The idea of regular live coverage of parliament has already been mooted, so this fantasy is not too far from fruition. But what is it all about?

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 a question of sport

Picture the day that the founder of Endemol came up with the idea of the Big Brother television series. You can see him there, sat around a table with others from his creative department, discussing the pitch for the new television series.

“How about we just put twelve people in a room and watch them?” he asks and they all burst out laughing.

“Why are you laughing?” he continues.

“Are you serious?” the chap next to the printer asks, “twelve people, with no script! Who would watch that?”

The experiment goes ahead, and is proved a stunning success. People, it turns out,are very intrigued with the minutae of the lives of others. Voyeurism may be frowned upon but mass voyeurism is kosher. Spin-offs prove raging successes in markets as diverse as Africa, the United Kingdom and Malaysia.

This gets you thinking, . What if the principles of the Big Brother House were applied to the National Assembly of Kenya? The Housemates would be drawn from two hundred and ten constituencies around the country. The Housemates would have to be in the House for a long period of 1,825 days rather than the standard 98 days.

Big Brother shall then be none other than the Speaker of the House, Francis Ole Kaparo. Imagine the hilarity of him shouting ‘This is Big Brother…’ instead of ‘Order! Order! Order!’ when faced with the unruly and disruptive housemates.

 the leaves have eyes

Each Housemate has qualities that are different from the other. The Housemate from Garsen loves to engage in debate. He was perhaps the Chairman of the Debating Society in his High School. The Housemate from Rarieda has been involved in film-making ventures and his company won an Emmy for arranging a song about 'Saying Yes to The Children'. The Housemate from Kitui Central is a typical Bertha. One moment she is currying favour with the Housemate from Othaya and the next minute she is snuggling with the Housemate from Lang’ata. The Housemate from Gem is a reported guzzler. According to the Big Brother website, he was involved in an accident along Mbagathi Road after a turn at a watering hole.

On the first day, the Housemates heard the booming announcement: ‘This is Big Brother, will all Housemates gather in the Lounge.’ The Housemates were divided into two groups, one calling themselves ‘Serikali’ and the other calling themselves ‘Upinzani’. The teams each elected their Leader though technically the Head of House was the Housemate from Othaya. According to the Rules, the Head of House can only be changed after five years.

The Head of House has some privileges and he sleeps in a spot that is the envy of many, the Pent House. This has made people refer to the five-year change of the Head of House as ‘The Road to the Pent House’. The Head of House also has immunity from some tasks in the House, including the debating task. After the Housemates were gathered in the Lounge, they were addressed by the Head of House before going into the Garden where they found that Big Brother had laid out a small tea party for them.

Some Housemates have suffered some setbacks during their stay in the House. The Housemate from Magarini was evicted after it was found out by the Big Brother Panel that he had been unfairly selected during the auditions. However, when the auditions were done afresh, he was confirmed as the Housemate from that region.

Other Housemates were excused and left the House through factors beyond their control. They were seen off by the other Housemates and we last saw them as they entered the diary room on their way out.

The Big Brother House has its fair share of surprises and twists. It has emerged for example that the former Head of House, who had been evicted from the House is back. It is rumoured that his ouster may have been a fake eviction and though not in the Big Brother House itself, he is now back in the fray. His son replaced him as a Housemate and together they seem to be making unsubtle overtures at the current Head of House.

It was also shocking when the Housemate from Kiambaa who has was married to a clique called KANU in the 'Upinzani' group for four months before entering the House started cuddling on the couch with other Housemates in the ‘Serikali’ camp. He claims that it is all just a game and was part of his strategy when he entered the House.

The viewers are preparing to vote for the Housemates they would like to evict, but more than that the rule is that a new Housemate must be elected to replace every evicteee. Meanwhile, the Housemates who had allied themselves to the ‘Serikali’ group are worried that they may not be the Untouchables they thought they were after all. One of the mystery guests called Waititu who had been invited to the House let out the secret that some viewers were not impressed with the antics of the ‘Serikali’ group and were unlikely to look upon them favourably at the next eviction. The group has gone into the overdrive turning the secret around and proclaiming that ‘viewers were very shocked hear what Waititu said.’

There is still bad blood between the Housemates. During one of the Diary Sessions, the Housemate from Nyaribari Chache nominated the Housemate from Lang’ata and giving as his reason,' I would like him to be evicted because I don’t get along with him so well'.

In the meantime, the Housemates have wagered 100% on most of the tasks that they have been given though some of the tasks are incomplete. This includes the task of the Miscellaneous Amendments Bill that has been pending since the Housemate from Kipipiri prepared the Shopping List in June.

Viewers have enjoyed the tenth season of the Big Brother show and are gearing to vote for their favourites when the Season Finale comes at the end of the year.