The promulgation of the Constitution in 2010 ushered in a new dispensation that vests the Supreme sovereignty in the people of Kenya.

This essentially shut down the First Republicthatwas fashioned at the Lancaster Constitutional Conferencesandwhose sovereignty was vested in a presidency modelled on the British Monarch it replaced as Head of State in 1963.

The new Constitution ushered in the Second Republic, whose essential upshot is to deliver the full promise of Independence: that all Kenyans should be free from ravages of poverty, hunger, disease and illiteracy as pledged by our founding fathers.Freedom from the four ‘evils’ are key markers of a sovereign people.

However, threats to the sovereignty and the welfare of the people abound,present and real.

Instead of endeavouring to faithfully implement the Constitution, key political actors have invented a fictitious diversionary narrative that inequality in Kenya is not due to known universal economic, policy and historical factors, but caused by ethnic identityof persons holding public offices.

Rather than propose alternative policy options to confront historicalpoverty and inequality realities Kenyans aspire to overcome, the narrative seeks to present the solutions to economic and policy imperatives as lying in fixing ethnic composition of Executive offices of the State.

This narrative informs the ongoing debate about constitutional amendments to provide, among others, for multiple Executive positions to cater for the so called ethnic inclusion atthe top.

For a country that is the most robust champion of East African Integration, and at the forefront of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) initiative, this preoccupation with ethnic identities in the Executive is mediocre, outdated and misplaced.

It also displays a strange reluctance to acknowledge that Kenya had since turned a corner, crossed the Rubicon from Third World to a Developing Nation, by dint of sound economic and social policy indicators, not by some nebulous ethnic-based line-ups at the top.

Numbers don’t lie and Kenya tax payers, civil service and economic managers deserve a part on the back for posting economic growth numbers above five per cent consistently for over a decade, and which climaxed six point three per cent in 2018. This double-the Sub-Sahara Africa average performance.

Numbers have demonstrated another Kenya is possible in the manner the fruits of this expanded GDP are shared across the board through increased investment in social safety nets from free 12 years of universal basic education, universal health care, monthly stipends for senior citizens (Inua Jamii). This growth trajectory is projected to hit eight to nine per cent in 2020-2021 when the Big Four Agenda is expected to gain full traction and momentum.

The Second Republic dares to cast the first stone and poses the question:What new policy prospects, thoughts or ideas for the Kenya social-economic growth does procuringExecutive positions for Uhuru Kenyatta, Raila Odinga, Kalonzo Musyoka, Musalia Mudavadi, Gideon Moi or their proxies offer?

What are the prioritiesfor Kenya at this historic juncture; creating Executive positions to massage politicians’ egos or policies that enhance income and job creation capabilities of our economy?

Just before the American colonies proclaimed independence from Britain, Scottish philosopher Adam Smith cautioned the society about the threats posed by powerful social forces to the sovereignty of the people in a Republic:

“It is the highest impertinence and presumption in the king and his ministers to pretend to watch over the economy of privatepeople…”

Adam Smith also called onthe public to be alert when concentrated self-interested merchants and manufacturers set themselves to lobby the state for preferential laws and regulations to shield themselves from competition.

“Their interest is always directly opposite that of the great body of the people (majority)” he wrote. This implies by shielding minority commercial interests from competition, it hurts majority consumers because it is competition that guarantees fair and low prices for goods and services.

It is no different in politics, when a cabal of political elites conspire to by-pass the exigencies of democratic competition in seeking to secure positions of power in the name of ‘ethnic inclusion.’

This road leads to putting a premium on retrogressive ethnic demagoguery and chieftaincy than democratic and progressive ideas.

This makes it an urgent civic and patriotic duty for all Kenyans to raise awareness about existence of thethreats, identification of what shape, form, colour, names and labels they go by, and crafting strategies to call them out whenever and wherever they show up.

In Kenya today, the threats to sovereignty of the people, stability and expansion of a robust economic growth trajectory come from internal and external actors, from elite capture of national discourse and levers of power, to terrorism getting ever sophisticated.

The need for greater informed vigilance has never been more urgent .

The new Constitution promulgated new principles of supremacy of the human rights of the individual- NOT OF ETHNIC IDENTITIES- the rule of law, integrity in public office, new governance model underpinned by devolution of power and decision making to the grassroots, among others.

Granted,old habits die hard.

The language, actions and politics of some key actors betray a suspectdeparture from pursuingcompliance to constitutional principles and edicts. The engagement in the audacious invention of new narratives and politics whose cumulative impact negates and undermines the Second Republic .

It is regrettable political parties are not calling out this insidious corrosion of the Constitution.

We at The Second Republic, Numbers Don’t Lie, seek to provoke robust debate, participate in discourse, and provide a platform for information exchange, interrogate actions, policies and thoughts of key actors in our society to ensure the highest public interest as enshrined in the Constitution is upheld, preserved and respected.

Informed vigilance, bold articulation of thought, and interrogation of policies and the impact they have on social-economic demographics are our guiding principles.

Hence numbers do not lie.