Democratisation of patronage is changing politics

These are interesting times in Kenyan politics. I have my own quibbles with the 2010 Constitution, but the more I think about its implications, the more I get convinced that perhaps we should give it more time before we begin tinkering with it.

Take, for instance, what the Constitution is doing to the composition of the political class. For a long time in our history we had largely two kinds of politicians: the regional big men (many of them self-appointed ethnic spokesmen), and their respective errand boys. The big men had actual power and the ear of the president.