Like many Kenyans, I have been going through a sequence of four years of dismay

followed by a one year of unparalleled hope for the possibilities of my homeland- at

least since I stopped pledging my loyalty to the president first, then my nation in
2002. The first thing on Mondays and Fridays was to assemble for the scouts and
girl guides to hoist the flag (usually a few senior boys and girls who were randomly
picked to fulfill the ritual). Jokes ceased at that time. Attention we used to stand,
and to the top of our voices, we would for justice to be our shield and defender and
vowed that we would firmly stand to defend it, with hearts both strong and true. No
longer do we believe in these words anymore. Why? When did the rains start
beating us? I will not spend a lot of word to explain the latter. Why would I, when we
are already down and still getting the beating of our life from the cartels that run
this country? Let me explain why they will not stop running this country in the
foreseeable future. One, these cartels are our cartels and they do it for the benefit
of our people. The three arms of government are subordinate to them. The
presidency controls his people, in turn, he controls those he can buy in the
judiciary with the financial power that comes with the house on the hill, and military
and rogue forces for those stand firm. The national assembly controls the
presidency in turn with its legislative power, budget allocation, and diversity in tribal
affiliations henceforth, making it the most powerful level. As such, sacrifices are
made to those in this level by the executive. This is the cartel level.
Many countries have been in such a situation as my motherland is. South Korea was
ruled by military dictatorial rule until 1987when they amended their constitution.
Most recently, the outgoing president of the U.S found it extremely difficult to work
with his powerful senate and house of representatives. It can be argued that had it
been in Africa, he would hae bought off the soft ones in both houses and in return
dance to their tune. Coming back to Kenya, we are not beyond redemption.