Development is right, not a favour from political leaders

Elected leaders have crafted a diversionary illusion that no development project can be initiated or successfully implemented without their personal blessing. [File, Standard]

For over two decades, Kenya has been held hostage to a politician-centred model of development. From the ward level to the presidency, development projects are no longer the outcome of robust institutional planning, public participation, or fiscal responsibility-they are the by-products of political goodwill, loyalty, and patronage.

In every corner of this country, elected leaders-from Members of County Assemblies (MCAs), Members of Parliament (MPs), Woman Representatives, Senators, Governors, to the President have systematically colonised the minds of their constituents. They have crafted a diversionary illusion: That no development project can be initiated or successfully implemented without their personal blessing. This model has turned basic infrastructure, public utilities, and social programmes into political favours. It has reduced citizens to passive recipients of "goodwill" rather than empowered rights holders entitled to public goods and services.