The picture painted by those democratically elected to our
leaders portrays the end of democracy as an illusion that we will never get to
touch. While we thought that democracy and its anticipated end should serve to
offer if not better lives then lives desirable by the citizens, it has not been
further from reality.
The world over, the unaudited claim of democracy is that
which makes the people get leaders they desire. The end of this is supposed to
be an acute translation of services and leadership as fairy as it should be.
Like the bad proverbial mother that eats up her own
children, our kind of democracy is proving to be our Achilles heel. It is, day by day confirming that it is an
extra burden with no transposed results to the ordinary mwananchi. How be it that the leaders you stood in long spiraling
queues to elect turn your back against you the very moment you cast your vote?
The ink still wet and the brow still drowned in sweat.
The first thing the members of the lower house ganged up to
do was to unceremoniously coerce the structures of the country to increase
their pay. Never mind not a single bill had been passed as yet. Concurrently,
the county governments; meant to bring services closer to the people resulted
to join in the financial gymnastics and the governors too were not left behind.
Further gapping the already eclectic poor-rich divide while
being hopelessly clueless on real issues that concern the people. In a good country (and that’s probably
Wonderland where Alice lives) we would expect that the penultimate leadership
would play tough ball and direct the coterie of leaders who hide under mass
impunity and bring them back on track. What happened was that they chose to
handle them with kid’s glove and opened a further Pandora’s Box that is now
spiraling out of control. If our leaders can be allowed to dip their fingers in
the honey jar then everyone else must be allowed to do it. As a representation
of the general population, they ought to be a reflection of what we are. What
they want and need should extrapolate what we want and need. There should be no
doubling of standards.
Teachers were the streets for three weeks, putting a
not-so-enviable focus on the prospects of education in our country. An
education system characterized by uncertainty and poor stewardship breeds
youths that are uncanny and unnecessarily abrasive. These, while our peers are embracing
the dancing lights of modernization.
Nurses and doctors might also be sitting on the edge, waiting
for their turn to pounce. Characterized by poor pay in a sector that is as
hazardous to work in as was the battlefield of World War 2, we are left with
few probable guesses.
The most nauseating thing however is not our leaders’
unfairness but their indifference. As it is said, you would rather an unjust
god than an indifferent one. They chose to almost deliberately ignore the
obvious displeasure of the people and chose to with religious discipline adorn
political correctness as a means to their selfish ends.
In all these confusion, the obvious question becomes ‘what is
it that they claimed was the magic in the wand of democracy?’ Why should those
who embrace it be glorified and those who think against it be castigated.
In a population where many people live miserably below the
benchmark of poverty, it would be wise to guide democracy into its right path. We
have to get back into the lane. Define astutely what it is that we need as a
country and brand our own path to get there.
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