JAMILA'S MEMO: Leadership, integrity, and the great betrayal

This week, let’s talk about Chapter Six of the Constitution: leadership and integrity.

It was written with such optimism, with the hope that our leaders would treat public office as a sacred trust. But if you look at the circus in Kenya today, you’d be forgiven for thinking Chapter Six was just a bedtime story inspiring to read, but never meant to be lived.

The president now says MPs and senators are demanding bribes to pass legislation and to let impeached governors escape justice. That’s a bold accusation, but coming from the executive, it sounds like the pot calling the kettle black.

This administration has hardly been free of corruption whispers. With the broad-based arrangement in parliament, where the opposition was swallowed whole, legislators have largely been reduced to rubber-stamping whatever the executive wants. Until now, when the marriage suddenly looks shaky.

But while the Executive and Legislature point fingers at each other, ordinary Kenyans—the very people who elected them—are watching with growing anger. We lined up at polling stations because of the promises: better leadership, clean governance, dignity in public service. What we got instead is political theatre. And not even good theatre—the kind where the actors forget their lines, the set collapses, and the audience feels scammed.

Chapter Six is crystal clear. Article 73 says: “Authority assigned to a state officer is a public trust… to be exercised in a manner that demonstrates respect for the people, brings honour to the nation and dignity to the office, and promotes public confidence in the integrity of the office… It vests in the state officer the responsibility to serve the people, rather than the power to rule them.”

Public trust, service to the people, not power to rule. Yet look around—do you see respect, honour, dignity? Or do you see leaders cashing in on the very power they swore would be a responsibility?

Kenyans are not blind. We can see the betrayal. We can see the hypocrisy. We can see the promises turned to dust. And yes, we can feel the sting of a Constitution that looks noble on paper but is ignored in practice.

So as MPs and senators clash with the executive, here’s the truth: Kenyans aren’t cheering either side. Because for us, it doesn’t matter who wins the shouting match. The economy still hurts, taxes still bite, and jobs are still scarce. Integrity should not be negotiable. It should be the bare minimum.

Our leaders must decide—will they continue to treat public office as a cash cow, or will they finally respect the Constitution they swore on? Because one thing is clear: the Kenyan electorate is running out of patience.

Dear leaders, stop treating Chapter Six as fiction. Kenyans are not paying taxes to watch you act in a bad play. Kenyans are done clapping for bad actors. And that is my Memo.