Former trade unionist and outspoken activist Dr. Isaac Newton Kinity has delivered a searing rebuke to Kenya’s political establishment, accusing the country’s leadership of perpetuating impunity and economic suffering by recycling the same corrupt figures into power every election cycle.
In a hard-hitting statement and accompanying video address directed at President William Ruto, Dr. Kinity lamented the “culture of recycling,” describing it as the root cause of Kenya’s political and economic decay, and a betrayal of the hopes of the country’s struggling citizens.
“Since the death of Jomo Kenyatta in 1978, Kenya’s political elite has relied on a dangerous myth — that those who served in previous regimes have the experience to lead. Yet what kind of experience are we talking about? Looting, land grabbing, political assassinations?” Dr. Kinity posed.
He questioned the kind of legacy and ‘experience’ leaders carry from previous administrations, all of which, he said, have been tainted by corruption, extrajudicial killings, suppression of dissent, and economic sabotage. According to Dr. Kinity, every election cycle has served as a recycling mechanism that sustains a political elite class, shielding them from accountability while the common mwananchi bears the brunt.
“The victims have always been the children, their mothers, the youth, and the elderly,” he stated. “They suffer joblessness, low pay, a high cost of living — while those in leadership enrich themselves.”
Dr. Kinity further warned against the illusion that any good can emerge from such regimes, emphasizing that the so-called political experience touted by former ministers, MPs, and cabinet secretaries is not only worthless but dangerous when built on corruption, violence, and impunity.
“There are no political practices from the past that can help liberate Kenya. In fact, any experience from the past regimes is bound to do more harm — more poverty, more premature deaths, more despair.”
He pointed to the extortion faced by businesspeople in Kenya as a sign of a broken system, where protection is sold instead of provided, and where those in power use threats and fear to siphon money from the same investors and entrepreneurs who are meant to drive job creation and economic growth.
“Businesses are the bedrock of employment. Killing them is killing the country’s future,” he said, adding that some politicians openly demand bribes from business owners under threats of sabotage and harassment.
Dr. Kinity also directed part of his message to Kenya’s youth, especially the Gen Z movement, which stunned the country in June 2024 by briefly storming the halls of power.
“You were close,” he told them. “You took over Parliament — a symbolic take-over of government. But you had no leader. Remember, no revolution has ever succeeded without a leader. You slipped, but you didn’t fall.”
In a passionate rallying call, he urged Kenyan youth, both at home and in the diaspora, to resist manipulation by the political elite, to refuse to be used as pawns, and to organize with clarity and unity. He insisted that the future of Kenya cannot lie in the hands of the same people who have contributed to its ruin.
“Why would Kenyans continue to lie down flat like an envelope, surrendering themselves to the same leaders who robbed them blind, then repackage them as experienced?” he asked. “That is absurd. It is suicidal.”
Dr. Kinity ended his statement by challenging Kenyans to rethink the criteria they use to choose leaders. Experience, he said, must no longer mean time served in corrupt regimes but rather vision, integrity, and a proven track record of serving people — not exploiting them.
“This idea that we must elect someone with experience is what has cost Kenya dearly — in lives, in livelihoods, in dignity. It’s time we rewrite that narrative.”
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