Thanks Onyango Oloo for promoting democracy here but, may I say that the Kenyan National and County Assemblies represent the true nature of the Kenyan people, elected by Kenyans. Even in Europe where I live, legislators make silly legislations, some of which are self serving. And unlike many Kenyans, I have had the privilege of working with and inside many governments, including our own, and can authoritatively state that there is no country free of the types of corruption witnessed in Kenya.
I would like someone to prove to me that there is any developed country that spends the same proportion of its national income on salaries and benefits for its legislators (national and county) as we spend in Kenya. There is, therefore, a possibility that those who think that the Senate is necessary are wrong, just like the civil society was dead wrong when they were castigating former president Moi when he initiated a program to expand access to public universities in Kenya in the late 80's / early 90's. Do you recall the noise that the old man had to endure?
After witnessing the horrors of genocide in Rwanda in 1994, I know the kind of things that can trigger killings of historic proportions in Kenya. We, as learned people, have a duty to correct any misinformation to preserve peaceful coexistence among Kenyans.
Lastly, Kenyans lost the opportunity to enjoy the diversity of our tribes when we buried our heads in the sand and assumed (like Iraqi's have assumed)democracy is only all about the number of voters. Had we given thought to the idea of rotating leadership among tribes / regions when the constitution was under review, we would not be in a position where we are now. See, this reminds me of a man who divorces his wife, then remarries, only to find that the previous wife was better and then divorces again just because he believed they couldn't iron his trouser properly.
To me Muigai and his team are great for Kenya, they mean well for Kenya and given space and time can transform the country very positively in a relatively short time. The sceptics are like the man who married many times... so if as 'they say' some tribes are feeling disfranchised, why are they not calling for rotating presidency?
Africa is diverse, made of tribes - some big while others are small. And Just like in Iraq where the Shia majority can win elections year after year in any democratic election against the Sunni, the solution to their marital problem will be in rotating the leadership of the country and not in a 'cut and paste' form of democracy that ignores the peculiar nature of our diversity. In other words, the divorced man must come to the realization that it his duty to iron the trouser!
