I hope this is the year that will transform the way we do things

We have started a month-long period of prayer and fasting in my church.

Of course we are praying for big things — the churches we are going to plant and the souls we are going to win for Jesus — but I can’t help feeling that there are other things that are not at the same level of importance but which, in my view, would make this a smashing year.

I’d really appreciate a change of scenery. Not at the personal level but politically.

Our country has been ruled by the same people, using the same ideas (insincere schemes like reforms, tribes, referendums, big projects, big corruption, dynasties, hustlers …) for long that we are at risk of dying from boredom.

As one of my bosses often points out, if you do the same thing and expect different results, you are crazy.

I am not saying that dynasties are bad, or that hustlers don’t have a right to move from selling chicken feathers to running the country.

I might be implying it, but I am not saying it. What am I saying?

SERVANT LEADER

Competition always improves the quality of leadership, much in the same way that consultation improves the quality of decision-making.

Politicians don’t do good out of the goodness of their own hearts. Generally, they have no hearts.

They do good as a means to acquiring, and keeping, personal, family, ethnic and class benefits.

I wish a man or woman would come forward, a Fred Matiang’i- or Mukhisa Kituyi-type character with good schooling, an appetite for hard work, personal discipline, stubborn honesty, international connections and respect and the radical ideas to reshape not just our politics — as the ‘hustlers’ would do — but also our society and economy for generations to come.

I wish such a champion would step forward, spit in the dust and challenge the established traditions of Kenyan politics.

For the most brutal and ruthless deals in Kenya are not cut in corporate boardrooms; they are cut in politics.

Our politics, quite simply, is funded through corruption and outright theft of public resources.

Bandits calling themselves “tenderpreneurs” or “business people” finance politicians.

After the election, they partner with the politician to “do deals” and “business” — euphemism for corruption and theft.

DARK FUTURE

The other approach is to loot first, using over-invoiced contracting, tax evasion and other criminal practices and use the funds to buy support across the country.

If this state of affairs does not change, Kenya will never develop. There will not be enough jobs for the youth, many of whom will die with unrealised dreams and potential.

We will never really enjoy a first-class, clean, healthy and wholesome life.

The future will be a nasty place for our children and grandchildren, who will be held captive by those who can steal the most.

We will never have good social services and children will continue to die of preventable causes.

We must change the dynamic. This does not (necessarily) mean getting rid of the dynasties and the hustlers but by introducing a credible threat to their interests and, therefore, forcing them to change their political culture. Getting rid of them is also an option.

This would be a lovely year if Dr Miguna Miguna could find peace and whatever it is he is looking for.

I have nothing to say about his approach to politics, or about him in general.

But I imagine spending so much time at airports can’t be much fun and his struggle must surely keep him away from his law practice and the other things he wishes to achieve.

DELIVER JUSTICE

I wish he could come home, shoot his shot (as we say on Twitter) and either get his revolutions or whatever other outcome he is destined to get.

This would also be a much better year if the Judiciary gets round to jailing a couple of really big thieves — like governors, MPs and senior civil servants.

This would give meaning to this whole business of fight against corruption.

I watched the live coverage of US President Donald J. Trump’s little bit of theatre, responding to Iran firing ballistic missiles at bases housing US troops in Iraq.

He looked scared. He was surrounded by an awkward corp of white men.

Mr Trump has turned America on its head. His protectionist policies will probably revive some dead industries and his challenge to China is certainly not all bad.

BREXIT

I know everyone outside his base (which regards him as a prophet) thinks he is a fool. I hope this is the year Americans get to make up our minds.

I hope that this is the year that the British — permanently — quit whining about the European Union and exit, so that all their plumbers can go back to coming from Glasgow and not Gnask.

When the majority in the UK say they want to leave and elect a government on a Brexit platform, who are we to say they are wrong?

If you see a toad during the day, something must be after its life.

I hope the fires in Australia are finally doused. I hope the animals and plants will recover.

Would it not be nice if we could all have a wonderful year?

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