What Kenya 5.0 Portends For Us.

From independence day in 1963 todate, Kenya has had four presidents serving as its heads of state. It turns 60 in a few months time and will be under its 5th president, subject to the verdict of the Supreme Court on the election petition expected tomorrow.

The country facts today are worlds apart when 1960s Kenya is weighed against the 2020s Kenya. Besides a much bigger economy today, Kenya has dared to improve the living standards of its people, albeit bringing different experiences to different groups. The debate goes on.

But in a nutshell, Kenya 1.0 africanised the country as a way of actualising internal self rule. It went further to change the country's politics by embracing a de facto one party system.

Kenya 2.0 expanded education across the board and the length and breadth of our borders, besides restoring political pluralism.

Kenya 3.0 brought us free education, unsecured loans on the back of prudent financial management, vision 2030 and a high sense of patriotism.

Kenya 4.0, now signing out, has focused on infrastructure and more importantly admitted that we lose 2 billion shillings daily to corruption.

All four administrations also have their dark sides, but we shall stay focused on what Kenya 5.0 must mean for us.

Kenya 5.0 will find a huge debt obligation that must be addressed creatively, lest we find ourselves enslaved by the aggressive interests of our creditors. With a world that now runs on robust communication technologies, realtime comparisons of what life is here vis a vis elsewhere, and how that can be emulated at home, give no luxury of time to administrator 5.0 to dilly-dally and go wishy washy with an expectant citizenry. A democratised economic space aught to reign supreme over the greatly abused one we call libralised when in actual fact, it is cartel-driven.

Many have argued that none of the administrations can compare to the other either word for word or intent by intent. It follows that 5.0 must be nothing close to 4.0, 3.0, 2.0 and 1.0 for if it does, then with no biases intended, we shall be regressing instead of progressing. Just to drive my point home, over the course of these regimes, Daimler Benz, Toyota, et al, produced models synonymous to everyone of them. Those from 3.0 seem old today when sleeker models abound. It is a case of avoiding the practice of storing new wine in old skins.

Kenya 5.0 has no time for wanton borrowing and must step back in time to audit how monies were used from 1.0 to the present time, with a view to reclaim what has been wrongly privatised. If anything, 5.0 unlike in times gone by, has the benefit of a functional and well layered judiciary and a robust bicameral parliament to push through the recommendations of all past commissions of enquiry whose reports have gathered enough dust to grow lots of famine relief potatoes over the years they've laid in comatose on shelves built with public money.

Or is Kenya 5.0 going to be just like the rest of them, overwhelmed by the fear of handling the harsh truth, that what one takes illegally, one must return to its rightful owners.

Is parliament going to be toothless or will it have sensitive gums on dentures, or will it have real teeth to bite for us our pound of flesh?

Will the judiciary bury its head in the sand or will it first clean up by ridding itself of those few in its rank and file who are obvious subverters of justice? We can name them one by one or two by two if necessary.

To strictly go forward without going backwards to correct a stinky past is to maintain a situation akin to dressing a wound gone septic, as is, and equating the bandaging to a full recovery when the patient is in anguish and indeed getting worse off. The task of comprehensively correcting our past is squarely in the hands of whichever administration heads Kenya 5.0.

The law allows for records storage for seven years, but that is in so far as private dealings are concerned. Public records remain perpetually open. If Kenya 5.0 allows itself the luxury of complacency by hearing no evil and seeing no evil, then just like the Titanic, it will be sunk by its inability to deal with the hardened icebergs of the past, presently manifesting as rosy and cosy tips supposedly good for our economy but kitted with deadly weapons under water. 5.0 is not for the faint hearted. It will be an act of sacrifice. Call it facing the knife all over again or facing the lion, whichever way, Kenyans expect action.

Kenya 5.0 will be markedly different if the executive, the judiciary and the legislature work in tandem. The time for side shows and power games within the three arms of government must end for their jobs are cut out. A blank page of history stares at you. You can choose to write an enduring legacy on it or leave us with a script fit for a circus.