai – Bomas – Nzamba Kitonga Drafts. Come 2010 and you were back on the saddle leading the crusade for vanquishing the current constitution. Clearly, if you had your way, the present-day country’s Basic Law would have been rolled back.

Perhaps you strongly reckoned the 1963 constitution as prolifically amended – actually disembowelled – up to 1990 remained the fit for purpose Mother Law for Kenya. This was unfortunately the one-party constitution that Moi utilized to misrule Kenya for 24 solid years.

One must therefore ask of you, Mr. President, do you accept the constitution of Kenya 2010 as the legitimate charter for Kenya? If not, what constitution do you owe allegiance to and deploy for governing? That day when Chief Justice Martha Karambu Koome swore you as President, what Constitution did you hold besides the Bible and the Sword?

I must hasten to add the 2010 constitution despite any shortcomings, which should be rectified post 2027, is Kenya’s harbinger of hope, prosperity, peace and democracy. It serves as a boundary separating the land of liberty and the province of authoritarianism. Since 2010 Kenyans have clung to this lifeline code notwithstanding inclement political whirlwinds. They – especially the young – continue to bide their time as they await an incoming servant leadership that will preside over the flowering of their constitution.

Interestingly during your 2022 campaigns, you paid glowing tribute to the progressive nature of the 2010 constitution. You time and again lambasted President Kenyatta and former Prime Minister Odinga for trying to clandestinely amend the constitution to create the positions of prime minister and deputy prime minister for the power-hungry dynasty class. Kenya, you repeatedly told the nation, was made up of dynasty and hustler pedigrees, the deep-pocketed and the pauperized, you being of chicken selling stock and therefore an aboriginal hustler.

Some of your lieutenants are already agitating for the elongation of the presidential and other electoral terms to seven years, creation of positions of prime minister and two or three deputy prime ministers, chief administrative secretaries, office of official opposition et cetera et cetera. Ostensibly, this is largely supposed to be in accord with the National Dialogue Committee (NADCO) report, a copycat of the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) accord which you virulently opposed. Talk of doublespeak.

The only legitimate constitutional review that members of parliament (MPs) have over the years stubbornly declined to promulgate concerns the two-thirds gender rule. As matters stand, there is a letter on your desk or thereabouts inherited from President Uhuru Kenyatta authored by former Chief Justice David Maraga authorizing the dissolution of parliament for failure to pass the said amendment under Article 261 (6) & (7).

Mr. President, I implore you not to acquiesce to the machinations of a camarilla bent on misadvising you that the constitutional proposals you desire can be crafted solely by parliament. Parliamentary initiative amendments do require citizen public participation. Kenyans will reject any backdoor constitutional changes sanctioned without their consent. 
Yes, one can decipher that your objective is to birth a new constitutional and political structure that will accommodate the expectant ethnic barons of your intended and unfolding coalition; a collabo of sorts. Be warned too that such an executive framework can also be used by the opposition side to do battle with you. I will return to the pitfalls of our motherland’s deep-seated tribal politics.

During your vote hunt – and I must admit you are unmatched in terms of energy, resilience and laser-sharp campaign focus - you unrolled a manifesto that promised Kenya’s transformation. You painted in dazzling colours a glorious future for your fellow citizens. To arrive at the Kenya Kwanza Plan: The Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda 2022-2027, you meticulously organized public participation sessions in each of the country’s 47 counties. The people were ecstatic. Here at last was a presidential candidate who crowdsourced from them their development menu. Many beheld plenty immediately after ballot day; the morning after.

Your first priority was how to secure a parliamentary majority as the vital force to enact the laws that would propel your manifesto. You had already embarked on that mission by creating a KKA coalition of a dozen parties. Once in power, you enticed the majority of independent candidates to join you. Then you proceeded to poach from the opposition benches until the entire parliament was under your beck and call. The magic of bribery did wonders for you. You also sought to draw a majority of the 47 governors to be on your side. Non-compliance attracted loss of development support or retribution for those dribbling in malfeasance.

As time progressed you became confident any parliamentary bill of your choice would sail without sweat. Things looked good for you. Those must have been the heady but alcohol-free jubilation days at the House on the Hill.
Parliament was done and dusted, and democracy and the peoples’ voices gagged. Members of parliament could continue dispensing the National Government (but essentially ‘MP’) Constituency Development Fund (NG-CDF) as enforcement institutions winked the other way.  Legislators knew resources for the next campaign were guaranteed. Scratch your back, you scratch theirs. Quid pro quo.

So, what substantively has transpired since September 2022, two years and six months into your administration? Has the KKA transformation manifesto hit the highway flying?

Let us change course somewhat.  In the first Uhuruto administration, one can hazard there seemed to be an intention to deliver development a la Kibaki style. You had tons of sympathy from Kenyans because they were told the vague imperialistic Hague International Criminal Court (ICC) was persecuting the Kumi Yangu- Kumi Yako brothers since they were African leaders. But after the ICC honeymoon years, you changed the narrative and told us that you did most of the state heavy lifting because your boss, unconcerned with the ins and outs of statecraft, routinely submerged himself in leisure. So, we believed, again, you had an unquestioned capacity for presidential labour. Common Palaver confirmed you were a workaholic. A 20-hour man. We were happy to know you would keep the country afloat. We somehow felt safe with you as a co-captain of the state ship. A teetotaler from birth. A man of God to boot.

During the Uhuruto second term, you took issue with the introduction of your then frenemy a kitendawili mganga honcho into government. You told us that the “handshake” subverted democracy. Later you were to ascribe government floundering of the 2017-2022 period squarely to the ill-conceived rapprochement. Of course, we know the former prime minister was never legally and officially in government. This abracadabra of dual outside–inside existence in government is, of course, an oxymoron.

[gout]

Therefore, when you became the undisputed captain, citizens hoped for unmatched delivery of development from the last quarter of 2022 onwards. Then Sir, what did we witness when you rolled your sleeves for the work ahead?
The country was literally dumbfounded when they surveyed the calibre of cabinet ministers and principal secretaries you assembled to assist you in ruling. Yes, it was expected you would reward some of your campaigners with high office to underscore loyalty. But we envisaged your executive would be composed of a majority of professionals and a smattering of die-hard supporters. Such a strategy would replicate the trend since independence.

What we saw unveiled, to use a football game idiom, was a second or third eleven team with some participants who deserved to be nowhere near the match. Some critics opined your executive cream and some preeminent advisors represented a kakistocracy defined by Google as “government by the least suitable or competent citizens of a state”. Meritocracy was thrown out of a State House window.

You wished to onboard another layer of your future campaigners through the office of chief administrative secretary, a move foiled by citizen activism and judicial intervention.

No wonder then when an opportunity arose, you shed a good number of your cabinet secretaries. Time will tell how many principal secretaries will survive. Of course, if senior executives are weak, they ordinarily will expertly play the sycophancy card to save their bread and skin.

The first attempt to transform the agriculture sector ended up in tragicomedy. Sub-standard sand-laced fertilizer was supplied to farmers. Investigative journalists who unearthed this debut scandal braved heavy official artillery. So instead of providing quality subsidized fertilizer to fertilize crops as agriculture is the mainstay of our economy, we instead embarked on a marathon of fertilizing corruption.

On the heels of the fertilizer debacle, followed affordable housing. At the outset, I must admit, just like the fertilizer project executed well, this sequel initiative was conceivably a groundbreaker. Africa is rapidly urbanizing. Urbanity is the future.  By 2030, it is estimated over 50 per cent of Africans will dwell in urban centres.

What then was the strategy for delivering affordable housing? To begin with, the country’s salaried cadre was to be levied a ‘housing tax’ some said reminiscent of the colonial ‘hut tax’. We were not told this was ‘a tax tax’ or a reimbursable loan to the government. I say this, Sir, because the houses once completed will be sold to willing buyers by willing sellers at market price. If any housing taxpayer would exercise the first right to purchase a house and benefit from a government-facilitated mortgage, then this idea would kind of make sense. A buyer’s purchase price takes into account the housing levy paid.
If a person pays a house levy or tax, but they don’t want to buy a house or they own one already, can the amount pay be a loan to the government to be repaid with interest? And who builds the houses? Whom do they belong to? When sold who receives the purchase price? Who will buy them?  Have some been bought already, and at what price? Suppose just like other existing public scheme houses they lack buyers, what happens? Can slum-dwelling hustlers somehow own or occupy them?

Before my memory wanes, let me also comment on the forceful evictions of slum-inhabiting hustlers along the Nairobi River and other kindred removals. You had promised during the 2022 campaigns that such heartless ejections of poor people would never happen in our country and future history. And then bang: we saw makeshift houses come tumbling down at night even during heavy downpours. The pictures of especially children and women – beings of a lesser god? – and menacing bulldozers continue to haunt the Kenyan conscience. Houses, livelihoods, hopes and dreams were ruthlessly flattened. But let me return to the development record.

Then arrived the hustler fund. A friend of mine who received 500 shillings as a loan agonized about what business to establish. Finally, he simply bought a treat of a quarter kilo of meat and jogoo flour for his family. His plan of a decent hustler family meal. Why is it not possible to ensure the minimum disbursable hustler loan can be sufficient to set up a credible business? And what training is availed to equip loanees with entrepreneurial competence? What kind of audit has been designed or done to guarantee conniving officials do not convert the hustler fund into a sleaze fund?

For the first time in Kenya’s history, Sir, two Finance Bills 2023 and 2024 were defeated by citizens and also annulled in court. One got saved by the  Supreme Court.  You had withdrawn one to mollify Gen Z. In democratic countries, the fall of a Finance Bill collapses a government. Not so in Kenya and Africa. But the mid-2024 stretch exposed the vintage you who engages in make-believe concessions while sticking to your true North status quo.

Then the lingering question: Why does the high rate of taxation emusculates  businesses and impoverishes the citizenry? Are the taxes being squandered or misappropriated? What developments do the taxes deliver? Why hasn’t Ceaser explained to Kenyans why new onerous taxes are being introduced each year? What is in store during June 2025? Many Kenyans would gladly and faithfully pay taxes in return for high-quality public services and an assurance that the taxes don’t continue to fatten the corruption monster.

Kenyan debt – both domestic and external – is an albatross around our neck. At over 11 trillion shillings and rising and needing debt servicing of 70 shillings (or more?) out of every 100 shillings Kenya earns, it is slowly but surely asphyxiating the country. Only approximately 30 shillings are left to cater for national government recurrent and development expenditure and county shareable revenue. No wonder, truth be told, no surplus is available for substantive development. How will you get us out of this entrapment?

Moreover, there has been no serious audit of the debt portfolio to determine what the borrowed resources have accomplished. A Task Force that you had announced under the leadership of the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) president faced a legality hurdle. The auditor general whose mandate it is to audit debt has lacked sufficient funds and other support for the task. Whenever the government wishes to frustrate the execution of any constitutional or other mandate, it trims the requisite institution’s budget. If the government is desirous of dodging a thorny issue, a budget is expeditiously found to establish a task force or committee.

The monetary value of domestic and external debts is about equal. When the government borrows heavily from the domestic sector, it elbows out the private sector from the investment arena. Time is ripe for us to undertake a forensic audit of our public debt since independence so as to, as the law provides, match the development programmes, impact and the debt portfolio to be sure we can account for each dollar, or yuan, or euro, or yen, or pound or shilling or cent.
Alas, we are also witnessing capital and jobs flight to neighbouring countries. This obviously does not augur well for our already bleeding economy. 

You have on multiple occasions spoken against corruption. But your government initiated and tenaciously promoted the Adani deal which was smacked of high corruption until the American government revealed the consortium was facing investigation for graft. Some associates of that group have assisted your government to establish the Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF) under the Social Health Insurance Authority (SHIA). Instead of refurbishing the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF), it was decided to create a new programme requiring a separate automated system. A potentially lifesaving initiative has suffered a setback because, among other reasons, it was infected with a corruption virus at inception.

To avoid our letter ballooning into a booklet, I will not go into the details of the 6.6 B cooking oil Kenya National Trading Corporation (KNTC) heist, and the March 2023 Government-to Government (G-to-G) deal, et cetera et cetera.
Sadly, most of your proposed legacy projects have been challenged by citizens and often halted by courts. They seem to be designed in a hurry, starved of adequate public participation and therefore, sad to say, commenced for delivery in raw form.
The national grapevine has it that corruption practices attach themselves holoparasites-style to each government project. Some of your key lieutenants display obscene Harambee donations, watches, belts, shoes, chains and other assorted paraphernalia whose value can build an entire modern school or two in any marginalized part of Kenya. Is it possible to tame or better still slay the corruption dragon during your watch since it is an existential threat to our country’s survival? Can you lead us from the front in the quest for rigorous enforcement of Chapter Six on leadership and integrity? Can you supply the political will in this war for Kenya’s soul?

I remember you religiously promised upon taking over, that you would restore the dignity of the judiciary and police. And true to your word on this issue, you appointed the judges your predecessor had declined to designate. He had insisted despite the Judicial Service Commission recruitment and National Assembly vetting, they were corrupt. You seemed ready and willing to consign the executive and judiciary skirmishes of yore years to oblivion.

However, two years down the road, you are waging war against the judiciary. To render it in plain language, Mr. President, you wish to negate the doctrines of separation of powers, checks and balances and independence of the judiciary so as to assemble a compliant judiciary. Your aim is to convert the judges into a subservient lot who when ordered to jump, these intermediaries, as they firmly hold their peruke wigs meekly ask: “How high?” I plead with you to remember, that judges only decide disputes on the basis of facts presented to them. They are “midwives” of justice. Of course, judges, like everybody else, are subject to the law. If they break it, they deserve to be punished.

Having converted parliament into your mouthpiece, if the judiciary, constitutional commissions and independent offices are defanged, the country will, without doubt, continue to slide into dictatorship.  We retreat to the 1980s and 1990s. Indeed, perhaps even into the colonial era. Do you believe the country can thrive once subjected to such far-reaching democratic regression? We think not, especially our youth of the fearless and tribeless DNA.

Article 1 of our Constitution firmly declares: “All sovereign power belongs to the people of Kenya…” Article 2 affirms “This Constitution is the supreme law of the Republic…” and further “No person may claim or exercise authority except as authorized under this Constitution.” Article 3 announces: “Any attempt to establish a government otherwise than in compliance with this constitution is unlawful.” This is the solemn voice of the Constitution. We must always hearken to it.
Critically then, all citizens are equal before the law. All arms of government are co-equal. The executive is not above the legislature judiciary constitutional offices and independent offices. We expect that the culture of disobeying court orders will become a subject only be read by our children and grandchildren in history books. The executive must demonstrate a good example. Otherwise, if the government disobeys court orders, why shouldn’t the rest of the citizens follow suit? Of course, if this happened, we would be staring at anarchy.

[gout]

You hived off the police budget from the office of the president to guarantee the Service some modicum of independence. However, police training, housing and other terms of service are yet to be improved. Talk of police reforms remains just that: hot air, to borrow a famous quip. Up to now, the police force is subject to executive fiat. The mantra of Utumishi kwa Wote has metamorphized into Utumishi kwa Bwana Mkubwa. And yet it is possible to reform, professionalize and redeem the police institution.

When the youth of Kenya – the Gen Z &Y- challenged the corrupt ways of your regime, you let loose the police against them. The uniformed men and women were ordered to molest, arrest, abduct, torture, brutalize and shoot to kill the country’s youthful generation in the guise of protecting the government.

Notwithstanding country wide protestations and even by some in your administration, the abductions and extra-judicial killings continue(d) unabated. Imagine during your 2022 campaigns, you promised the country you would terminate the era of random butchering of Kenyans. Is it possible to take stock of all your promises so that you can easily remember to fulfil them?

That said, it would appear the 1992, 1997, 2007 and 2017 state sanctioned violence is back and with a vengeance. This time around the shooting bull’s eye is the youth of our country. Their crime:  they dared raise their voice to demand accountability, transparency, integrity, fidelity to the Constitution, and a government that works. They cry for jobs. They demand a share of Kenya so they can raise their own families and communities. Instead, your government accuses them of ill-mannered behaviour, treasonous activities, sows fear in their hearts, and worse, permanently silences their leaders.
Because you know that in the last elections, about 8 million of the registered voters did not vote and about 3-4 million who were 18 and above had not registered as citizens and/or voters and that by 2027 another 4 million young Kenyans will be new voters, you seem focused on suppressing the vote of these 15 or so million Kenyans. This generation is systematically being denied full citizenship. And yet, a country’s future rests on its youth.

Given that when you assumed office our education sector was in dire need of reformation, I, as a teacher, was elated upon your pronouncement that no country can be transformed if her young don’t receive an education capable of harnessing their creativity, innovation and critical thinking.

Ancient Egypt to date is accredited with the record for maintaining a state and civilization for over 4,000 years. This longevity was largely premised on an educational system that produced a first class ethical, spiritually inclined, rule-abiding and professional public service. Can’t we take a first step in our journey of a thousand miles by emulating the cradle of civilization at least in this one area?

Let me Sir comment on the fate of our university education.  The Professor Raphael M. Munavu Report of the Presidential Working Party on Education titled “Transforming Education, Training and Research for Sustainable Development in Kenya” presented to you in June 2023 recommended in Chapter Ten, among other things, that a Variable Scholarship and Loan Funding (VSLF) model should replace the existing Differentiated Unit Cost Model (DUC) which charged reasonable fees for students from rich and poor backgrounds.

However, when it came to implementation, the Task Force’s favourable fees recommendations for vulnerable and extremely needy students were jettisoned by the government. Access to university education for students from indigent families is thus severely restricted.

Students took your government to court to seek affordable university education. You established a committee propped by many sub-committees to resolve this impasse. A final report is yet eagerly awaited.
Despite a court ruling suspending the government’s version of VSLF, the judicial decision to enforce the DUC status quo stands disobeyed.

University education clearly is becoming a preserve of children of the privileged. The Munavu Report on page 154 observes: “Until the 1990s, the Government was financing the entire university education, including giving students’ stipends.” That is the period Sir you attended your undergraduate education. Coming from a background of extreme deprivation, as often narrated by yourself, you would have, without doubt, skipped university education if you were a university student today. That PhD from Sugoi would never have seen the light of day.

Time and again, Kenyans have requested that the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) be re-established after the term of the previous Chebukati commission expired on January 17, 2023. Both you and the country’s political class played games around this constitutional imperative. It is common knowledge several wards and constituencies have continued to lack representatives. The panel to appoint the electoral body has been officially launched recently largely due to concerted public pressure. We expect it will discharge its mandate without political manipulation.
And yet the constitutional March 2024 deadline for boundary review has passed.   Therefore, the electoral body when established, will be the Independent Elections Commission (IEC) because it cannot without a constitutional amendment adjust electoral boundaries. The matter of its independence is also an open question. You are known to be, permit me Sir to tell, allergic to independent institutions. For citizens – especially the youth – the existence of an independent electoral body is one of the most burning agendas on the national table. Without free, fair and transparent elections, the country’s stability will be seriously compromised. We cannot afford a civil war and the disorder in its wake. We shiver to our bones when we recall the prodigious loss of life, limb and property in 2007/2008.

We don’t mind new ethnic communities of stateless people being naturalized as Kenyan citizens by dint of having been our country’s residents for a protracted period. Some even for a century plus. Indeed, we expect one day Eastern Africa and even Africa will become one country, one people.

However, we mind foreign nationals being casually converted into citizens to augment a vote basket for the next elections. In every polling station come 2027, Kenyans will be keen to ensure only those who ordinarily reside in any given area can exercise the right to vote. They will endeavour to exorcise ghost polling stations. Therefore, before new communities are made Kenyans, we request that there be elaborate public participation as demanded by the constitution. That way true nation-building will become a reality.

You vigorously campaigned against tribal politics, handshakes, misuse of state machinery and resources during elections and constitutional manipulation to achieve electoral advantage. Two years down the road, you have as feathers in your hat two handshakes and the establishment of a broad-based government. I will not call it by the names the young people keep on baptizing it. However, I wonder is it a government of national unity or a mongrel government? Why can’t KKA ODM and any other willing partners just enter into a legal coalition?

Now that the judiciary has declared the governing KKA a minority government, does this worry you even if you currently enjoy the support of the majority of parliamentarians? It means if such an opposition were to disengage, you would be politically naked and vulnerable.

Those who had a hawk-like eye must have realized that the former deputy president was not initially your running mate pick. Maybe you loathed the Wamunyoro man’s assertiveness. But you needed his financial muscle and the Mrima mountain of a vote. Imagine again that even members of parliament and county assemblies have a breathing space after elections when they cannot be recalled.

By ditching your deputy-alias the Truthful Villager as early as you did, you took the country back to the one-party era when the vice-president served at the pleasure and behest of the president. And yet after 2010, the constitution demands both the president and his or her deputy be elected on a joint ticket. They are joined at the hip. Strictly speaking, to impeach any of the two, the electors must also approve through extensive public participation. Since the matter is sub judice, I will comment no further.

It is a pity you are adroitly mobilizing ethnic groups and their kingpins to create your 2027 electoral juggernaut. You feel secure in the Rift Valley. You are wooing Western Kenya. You seem to believe Luo Nyanza is bagged. And so is North Eastern whose 2019 census is to be repeated. Perhaps your advisors have convinced you that such a replay opens a window for you. I suspect you believe Upper Eastern and the Coast are malleable hunting or is it grazing or fishing grounds? Perhaps even Mount Kenya East may thaw and deliver some consolation votes.

Still, your supporters and campaigners may be developing ways and means of suppressing votes in lower Eastern and Mount Kenya, including Western or any other uncooperative area should the need arise.

In 2027 prepare yourself for a duel with the Uzalendo spirit of the youth who are bent on detribalizing the electoral system and Kenya. If the June 25th Movement gathers momentum – and many in your circles are sceptical about this – you and the traditional political opposition could become fish out of water. Only time will tell.

[gout]

Now that the third prime minister (after Field Marshall Dedan Kimaathi Wa Waciuri and Jomo Kenyatta) has failed to clinch the African Union Commission position despite your brotherly support for his bid (even though some people from the Lake Region are lamenting you did not do enough), in 2027 he could be prevailed upon to vie for the presidency or support the opposition. He could even lend a hand to Gen Z to buy peace for himself and his family, I don’t know. An old man can do anything to make peace with his Maker. Of course, you hope he will remain by your side in your court until August 2027 and beyond. However, his troops or a section thereof could become restive depending on their assessment of how their political survival will be guaranteed.

Let me revisit your relationship with the faith sector. You presented yourself as a man of God before the clergy. You talked church or Bible language each Sunday and in between. You were generous to people of the cloth. They believed and cherished you as dear brethren. Some even thought your governance style espoused theocratic ideals.

However, the mainstream Christian sector is now convinced it is dealing with your duplicate. Trust has evaporated. The youth has vilified church leaders who are lured by politicians with pieces of silver. Henceforth, you may not harvest considerable support from the faith sector. The clergy are in a confessional mode; expect a vote deficit from those the church influences. However, God receives us any time we go to Him in supplication and repentance. A Pauline Damascus moment is a gift from the Almighty.

Is it possible Sir, you believe in yourself to the extent that you don’t need backing in making key decisions for Kenya? Do you perhaps think you are capable of running the country solo without ruining it? Do you feel you are the leader Africa has been waiting for after the first generation of leaders of the 50s and 60s? It would appear if we are to pause and analyze the Addis Ababa unravelling, African long-serving leaders believe new arrivals should not upset the applecart. There are rules to be learned and observed.
During your campaigns, you were a champion of devolution. How come counties can miss their shareable revenue for three or four months? How come despite many promises, some county functions and resources are still held by the national government such as in health and agriculture?
It is true your earlier efforts did lower the price of unga and other basic commodities.  However, those you lead believe that you routinely serve them with a monotonous diet of lies day in and day out. Even when you tell the truth, people believe it is a lie. How did you reach that point when in 2022, citizens would taste and savour each word you uttered as if it was the world-class honey from Greece? Do you, Sir, ask yourself what has gone wrong?

Mr. President, I beseech you that you embrace the Constitution. Although a tall order, if accomplished, it can possibly alter your and our fortunes. You need to believe in your country and your people. It is good to have confidence in oneself, but that is just the beginning of exercising humane leadership. Citizens are plainly saying your output is below your pay grade. It is therefore time to rethink where you are, Sir. Where do we go from here? Do this for Kenya.

Consider henceforth appointing people of integrity, experience and professionalism into your government.  A government is as good as the calibre of its officers and rank and file. Please prioritise delegation. We have a middle-level professional public service that can deliver if it believes it has a free hand to do the job.

Be the Nehemiah you promised to be. Offer this as a boon to your country.  Stop terrorizing the youth. Please, I beg you. Be their friend as you are with your own children. Ask for their forgiveness. I don’t know whether they will have the heart to forgive you. But try to engage them and Kenyans in general.

The hustlers remember the minuscule detail your campaign promises. Can you find a strategy to reconnect with this majority population that catapulted you to the seat of power and service? Allow the talents of your people to build the nation, their communities, families, and each individual. Don’t diminish us. Enable all, and not just one or a few Kenyans to affirm as quoted by Rudolf Von Jhering “Every individual should say the phrase of Louis XIV: ‘I am the State’.” That is the contemporary rendition of Article 1 of our dear constitution.

I urge you, Sir, don’t allow the country to continue floating on autopilot. Avoid like the plague those who try to convince you that you must win the 2027 poll come thunderstorms, rain or shine, “by all means necessary” and that if you don’t, then you must serve Kenyans the Samson option. Those are not leaders, but ‘wash wash’ dealers. If they love you, they will periodically help you reflect on Daniel 5: 25-28.

Please allow me to tell you in brotherly love, firmly embrace the God you sought in your youth. The God you proclaim on your tongue every public worship opportunity. Those who purpose to lead a ministry- as you promised-  must always be guided by the Almighty God. He is ever-present in our lives and times. Shalom.

Kivutha Kibwana

[RV Heavy Hitter!]

He is already starting to elbow Kalonzo slowly in a race to position himself as a bargaining power in either group that emerges to take on Ruto. Kenyan politics is very predictable in how things will pan out. For now, we have ODM, Kenya Kwanza, Wamunyoro, and Wiper as dominant. The GENZ group under Okiyah Omtata is talking sideways, but the last few days they want hefty pay from the Ruto administration to weaken their own group, as they assert. I guess they want seed money to build their bargaining power also.
Like 1990s, 2007, 2012, 2017, and 2022, all indications show elections will be done traditionally, meaning kingpins, money, tribes, and somewhat issues to a lesser degree will be the modus operandi! If Raila was Tosha Wamunyoro, Kenya Kwanza would be in trouble. On the other hand, if Raila was to Tosha Ruto, he would have a huge upper hand. If he runs, it will be a two-horse race because the other small parties, including GENZ, will collapse, AND we may have an official coalition government again.

[gout]

Kivutha is speaking to the person of Ruto. He already gone back to academia.