I will not attempt to go through the manifestos of the various factions and individuals who are running in the elections to rule this country after the August 9, polls.
Since our elections are monetized and ethnicised, I doubt if voters ever care about the promises being made.
These shopping lists are never realized in their baskets.
Indeed, the voters know this and take their bribes upfront in trinkets and little change.
Our ethnic barons have since independence perfected the politics of division.
The Kenyan electorate still waits for the politics of issues.
They do not take bribes and promises because they believe something will be done.
Indeed, they know nothing will be done.
They, however, know that alternative politics exists.
With devolution, some leaders have captured the imagination of the Kenyan people that alternative politics is on the horizon.
“The First 100 Days of the New Government” is a political metaphor comprising lies and blatant falsehoods. Those who win have no intention to do what they invariably promise.
So, with our begging bowls in hand, we wait for the 100 days to expire and watch as the looting of our resources continues.
Within the 100 days of coalitions, handshakes can happen when the leader of the opposition decides, without public participation, to join and reinforce the dictatorship.
Our recent political history records this very clearly.
I suggest five demands we can make in the first 100 days of a new government to confirm that nothing will be done.
This could be a basis for holding the new government to its election promises and the content of its manifesto while organizing politics of issues and of alternative political leadership.
Indeed, this will be the political opportunity to mobilize and organize Kenyans to heal from the viruses of politics of money and division.
Let us demand the implementation of the two-third gender rule with immediate effect.
Let us demand its implementation in the formation of the new cabinet, and the new state bureaucracy.
Surely, if this does not happen, we need not bother with the other demands I narrate here.
It would obvious that lies have been told to the Kenyan women and promises made were simply falsehoods.
Kenyans hopefully would know what they expect from the new government in the first few days when the government is formed!
Let us demand that the Ndungu Land Report be implemented within the first 100 days and the land that has been grabbed be held in trust by the National Land Commission for “the people of Kenya collectively as a nation” as decreed under Article 61 of the Constitution.
This can be the beginning of a land and resources bank for the country.
It would signal clearly that the new government is serious about social reforms.
Let us demand that Parliament in the first 100 days, after robust public participation, passes legislation under Article 68 (c) (i) “to prescribe minimum and maximum land holding acreages in respect of private land.”
Such a provision will trigger off a revolutionary debate on who owns the land, and who will lose land under compulsory acquisition by the new government.
Complying with the Constitution under Article 40 (3) (b) (i) compensation will be “prompt payment in full, of just compensation”.
Courts will be called upon to determine what is “just compensation.”
The journey to equitable distribution of land in Kenya would thus begin.
Let us demand that those who have not paid taxes since independence now has to pay.
I have no doubt in my mind that both Kenya Revenue Authority, and the National Intelligence Service, have the documentation.
With the money laundering projects in towns of the country, particularly in the craze for new buildings, there is very rich data on the cartels, elites, and foreign companies that have not paid taxes.
There are billions of Kenya shillings to be made here.
Offshore accounts should be netted in this operation.
The details are readily available in the various reports of the Auditor-General since independence.
Let us demand a review of the sovereign debt.
The data is on the website of the National Treasury.
Were these debts onerous? Are they legal? Were bribes paid in the various projects undertaken?
I believe some of the foreign missions in Nairobi have details of some of the corrupt deals of the past.
Clearly, both the US and the UK, are alleged to be the greatest money laundering nations in the world.
Maybe they could be “civilized” nations and disclose what assets they hold in favour of our elites and their respective multinationals.
The new Kenya government could renegotiate our sovereign debt on that basis.
There can be no social reforms in Kenya which do not entail demystifying foreign interests in this country.
Yes, I know that these demands are voices in the wilderness.
We must continue making them.
We must expose the lies of the elite going forward. We must warn Kenyans that “Mwiiba wa kujichoma hauna pole (self-inflicted harm does not deserve pity).”
Kenyans know that poverty and inequality are cut across all communities in the country.
They cannot be oblivious of the denial of their material needs by our governments since independence.
COVID-19 is still with us and we cannot pretend we do not know what is going on.
The Kenyan middle class, and Kenyan people generally, are the ones subsidizing the failures of the government in areas of material needs: education, housing, health, and youth employment.
After the dust of lies and promises has settled after 9 August, and the Supreme Court has heard the expected Presidential petition and made a decision, let us start making demands in the names of our various GODS.
Willy Mutunga was Chief Justice & President of the Supreme Court, 2011-2016.
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