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Democracy as it were, is a system of governance where the power to govern is given by the people.

Whereas there are various forms of democracy, one of the key tenets holds that the State facilitates smooth handing over of power to the political party that wins an election by a majority of the votes cast.

Pluralist democracy, which is what we technically have in Kenya, is not procedural. However, opinion formation must be based on public interests and discussions of all kinds of views in the public domain.

Simply put, decision making is not supposed to be central, and neither is it formulaic. Decisions need to be arrived at through representation of competing interest.

At no point does the individual interest supersede the greater good of the majority. Today, we see leaders serve interest that seem not to have the public good dimension in any way. From consolidation of power to emasculation of Parliament and political parties and use of State apparatuses for political expediency.

The current regime is struggling to deliver on its promises against the backdrop of the high cost of living. Instead of subjecting some of the good proposals to discussions between competing interests, this government has decided to work outside what was touted as The Plan and is now parading optics and wooing opposition MPs for legitimacy.

The high cost of living and the dearth of clarity on how punitive taxes will address the plight of the poor will be the waterloo of this regime. The pesa mfukoni pledge is turning out to be maisha bila pesa.

Politics 001 tells me that when the people lose hope in their elected leaders, disillusionment will set in. For disillusioned masses, the People’s Barazas will take a life of its own.

For a government that has numbers in Parliament and can easily deal with the issues affecting mwananchi, going back to the Nyayo era tactics of divide and rule will only make a bad situation worse.

The picture of elected members of Azimio trooping to State House and parading for photos does not in any way allay the economic and social hardships experienced by the majority poor.

In fact, instead of weakening Azimio, such images are exacerbating the disillusionment among the citizenry. The misplaced optics are galvanizing more grassroot support for opposition leader Raila Odinga and clipping away any sort of legitimacy from the Kenya Kwanza government.

If winning an election was all about fighting for a Jubilee Party that lost then we need to interrogate what winning is and why winning is turning out to be an affront to democracy.

MPs should spare us this misnomer that development for their constituents is given by the President. We expect their working with the government to be based on pronouncements made in Parliament either through legislation or even commitment without stooping to the level of cheapening their mandate.

The ploy to emasculate the power of elected leaders and mute alternative voices will not stop the People’s Barazas. Buying all gullible leaders in the wake of the economic challenges facing  mwananchi will certainly leave wananchi with no option but to join the Barazas.

As it is today, what is more important in these Barazas is not the presence of leaders on the podium, but the crowds of people on the ground. Disillusioned Kenyans are looking for opportunities to ventilate their issues and highlight the broken promises of the UDA government.

We need to remind ourselves that when elected leaders abandon the people and parade opulence at State House, the people will act for themselves and because the people have no access to State House, the people will flood the streets.

I dread the day the streets will be flooded with a disenchanted people let down by their leaders. But because they say “nothing about us without us is for us” at least street demonstrations will give us – the people – something about us, with us and for us.

— Hansen Owilla is a PhD candidate in political communication