I have reached a point where I genuinely believe Kenya is too rotten for any single politician to save it, regardless of their political party, popularity or promises. We have spent decades listening to politicians promising heaven on earth, only to discover after every election that the same rotten system remains intact, with a different group of people taking turns to milk it.
Look at the ridiculous duplication of government institutions that we continue financing through taxes and borrowing, even as the country struggles to meet its obligations. We have the Kenya Water Towers Agency, the Ministry responsible for Water, Water Works Development Agencies and numerous other bodies, while our roads are divided among KURA, KeRRA, KeNHA and a Ministry of Transport, each with its own bureaucracy, budgets and officials. Some of these institutions have different mandates, but who has seriously examined whether Kenya needs all these expensive layers of administration, and how does the next president intend to finance this entire machinery without continuing to borrow?
I can never join the One Term chorus because I believe Kenyans are missing the bigger picture, which is that removing a rotten president does not automatically remove the rotten system that produced him.
Ruto has completely failed in my assessment and should even resign as soon as now, but what exactly is the alternative being offered by an opposition where someone like Rigathi Gachagua appears more interested in securing votes for his DCP party than presenting a serious plan to reconstruct the Kenyan state? How will the next president service the debts, finance the bloated government, eliminate duplication and provide services without returning to the same lenders that have kept successive administrations borrowing?
Perhaps Kenyans need to take back ownership of their country and consider a credible, constitutionally grounded transition council with a clear mandate to investigate the national debt, review government institutions, audit questionable expenditure and propose a complete restructuring of the state. I am increasingly convinced that the problems we face cannot be solved simply by electing another politician, because the next president will inherit the same expensive machinery, the same financial obligations and the same incentives to borrow, reward political allies and perpetuate the cycle.
Kenya has become like a political malaya, passed from one political suitor to another every election cycle, with each promising her heaven on earth before leaving her more desperate than he found her.
We are the political malayas in this arrangement, getting fucked over repeatedly by politicians who understand that our desperation makes us vulnerable to the next beautiful campaign speech. Kenya is completely broken, and unless its owners, the Kenyan people, confront the system itself and rebuild the country from the foundations, 2027 will merely produce another politician promising heaven on earth while inheriting a machine that continues destroying us.