It seems many of us did not take seriously the campaign speech by Eldoret Senator Jackson Mandago in a church service in the run up to the August 2022 election when he told the congregants not to carry the politics of the day in their hearts, or head for that matter.

He urged them to reside politics in their lungs so that they can exhale and expunge the emotions once the elections are over.

Sadly, the masses are still living in denial that politics is just a game of musical chairs where they are dispensable pawns, or spectators at best.

If you take Mandago’s wisdom to heart, the apparent rapprochement between President William Ruto and his arch political nemesis Raila Odinga should not bother anyone, unless those with personal stakes in the expected change in the political equation going forward.

In my community, we have people derogatorily referred to as imenyi or nyamenya. This is a breed of know-it-alls who are highly toxic and impervious to reason, truth or fact, and oftentimes common sense. They will oppose an opinion or point of view regardless of how informed or plausible if it goes against either their reasoning, or the prevailing or convenient opinion.

Kenya’s political class has found this weakness and mines it to full advantage during elections. Since the electorate abounds with the know-it-alls, successful politicians simply concoct lies and other snake oil marketing gimmicks to garner as many votes as possible.

The knowledgeable and discerning middle class is a fraction of the masses, which means they cannot stop idiots from being elected to Parliament.

Politics is a selfish game of musical chairs, thus, same forest, different monkeys, especially at the top. This is why we suffer the same dyed-in-the-wool characters starring at the top. After one of them in the cast takes over, we usually have a fast realignment of political and commercial interests in the new direction the gravy train is envisioned to take.

Zero values or vision that can make our politicians remain steadfast on the journey towards transformative and honest governance.

In the words of the artist “wajinga nyinyi” (us fools), we have allowed our leaders to deceive and manipulate us purely for their gain and that of their cronies. We even protect them so that they can fatten themselves.

In their wildest imagination, the imenyis could never have thought that it was possible for the Ruto and Raila duo to ever sit and dine together ever again after the highly toxic elections. In their small minds, they failed to see through the perennial deception and betrayal that is now ingrained in our national politics.

Personally, I refused to write Raila off Kenya’s political chessboard; not with his background of blackmailing all the previous three presidents for a piece of the pie. Once in power, a Kenyan president has the crucial instruments to manipulate the State machinery to do his bidding.

There must be a reason why the last three presidents bend over twice and trashed the counsel of their kitchen Cabinet to accommodate Raila.

Wishing the doyen of Opposition politics in Kenya to disappear just like that is quite naïve. Once he finally leaves the scene, however, rest assured that the masters of impunity will have a field day peeing on us since they know that the defender of the masses will not be in a position spoil the party by threatening fire and brimstone on the ruling class.

Ultimately, Kenyan politicians are birds of a feather. The rest of the citizens are actually the outsiders. That is why the few sincere and sheepish leaders have turned to hyenas once they are sworn in the august House. It is like they fall under some spell that disables their vision, capabilities and values.

—The writer is a PhD candidate in International Relations