A republic cannot be renewed by spectators

We Kenyans have become accomplished critics of the State. We condemn corruption, lament failing services and demand accountability. Yet we sometimes seek personal connections when procedures inconvenience us, excuse wrongdoing when it benefits our community or political side, and remain silent when institutions to which we belong violate the standards we demand from government.

This is not to distribute responsibility equally.

Public officials exercise legal authority, control public resources and command the coercive power of the State. Their obligation is therefore greater. But Kenya cannot renew its institutions while citizens and the institutions of society remain spectators.

Our Constitution begins from a different premise. Sovereign power belongs to the people, and every person has an obligation to respect, uphold and defend the Constitution. Citizenship is therefore more than voting, paying taxes, posting criticism or joining demonstrations. These matter, but sovereignty must also be organised.

Encouraging signs are emerging. In July, the Law Society of Kenya called a nationwide boycott of court proceedings to demand action over alleged corruption, misconduct and delays in the Judiciary. Lawyers used the particular power of their profession to insist that judicial independence cannot mean freedom from accountability.

Young Kenyans have also turned dissatisfaction into democratic participation. Niko Kadi made voter registration a civic movement rather than an administrative chore. The People’s IEBC has gone further by developing a citizen-led platform for independent verification and tallying of polling-station results. During the Ol Kalou by-election, it verified and tallied Forms 35A from 93 of the constituency’s 144 polling stations.

The initiative cannot replace the constitutional IEBC and must itself meet rigorous standards of accuracy, transparency and political independence. But it demonstrates citizens building capacity to safeguard institutions rather than merely distrusting them.

In the religious sector, Anglican Archbishop Jackson Ole Sapit has challenged government to move beyond condemning political goonism and arrest both its perpetrators and sponsors.

He has also urged young people to reject recruitment into violence and use their votes instead. This is moral authority being deployed in defence of lawful public order.

These examples reveal a larger principle: every institution must use the form of power entrusted to it. Professional bodies possess expertise and can discipline members responsible for fraudulent accounts, unsafe buildings or medical malpractice. Churches possess moral authority and extensive community networks; they should form citizens who resist corruption, ethnic mobilisation and political violence.

Universities can test official claims and translate research into public knowledge. Business associations can establish integrity pacts rather than privately negotiating favours. Civil society can track budgets, court decisions, campaign commitments and public projects long after public attention has moved elsewhere.

This matters because outrage, however justified, is not an institution.

It gathers around a scandal, killing, tax proposal or disputed appointment, then too often dissipates. Renewal requires movement from outrage to organisation, from protest to oversight, and from participation to persistence.

Kenya does not lack dissatisfied citizens. It lacks enough sustained, organised and accountable citizenship. Government must fulfil the heavier responsibility that accompanies public power.

But a republic cannot be renewed by spectators. It is renewed when its people organise with courage and persistence to defend in practice the values they demand from the State.

-The writer is a consultant in governance.