What we have ended up with is a mockery to the initial intention of the constitution . Canny politicians have figured out a way to beat the system by simply going out and buying the necessary certificates and diplomas to qualify for the positions they desire .
There are those who will quickly quip that the law was misguided and that there is no apparent correlation between leadership and education levels . If we are to accept that hypothesis then we are left with no alternative but to challenge the legality of the requirement in court .
But to go out and try to beat the system by fraudulent means is not only criminal but a direct affront to the rule of law which all politicians swear to uphold . When the law makers are in the forefront of disregarding the law then who is supposed to follow it ?
What is doubly disappointing is that when any of these nefarious schemes are unearthed , one would expect the culprits to do the honorable thing and quit office before the proverbial long arm of the law catches up with them .
Unfortunately nothing of the sort takes place in Kenya . The perpetrators of these affronts to the law neither resign nor does the law apprehend them . Instead we are treated to a merry go round of political grandstanding and endless days in court moving from one injunction to another .
These grossly dishonest and arrogant behaviors undermine the rule of law and worst of all send the wrong message to the citizenry that obedience to the law is optional . Kenya has two sets of laws , one for the rich and one for the poor .
In a curious turn of events it appears that some leaders have realized that it is just not enough to have the popular vote but one also needs to have
‘‘ As we have stated before the foremost qualification to high office in Kenya is to have a scandal attached to your name . The level of hero worship is commensurate with the amount of money that has been misappropriated : to make the cut currently it has to be in the billions .’’
some fundamental understanding of business , budgeting , administration and strategy to run an office .
Unfortunately these qualities are not requirements in a democratic process where the only thing that matters is numbers . So it would be quite normal for a madman to be legally elected and democracy has no problem with that as it is quite evident in America .
Our leaders , realizing that they do not have the pre-requisite qualifications to run the offices that they are running for have hit upon another smart way to circumvent the requirement of being numerate and having the right type of experience .
Their take is that why bother think when you can always hire a mind to think for you . To them it is a win-win situation since they can get the votes required to get the office and the hired brains can run the tedious everyday sludge of office while they entertain the crowd .
Is it then a wonder that we are bringing up a messed up generation that feels nothing about dishonest behavior if their parents and role models in high positions are busy demonstrating daily that even getting caught in crime is not a setback but an opportunity for self-promotion .
As we have stated before the foremost qualification to high office in Kenya is to have a scandal attached to your name . The level of hero worship is commensurate with the amount of money that has been misappropriated : to make the cut currently it has to be in the billions .
Another equally useful strategy is to have your name blacklisted by Western countries as a suspected drug kingpin and not be allowed to set foot in certain countries or to have your name linked to an international bribery scam where tenders are irregularly issued .
It would also be useful to be investigated for having siphoned the national treasury and banked the proceeds into various tax havens frequented by the world rich . This of course requires a lot of financial savvy and international connections and is not a path for novices .
The most popular and safest route to a scandalous and therefore successful future is to grab some public land and sell it for a fortune or team up with the new crop of business people known as tenderpreneurs who will work out intricate and ingenious schemes to defraud the government .
The real test is to pull off the mega fraud since as soon as one manages to succeed one can count on blindly loyal tribesmen , the judiciary system and a battery of lawyers to ensure that the ill-gained treasure is secured and can be used as campaign arsenal to gain even more opportunities to loot .
The next part in the quest for power to protect the proceeds of fraud is to find