Let’s retrace our steps, pledge to protect ideals of the 2010 Constitution

Nine years ago, we trooped to Uhuru Park in a celebratory state comparable only to the 1963 lowering of the Union Jack, and the 2002 Moi handover to Narc. In a day clouded only by the presence of then Sudan’s President and ICC fugitive General Al Bashir, we welcomed our new Constitution, a document that had taken many years, lives and limbs to procure. Finally, we believed, we had crossed into Canaan, the land of constitutionally guaranteed milk and honey. The imperial presidency was no more, we now had a strong Judiciary, a Parliament and constitutional commissions that could check the Executive.

No longer would resources be distributed on the “siasa mbaya maisha mbaya” principle. With a strong system of devolution, resources would be equitably distributed, ensuring that those who had been historically marginalised were compensated over time. Citizens would be fully engaged in governance. Hygiene in our public sector would return, with a whole chapter dedicated to leadership and integrity, a rare innovation informed by the historically bad habits of our leadership.