Physical Address
Nairobi Kenya
“There is this habit of people resigning after wrongdoing. We do not want the Deputy Inspector General to resign, we want him to go to jail.”
This painful cry from protesters following the death of Albert Ojwang in police custody captures the raw frustration of a country held hostage by a toxic culture of impunity. It speaks to something far deeper than one case. It speaks to the hollowing out of the rule of law, a founding principle that’s meant to serve as the bedrock of a just, democratic, and humane society.
But in Kenya, is the rule of law truly functional or is the system fundamentally flawed?
A promise, broken consistently
The rule of law promises that no one is above the law, and that all citizens are treated fairly, equally, and justly. But this promise has been reduced to empty rhetoric in the face of consistent government failures to uphold human rights, guarantee justice, and enforce accountability.
When young people die in police custody, when journalists are harassed, when whistleblowers are eliminated instead of protected, and when public officials caught in corruption merely resign and retreat into silence, it signals one thing: the rule of law has been hijacked by the rule of power.
Kenya’s bureaucratic and political elite operate within a system that has allowed resignation to replace prosecution, public outrage to substitute due process, and media headlines to drown real reform.
Political Culture of Escapism, evading accountability
There is a growing institutional tendency to escape responsibility. Whether it’s in security agencies, public procurement, or state corporations, wrongdoing is often met with an announcement of “stepping aside” rather than being investigated, prosecuted, and punished.
This culture of strategic disappearance, resign, go quiet, and wait for the storm to pass, emboldens a cycle of corruption and abuse of office. We’ve normalized an accountability-lite model; big scandals, no consequences. This is not rule of law. This is rule by evasion and power.
From forced evictions to police brutality, from arbitrary arrests to suppression of dissent, Kenya’s record on human rights remains troubling. The state’s security agencies meant to protect life are increasingly associated with violence, intimidation, and extrajudicial killings.
The death of Albert Ojwang is not an isolated incident. It is part of a grim pattern, where citizens in custody emerge dead, and the system responds with silence or at best, shallow gestures.
The Constitution guarantees life, dignity, freedom from torture, and fair legal process. But when the state is both the accused and the investigator, those rights become meaningless for the poor, the vocal, the oppositional, and the powerless. Impunity has two classes of citizens; those who are punished even when innocent, and those who are protected no matter how guilty.
Let’s remain focused on our next republic;
So, how should this look like?As we inch toward the next general elections, we must not settle for less. We must demand a republic where:
- Resignation is not the end of accountability, but the beginning of prosecution.
- Security agencies are reformed, civilian-controlled, and held to the same standards as ordinary citizens.
- Human rights are respected as the foundation of state power, not as privileges given at the whim of the powerful.
- Judicial independence is real, not rhetorical.
- Political office is earned through integrity, not inherited through impunity.
A Final Word: We Shall Go for Them
“When they resign, we shall go for them.”
That sentiment must guide our civic engagement and electoral choices. Kenyans must not be pacified by temporary resignations, hollow apologies, or media-managed investigations.
Albert Ojwang’s story, like many others before him, must not fade into another forgotten hashtag. We owe it to him and to ourselves to rebuild a republic that values life, demands truth, and insists on justice.
Because true leadership is not measured by how well a government speaks, but by how honestly it listens and how firmly it acts against its own abuses.
#WatchOutForNextRepublik
