There is a lot that proves our country is headed in the wrong direction

Crackdown on government critics, the sacking of Public Service Cabinet Secretary Justin Muturi and the recent expulsion of Nominated Senator Gloria Orwoba from the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) mark our evolution from a democracy to an autocracy. And now, change of custody of the Public Seal from the Attorney General’s office to that of the Head of Public Service risks turning Kenya into a kleptocracy. 

For merely gracing the launch of Fred Matiang'i's 2027 presidential bid last month, Ms Orwoba got UDA so agitated, it gave her marching orders. Ironically, the Kenya Kwanza Alliance has gone to bed with ODM. So much for a party that claims to be democratic, a defender of human rights and freedoms. UDA refuses to acknowledge there is freedom of association and perfunctorily supports affirmative action. 

If UDA criminalises association with other Kenyans, how then do we build national cohesion? Impeached DP Rigathi Gachagua, Muturi and Orwoba, with nothing more to lose, have opened up about creeping autocracy in Kenya. 

We have no reason to doubt them. They were once insiders bound by the principle of collective responsibility, but are now free. When a fish comes out of the water to say the crocodile is sick, it is believable. 

We will never get it right as a country as long as sensationalism and selective application of justice form part of government policy. The recent dramatic arrests of Mumias East MP Peter Salasya over allegations of hate speech when Oscar Sudi, Kipchumba Murkomen, Samson Cherargei and Aaron Cheruiyot are still free despite their provocative utterances about the 2027 elections are pointers to a partial leadership. Are we reliving George Orwell's play, 'Animal Farm', in which some animals are more equal than others?

Our politics is vacuous, nowhere near developmental. It is vain, the highway to pilferage of public resources, self gratification and enrichment. It's politics of patronage, exploitation, exclusionism and non-ideological. 

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Indeed, the lack of ideology became manifest a few days ago. The glee with which UDA loyalists, among them Musalia Mudavadi and Sudi received news of deportation of Martha Karua and other Kenyans from Tanzania, and their subsequent rash statements are an indictment of a seemingly befuddled leadership. 

They amplify the tragedy of a leadership that barely understands diplomatic etiquette and doesn't know its right from left. Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna wondered about it, and lawyer Willis Otieno voiced it explicitly in a post directed at Sudi, questioning his grasp of international relations. Today, it is hard for Kenyans to know who is in government and who is not. Government is no longer a clearly defined entity. 

That makes Kenya the only place where you can have your cake and eat it. The opposition has its top brass in government, actually controlling the purse strings and energy, yet swears it's not part of government. Kenya is perhaps the only country in the world in which the opposition leader addresses the Senate and gives directions on policy matters. It's the only country where the opposition leader dictates to MPs what direction NG-CDF must take, and warns them that no amount of public participation will change what is coming. 

Public participation has been defiled. It has been reduced to a scam. And referendums are a scam too. Both are manipulable. Joseph Stalin cautioned that "Those who vote decide nothing. Those who count the vote decide everything". That could be the reason Raila is so sure a referendum on the NG-CDF fund would strip MPs of the right to control it. 

But politics aside, MPs deserve a rude awakening. They have become conceited. Demi gods. Taking away the perks they feel entitled to and making the seat less alluring so that only those with a calling to lead would contest will sober them up.

We need selfless leaders like Nelson Mandela who willingly served for one term and relinquished the seat, and President Jose Mujica of Paraguay. Mujica was humility personified: Living in a barn house with his wife and dog, and driving himself in a Volkswagen beetle. Not our MPs.