Kenya Kwanza administration: A fledgling regime, lost country and missed

On Tuesday, September 27, 2022, President William Ruto chaired the first Kenya Kwanza Cabinet meeting of the men and women who would shepherd his “Plan” for Kenya. 

Two years later, and with a rejigged Cabinet, we stand not merely at a crossroads but at the precipice of a profound danger, a moment that demands our courage, our unity, and our unyielding resolve to reclaim the destiny that is rightfully ours. 

The grace period Kenyans granted the Kenya Kwanza administration has been expended in sustained assault of human rights and civil liberties, entrenching corruption and impunity, undermining devolution, promoting economic injustice, raising public debt, and mortgaging our children’s future. 

Walk with me as we peel back the mask of Kenya’s ultimate con executed on August 15, 2022 by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) and sanctioned by Kenya’s Supreme Court fourteen days later. 

Human rights: Which human rights? 

The government’s foremost duty is to safeguard the welfare of its citizens and especially their fundamental rights and freedoms as provided by our foundational principles in Article 10 of the Constitution and the Bill of rights.  

In a span of two years, the Kenya Kwanza administration has trivialised the right to life to new lows never witnessed since the advent of the new order.

Despite a loud affirmation of the right to picket our Constitution, security agencies commanded by Kenya Kwanza (KK) functionaries descended on peaceful Gen Z protesters in June. In the wake of the violent clampdown, over 60 young Kenyans lost their lives, over 100 others are still missing to date, and many more were injured. And what is more, the same agencies engaged in unprecedented falsification of official records at our mortuaries, another new low for the country.

Within the same period, Kenya turned into an abductions paradise where persons expressing contrary views simply disappear in the thin air after initial contact with security agencies. I will not mention arbitrary arrests, torture of dissidents and wanton disregard of court orders, for these require acres of space. 

Corruption and Impunity: The cancer within 

Granted, we were already steeped in corruption before KK came in. The Auditor General had long estimated that one third of our budget, close to one trillion shillings, is lost to corruption every year. Our retired President Uhuru Kenyatta informed us that we were losing Sh2 billion a day when he was in power.

With a conviction rate of 12 per cent for corruption cases, the anti-corruption legal regime available at the time KK took over was, and still is, an absolute joke.

But no sooner had KK settled in office than it began to shatter the ignominious records of the past.

First came a spate of withdrawals of active corruption cases and probes, another new low for the country. All the high profile corruption cases pitting the State against powerful KK politicians were withdrawn, without an iota of shame.

Now with a clean slate, KK officials set about to loot their country through budgeted corruption schemes. From edible oil scam to the fertiliser heist, and to the latest; the state capture by the Adani group, the rot has just gotten thicker.

You can tell from the demeanor of state officers, the manner of their appointment, and their dereliction of duty which goes unpunished, that nobody is in it for public service. Under KK, every state officer has been unleashed to fend for themselves. The State largesse is their oyster. 

Diminishing devolution 

Devolution was our collective pledge to ensure that no voice would go unheard, no community overlooked. Article 174 of our Constitution envisioned devolution as a vessel for democratic and accountable governance, a means to enhance public participation, and a bridge to unify our diverse nation. 

Yet today, that beacon flickers perilously, threatened by those who seek to centralise power and silence the periphery. Again, the KK regime has picked from where Jubilee left in terms of undermining devolution. 

The Controller of Budget’s recent report is a glaring testament to this betrayal. Only 52.3 per cent of allocated county funds have been disbursed. Our counties are starved, their services crippled while the national government swims in abundance of money leading to sleaze. 

This is not mere negligence. It is a calculated subversion of our constitutional rights. The push to re-concentrate power at the centre is…