Uhuru should stop lying to Kenyans, act

Inefficiencies abound in the Jubilee government. That's a fact no one wants to deny. But the malady is not inefficiencies per se for no human system-- political or otherwise-- can be perfect. The malady is the impunity. The arrogance. The dishonesty. The let-them-talk-I-am-still-the-president attitude with which those inefficiencies are presented to the public.

That in the wake of runaway corruption and related governance evils, the government has chosen to play to the gallery with rhetoric upon rhetoric is as annoying as it is unhelpful. There are people, umpteen if you will, who had the hope that a Uhuruto government brought on board a shift from the antique regimes of Jomo Kenyatta, Daniel Moi and Mwai Kibaki. These people chose to ride on the notion that a youthful government would shake the foundations of status quo and rid the country off impunity. Some argued, rather pedestrianly, that Uhuru was already affluent and thus did not need to be president in order to loot public wealth. They chose optimism over scepticism.

During the last electioneering period and in the infancy stages of his administration, President Uhuru exhibited the confidence that he would change things. He seduced many of us-- haters and supporters alike-- into thinking that he would take charge and better the state of affairs. He talked tough. He sent shimmers of fear down the spine of every public officer stating whenever he could that Jubilee would not entertain corruption and under-performance. Something that we now realize was not to be.

Just what happened to the good Uhuru I can't fathom. The presidency has morphed into a PR firm, and the president into its executive CEO. I have caught myself wondering: what became of the Uhuru we elected? That even in the glaring face of economic crunch, he still opts to lie to Kenyans. Does he take Kenyans for fools? Or is it true what people say that even if you elect a good leader, sooner or later, the people around him will intoxicate him?

The ex-premier and Cord principal Raila Odinga recently said in a statement, "Since Jubilee came to power, it has insisted that the economy is growing and Kenyans can sit back and relax. We in Opposition have warned that we are on the road to nowhere. We warned that jubilee is over borrowing, over spending and over stealing."

What is economic growth when the standard of living of the common mwananchi is getting harder by the day? Why must we borrow elephantine amounts of money only to loot the better of it? Isn't it being needlessly insolent to see president Uhuru's spin doctors defend thievery. What's the rationale behind, say, keeping Waiguru in and suspending Ngilu from office? Is it a case of some being 'more equal than others'? Or, as Muthama hinted, 'more sugary?' What about the selective obedience to court orders? Is there pride in subjecting teachers to abjectness? Does the president want posterity to remember his as the government that had enough money to steal but zilch to improve the economy?

I will not mention that this government seems to protect the ethnic garbage. Or that hate speech only becomes illegal when it's peddled by the opposition. But, of course, I will still say something: The country is weeping. Citizens continue to wallow in untold economic agony. The youth seek the ever elusive employment. Teachers beg to be treated with dignity. Our mothers, sisters and wives are getting raped. National Examinations are revised long before students write them.

Universities are getting closed down. The media are being gagged. A bar of soap is bought at a cost unimaginable. Problems upon problems. The buck stops with the president. He has the whip. What to do with it is his discretion. He should choose to whip and wipe clean the rank and file of government. He must come down to the people and listen to their songs. He should dance with them. Public stunts may fool us sometimes-- not always. Everything is dangerous in excess. These lies are rising up the bottle. Soon the bottle will be full. They will spill and boomerang on him!