Stand up for Kenya, Mr President, and stop this mess

"Today I draw the line. No one will stand between Kenyans and what is right in the fight against corruption and other monstrous economic crimes," President Uhuru Kenyatta while addressing Parliament on March 26, 2015

Mr President, that line has been crossed far too many times. In fact, there is nothing to show that such a line ever existed. You must draw that line again. And if you do, do it with conviction. Corruption has become a way of life in your government. And on this subject, we speak to you candidly because we speak for Kenyans; all Kenyans. We speak for the 6,173,433 Kenyans who elected you and the 6,156,595 Kenyans who rejected you at the ballot in 2013.

And our message is simple. Call out the thieves in your government and save our country from the firm grip of evil racketeers and shameless conspirators. Call them by their names and damn the consequences. Do not allow them to throw Kenya to the dogs in exchange of temporary political convenience. If you don't save Kenya now, Mr President, the millions of jobless youths; the helpless patients dying at home and in public hospitals; the children who have been robbed of their childhood by land grabbers and the mothers and fathers who toil on barren shambas for zero returns will forever remember you. Remember you as the President under whose watch Kenya fell apart.

The poor of this country may sing and dance for you whenever they get the rare opportunity to come close to you. But deep inside, they are frustrated by their inability to hold thieves in your government to account. They may never tell you this Mr President, but take it from us; you have surrounded yourself with far too many corrupt people. Shake them off and set Kenya free!

So shameless and emboldened are the evil schemers that in their scramble for the public pie, your pet projects have presented the perfect opportunity for theft and primitive accumulation of wealth. The laptops project has collapsed under the weight of corruption. The slums upgrading programme has been turned into a cash cow by people you have entrusted with its management. The 2014 recruitment of police officers was cancelled courtesy of corruption at a time when Kenyans were falling like flies under Al-Shabaab fire. And today, as leaked national examination papers circulate in social media, the people you have put in charge of education are telling you all is well. What a shame!

Walk the talk Mr President and stand up for your country. Stand up for your government. Theft of public resources by people you have appointed to State jobs is not only a betrayal of public trust; it is evil and it is immoral. It gets worse, Mr President, that when the culprits do it, they do it with impunity.

You must hear this Mr President and believe it because it is the truth. In the fight against corruption and in efforts to hold this country together and deepen our democracy, the media are not your enemy. In fact, we are the most reliable partners to deliver the Kenyan promise. You may want to find out, Mr President, why President Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States of America — a man who bore the brunt of media criticism on daily basis — found the conviction within himself to declare that "were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter. But I should mean that every man should receive those papers and be capable of reading them".

It is common knowledge Mr President that you will be seeking a second term in office. That is your constitutional right and we sincerely wish you and other presidential hopefuls well. It takes courage and great sacrifice to seek to serve one's country at the very top; and especially if that country is Kenya. But what would be the point of being President of a country whose people are under sustained attack from an economy on a free fall courtesy of your own appointees who have made corruption the second name of your administration?

What do you owe this cabal of corrupt officials that you must allow them to continue plundering our economy and making you look so bad? When you chair Cabinet meetings, what do your ministers tell you about the cost of living for millions of the poor Kenyans who call you "my President"? What do they tell you about theft of national exams? What do they tell you about the plight of dying patients who can't access basic emergency medical care? What do they tell you about the billions of shillings sunk in the slums upgrading programme? What do they tell you about the stability of the Kenyan shilling which stood at Sh84 against the dollar when you took office and is now trading at Sh102 against the dollar? What do they tell you Mr President?

On November 7, 2013, you made history by blowing the whistle on corruption in your office. You stated clearly that "the biggest corruption in Kenya occurs in the Office of the President. Security-related agencies are the basis of corruption in this country". But you did not have the courage to name the people seated at your table and stealing from Kenyans under your watch.

A very bad example has been set at the top and it is being perfected at the bottom of the pyramid, every day. The burden of life for majority of Kenyans has become too heavy to bear. You can dismiss your rivals and scoff at the gospel of Opposition politicians on corruption; in any case they too are not as clean as they would want Kenyans to believe. But they did not swear the oath of office to protect this country. You did.

Remember April 9, 2013 Mr President. The Holy Bible at hand, the First Lady by your side and surrounded by a multitude of witnesses, you swore to "truly and diligently serve the people and the Republic of Kenya in the office of the President of the Republic of Kenya; that I will diligently discharge my duties and perform my functions in the Office of President of the Republic of Kenya; and I will do justice to all in accordance with this Constitution, as by law established, and the laws of Kenya, without fear, favour, affection or ill-will. So help me God."

Ask God to help you Mr President. Help you to hold this country together and inspire hope and confidence in the young and the old, those who support you and those who oppose you. Only you, Mr President, can set the pace of rebuilding our country and our economy. Don't allow them — your friends, political allies and rivals — to cause you to preside over the collapse of our beautiful country.