Democracy; Our new found love.

America, in all its guises, has captivated Old World intellectuals since well before 1776, and French nobleman Alexis de Tocqueville was no exception. As a young man he was particularly captivated by the glamour of their burgeoning democracy. Though his 1831 visit to the newly formed United States, when he was but twenty-six years old, lasted only nine months, his account of that journey continues to provide intriguing insights into the challenges inherent in a Jeffersonian democracy. There are few men who are more often or more widely quoted than this aficionado of the American experiment.

In a country where political intrigue has often substituted for governance, Kenya's more than two-year-old National Accord offered a pragmatic solution to ending post-election violence and restoring democratic rule. Now the new constitution offers fresh hope that Kenya's bumpy road back to democracy might get smoother. But as the country lurches toward constitutional reform, the tradition of "winner-take-all" politics -- as well as the accompanying fears of "loser-lose-all" outcomes is proving tough to leave behind. For Kenya, as with too many African countries, democracy is still thwarted by a zero-sum system that encourages bare-knuckle politics as well as social and ethnic destabilisation.

This are just some of the captivating moments I could garner from my general readership today. What ails our country and may still haunt us to our grave is the subject of democracy. For a long time this country has gotten used to despotic regimes ranging from the; colonial, Kenyatta and Moi regimes that literally we have no idea of the concept of democracy and its purpose.

World powers such as the US have experienced challenges in implementing agendas because of democracy; this is so because the founding fathers in their fight from enslavement could not have imagined the Americans with a tyrannical government again. The concept of democracy goes deeper that the system of checks and balances is overwhelmed, Obama for instance in trying to salvage the countries external debt crisis that is crippling the economy, has had a difficult task owing to conflicting opinion of the conservatives and liberals who want their opinions considered too.

That notwithstanding, we have seen significant development in the democratic channels in our country, but, the kind of democracy we have in Kenya today has become unscrupulous. While other states are championing for governmental democracy, we in Kenya are for lack of a better word misusing the democracy we have.if i may borrow the words of Sir Winston churchil 'It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried' democracy to a slave minded individual is like giving a suicidal man a loaded gun all they will do is cause harm.

The constitution has been used as an instrument for perpetuation of impunity and vengeance, a clear symbol of what is to come in the near future.Because of our massive and detailed bill of rights every issue touching on human rights has its constitutional implications, a new phenomenon in this country. We never had this kind of freedom to question everything simply because we had a constitutional right, by virtue that our laws are not yet in sync with the constitution the state of anarchy will continue. The trend today is alarming and to a large extent nauseating, the political kingpins and the so called ‘underdogs’ are no comparison before the law and we applaud the judiciary for such a remarkable progress, however we have so many busy bodies misusing the law for personal vendetta and furthering their political agenda inappropriately.

In bringing about the concept of democracy the founding fathers were sceptical of the subject and some of them had this to say;

 Edmund Randolph, saying to the Convention that the evils from which the country suffered originated in “the turbulence and follies of democracy,” and that the great danger lay in the “democratic parts of our constitutions”; Elbridge Gerry, speaking of democracy as “the worst of all political evils”; William Livingston, saying that “the people have ever been and ever will be unfit to retain the exercise of power in their own hands”; George Washington, the presiding officer, urging the delegates not to produce a document of which they themselves could not approve simply in order to “please the people”; Hamilton, charging that the “turbulent and changing” masses “seldom judge or determine right” and advising a permanent governmental body to “check the imprudence of democracy”; —-all these were quite representative of the spirit in which the problems of government were treated.]

This however did not mean that the power should be taken away from the people but also that the people cannot govern themselves, the people can never be totally pleased with the administration because man is by nature a political animal.

Just two years after the promulgation of the constitution, all and sundry have come out to show their superiority in defending their rights, even off late criminal gangs have the impetus to approach a court of law to protect their intrests. This kind of trend has seen the stalling of functions in government for instance of the issue of ‘consultation’ the meaning of which has remained rudimentary in the eyes of Kenyans has caused stagnation in various key constitutional appointments simply because some two idiots cannot make up their minds. It is common knowledge that two lions can never lead one pack unless one decides to play second fiddle, but wars of supremacy are bound to occur until one decides to go away, just like our ‘coalition’ (notice the marks)  the going has not been smooth it has been a battlefield between two warring belligerents, and as statesmen we can’t wait for it to be over, this creation of Annan has brought more anarchy than we had anticipated even though it has achieved it intended purpose at the time.

Today individual person are misusing the judiciary to further their displeasure, even if it means maligning others, as long as they achieve their purpose. In my relatively tender age I have been privileged to live in a transition from a semi-autocratic government to a semi – democratic government, you tell me the difference, and I have observed the gradual change of this regimes. Initially the issue of governance was a preserve of the executive and the democratic opportunities of the common statesman would only appear to be seen every five years during elections, whereby rigging was the order of the day.Democracy was simply a verbal cue and had no meaning, the era of single party state to multiparty still remains vivid. Today even with the disputed elections we still don’t know who won the elections, the only credible elections we have seen so far is the referendum (I don’t know if it was an election).

The judiciary has given the citizens the indication that they can actually challenge executive decisions and criticize the functioning of government, so far so good apart from a few altercations in the past. President Hamilton cited a clergyman: “Let it stand as a principle that government originates from the people; but let the people be taught…….that they are not able to govern themselves.

What I have been trying to say from the beginning is that, we have too much democracy today, whether as a result of the coalition government; a house with two wives or the mere fact that things have changed for the better, the function of government is given by the people so that they can sit back and see the job done, however i have an intuition some of you may want to look at it a s a premonition, that the next president might not be as tolerant because power will be solely vested and the nonsense of consultation will be gone. 

We cannot purport to be the government because we have entrusted that to some people, clearly we are not yet ripe for democracy, in ten years to come where will we be? will we be even able to run a government or we shall head to military juntaism that may lead to economic stagnation. We should clearly address this clamor for our new found love of democracy; we never know this may be our apocalypse. Let us not show our shenanigans, mischief, and tomfoolery in the advent of the implementation of this constitution. Everyone has a democratic right in this country and nobodies are bigger than the other good day statesmen………