There’s a good reason why the Kenyan Parliament modelled along the lines of its ancestor in St Stephens Chapel in the royal palace of Westminster; has pews facing one another. In this arrangement, the representatives of the people are collected along adversarial lines, sitting facing their ‘enemies’. That is why we have the dialectic with the ‘left’ and ‘right’ as opposing factions. Approaching matters of state from two different angles, one with a view to individual freedom above all, and the other appealing to attempts to curtail this freedom in the pursuit of equality.

As a nation we have long suffered, just as has every nation on earth from the existence of a ‘robber-baron’ class, populated by the likes of our Presidents (all three of them) , and the likes of Karume, Michuki, Awori, Saitoti, etc. These find themselves in favour of maintaining the status quo, promoting personal freedom because the state and its economic system as it is today legitimises wealth accretion by the already wealthy through means fair and foul, while at the same time making it difficult for those who would really need the extra money. On the other side are the middle-class politicians and the nouveau riches, whose interests though antagonistic to those of the wider masses are at least more closely aligned to them, than are those of the ruling classes. These would be the Musyoka, Ruto, Odinga, Balala types. It is these people who have a keener sense of populism, in the knowledge that while they cannot buy their way into office, they certainly have greater clout with the masses.

Without a crystallisation of the political class into two separate and competing camps, based on philosophical differences in the approach to distribution of state resources, we approach a Tragedy of the Commons. As every new ruling group seeks to entrench itself in office by abusing the state coffers, by pillaging state resources, including selling off state assets, the nation finds itself increasingly worse off. The great tragedy is that as the rich get richer, the cost of buying political favours and patronage rises with it. This is why for example the Moi government had to give off so much public land to stay the dogs of war, who were already very wealthy after the Kenyatta years jamboree.

A leftist group comprising not just middle class politicians but elements of the religious organisations, trade unions and civil society bodies needs to be forged in opposition to the robber-barons. It is only in this way that the continued denudation of the state can be halted. The conservatives would ensure fiscal prudence, both in opposition and in government, while the progressives would seek greater equality and a wider distribution of state resources. They would also be charged with forging a path towards food self-sufficiency, land reform, better education and better health care. We have to admit that the notion of the Kenyan state is very unreal to us, hence the endemic tribalism.

It is now  time to create new tribes, along class-lines, a new Hegelian dialectic whose synthesis we can hope will be to the advantage of the whole nation.

Tradition has it that the sons of the wealthy classes guard their position jealously, seeking that their wealthy, privileged status remain theirs alone. For this reason, Uhuru must stick with his tribesmen, the old haves. Kenya needs him there, to provide a bulwark against the excesses likely from the new breed of leaders.

Tradition has it that the sons of the wealthy classes guard their position jealously, seeking that their wealthy, privileged status remain theirs alone. For this reason, Uhuru must stick with his tribesmen, the old haves. Kenya needs him there, to provide a bulwark against the excesses likely from the new breed of leaders.