From broad-based to now bread-based government, interesting time beckon

President William Ruto addresses faithful at Bishop Edward Mwai's Jesus Winner Ministry Roysambu Church, Nairobi, on March 2, 2025. [PCS] In this week that the Moslem and Christian faithful embark on fasting to mark Ramadhan and Lent, respectively, I will be gentle and refrain from calling any politician a liar or a thief-even when it's manifestly clear that's what they are. For now, I will steer clear of the Auditor General's wide-ranging disclosures that exposed the liars and thieves in government. Rather, I will accept Prezzo Bill Ruto's response that the audits are the handiwork of "cartels" who are hell-bent on discrediting his efforts in making Kenya great again. He did not clarify if the said cartels are inside the government or outside and, in this season of goodwill, I will offer no further commentary about Prezzo Ruto's previous commitment to get to the bottom of the spectre of "State capture" that such cabals hide under. Looks like I'm getting my metaphors mixed up: "bottom-up" is and/or was Prezzo Ruto's mantra, which has since morphed to "broad-based". This has since evolved to "bread-based" because the official opposition are joining government ranks by taking up Cabinet slots. Remarkably, even the hustlers have learned to swallow whatever comes their way, with the Auditor General revealing countless billions have been borrowed by folks who have no intention of ever paying back. At the last check, some Sh13 billion was at risk. Once again, in the spirit of the season, I'll refrain from calling anyone a liar or a thief, even the few entities that apparently received some Sh100 billion to create a platform to operate the new health insurance scheme. Prezzo Ruto fumed that he is not a mad man to commit to such a deal, and I have no reason to doubt his pronouncement. But what I find to insanely unbelievable is the Auditor General's revelation report that a clause within the same contract prohibited any prospects of the government developing a platform that would compete against the one leased at Sh100 billion. Again, since we're not as sharp as Prezzo Ruto, with a PhD whose field research was conducted in choppers, I will defer to his conclusion. The fact that I cannot tell SHA and SHIF apart, or other shifty acronyms that are propped to explain the new health insurance gestures towards what Senator Edwin Sifuna calls a "criminal enterprise". Those are very strong words, but then Sifuna pulls no punches. He recently called Kapseret MP Oscar Sudi a "class two dropout," even though Sudi purports to have attended my alma mater in Nairobi, and recently received a PhD from a college that the police declared a "scene of crime". If hospitals and schools are scenes of crime, then many crimes are in the offing, even those that are yet to enter the Auditor General's books. I am refraining from using her name, Nancy Gathungu, PhD-because her second name might appear to "betray" her, if you know what I mean. In our unique political lexicon, meaning is adduced from even the most odious attribute, like one's last name, which is assumed to connote one's assumed political loyalties, overriding their professional competencies. People often forget that Gathungu is paid to audit how public funds are used, and her verdict is that Kenya Inc. is being looted blind, not just in the fiasco surrounding health insurance, but also in affordable housing and other government mega projects. Put simply, Kenya Kwanza's foundational ethos is to steal. Still, I refuse to call anyone a liar or a thief in the spirit of the season. Instead, I will take Prezzo Ruto's words at face value: the opprobrium over his management of the nation are teething problems that will come to pass. As for the severe criticism of his administration, including petitions to remove him from office for incompetence, it is part of our democratic culture. Ditto his overtures to the opposition to join the "broad-based," or is it "bread-based" government?

From broad-based to now bread-based government, interesting time beckon

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