Is it possible that most MPs had a delinquent troubled past?

By Hassan Omar Hassan

It’s not possible. It’s not moral. How can our MPs behave like this? How can such men and women lack such basic decency or decorum? How can any human being be so inhumane? Live lavishly, loot and enrich yourself from the blood and the sweat of the poor. How can they be immersed in such shameless greed? With spouses and kids, how can anyone with just some basic decency and some values bear no shame?

Why do they take us for granted? Why do they think they can get away with such type of things? When will we get them to bear harsh consequences for such criminal contempt of the people? Why do they constantly test the will and the resolve of the people? How can they attempt to pay themselves Sh2.1 billion ‘retirement’ package and think it’s cool? And do this sort of thing over and over and over again? What on Earth do they take us to be? How foolish do they think we are?

Yes, we will soon carry them shoulder high. They will seek our votes to preserve their positions of privilege. We will shower them with praise. We will sing their hymns.

They will demonstrate their development record through Constituency Development Fund (CDF) projects. Really!

There are those in our midst who believe a CDF project is courtesy of mheshimiwa, illustrates or is a benchmark of his or her development record? How gullible can we possibly be? Is our ignorance letting us down badly? Where are the Kenyans who will raise the bar of civic awareness? Where are the advocates of good governance and accountability? Will we apply a new gauge of integrity this time around?

Scientifically, previous electoral results indicate that Kenyans sack an average of 70 per cent of the MPs during every General Election. To cleanse our politics, we need to sack an even higher number. They need to witness the impact of the resolve of the nation. That future politicians must never again dare or test the will of the nation on account of this wrath.

As Kenyans, we must too try to understand the moral fabric of most of our MPs. I am not an ‘expert’ in this trade. But I have a credible thesis to explain the behavioral tendencies of our MPs. How can you do the same thing again and again and again without shame? Most of our MPs must hail from a delinquent and troubled past and haven’t undergone a full recovery or behavioural change.

It has nothing to do with parenting. It’s a personal inadequacy.

Parents tried and failed. Religion has taught them nothing. The schooling system including the ‘fine’ schools some of them attended inculcated no meaningful values. The legal system is weak.

And the punishment system has not been harsh enough to deter malignant delinquency. The nation’s leadership at all levels is weak and lacklustre. The moral institutions are decayed.

The people have surrendered to the fact that politics is for a certain type of cadre of people. That’s why a majority of politicians belong to the cadre of delinquency.

Men and women who bear the audacity to constantly partake to wrong and immoral conduct and actions.  That’s why we constantly caution good people from getting into politics. Or tell them how they now need to play dirty and selfish. But ultimately the nation must heed the clarion call. And put in place a leadership that stands for something!

The writer is a lawyer and former commissioner with the KNCHR