A dangerous assumption in our politics is that when a leader joins government, the community from which that leader comes must follow. A senior appointment becomes an imaginary receipt for millions of voters. An official vehicle becomes evidence that an entire region has arrived.
Citizens are then expected to applaud, suspend their grievances and endorse the appointed individual’s political preferences. This assumption deserves an unequivocal answer. Public office creates a duty to serve. It does not create a debt of political loyalty among citizens.
The distinction matters because an officeholder’s interests do not automatically coincide with ordinary people’s. A leader may receive a salary, security, and access to decision-makers while a village family struggles with school fees. The leader’s circumstances improve. Whether the family’s circumstances improve is a separate question.
To tell that family it is now “inside government” confuses representation with wellbeing. Its child cannot eat proximity to power. Its sick grandmother cannot be treated with a photograph taken at State House. Its unemployed graduate cannot present a politician’s appointment letter as an employment contract.
The Constitution provides a different foundation. Article 1 places sovereign power in the people. Article 73 treats authority as a public trust exercised to serve them. The relationship runs from citizens to those entrusted with power, never the other way around.
Consider the appeal that Meru voters should support the government because Kithure Kindiki occupies the deputy presidency. Kindiki comes from Tharaka-Nithi, historically part of the wider Meru region. His rise may inspire pride. But pride cannot be an obligation to endorse every government decision.
A Meru farmer may question markets, production costs and payments for produce. A parent may ask about school fees, a trader about taxes and a family about security. No one should apologise for raising these concerns because someone from their region holds high office. Shared roots cannot cancel legitimate grievances.
The same applies to appeals invoking John Mbadi and Opiyo Wandayi among Luo voters. Their appointments cannot settle an entire community’s political choices. Nor should Kindiki be judged principally by his ability to deliver Meru votes. All three should be assessed by their responsibilities, decisions and service to Kenyans.
Supporting a government and advocating its re-election are legitimate political choices. The problem arises when people present support as a communal duty and disagreement as betrayal. Citizens can share a leader’s language, ancestry and birthplace without sharing that leader’s political judgement.
No politician owns Luo, Kikuyu, Kalenjin, Luhya, Kamba, Kisii or Meru votes. Every community contains diverse experiences, beliefs and interests. Respecting that diversity means treating people as citizens capable of independent judgement, not bargaining chips in political negotiations.
Representation still matters. Communities historically excluded from public institutions rightly demand fair participation. But representation serves democracy when it expands opportunity, improves responsiveness and strengthens equal citizenship. It fails when a few appointments are presented as compensation for everyone else’s hardships.
National office entails national responsibility. A deputy president serves the Republic. A Cabinet secretary must serve citizens across every county. People elsewhere should not feel an office belongs to another ethnic group. Nor should those from an officeholder’s home region be treated as political property.
Performance offers a better measure. Judge electricity by access, reliability, and affordability. Economic policy must answer to household budgets and business realities. No official can resolve every problem, but each should explain priorities, acknowledge constraints and account for results.
Citizens should challenge the political bargain peacefully and consistently. Attend public forums, examine budgets, ask for targets and published results, and demand explanations without surrendering to insults—credit genuine performance. Withhold endorsement when it is not deserved. Accountability means applying the same standard to allies and opponents.
Opposition leaders must hear this too. Criticism of government gives nobody ownership of dissatisfied voters. Anyone seeking office must explain proposed changes, their financing, and how citizens can enforce accountability. A new political colour does not guarantee a new governing culture.
Citizenship includes the freedom to judge power without permission from those who exercise it. Leaders may request support, defend their records and seek another mandate. They must accept refusal.
A government may appoint leaders from every corner of the country and still fail its people if services remain poor, prices rise, and meaningful opportunities for citizens remain scarce. Public salaries and public services are not personal gifts voters must repay at the ballot.
Let every officeholder remember the terms of the assignment. The people entrusted you with responsibility. They did not surrender their judgement. Serve them well, explain your decisions and earn their confidence. Their loyalty remains theirs to give.
