Warning: Poorly thought out philosophy follows.

I got this from a friend:


One of the better fictions of Democracy is that you get to choose the candidate you want to represent you in "Bunge", "Kanjo", the Chiefs Baraza etc. This, depending on the context, may be presented as:

"The people have spoken"
"Wanjiku"
"Popular vote"

The truth is it is multiple choice.
You can choose cancer or stage three Diarhoea (To be fair this is an exagaration)

You get to choose the least worst tomatoes, as the market is about to close rather than the best fish from a sea of plenty.

The Reason

(Have you ever heard politicians saying "What Kenyans Want". How many asked you your opinion? How many collect statistics continuously? What follows are my opinions based on no rigour, research or reasoning ." The reason" above should be read as "My Guess" )

There is such thing as a good candidate.

A person who would use the least resources (money,mercedes) to get the most results (like the many who get by on under $1/= per day).

A person with great intelligence and political cunning (like the many who survive ghetto life, unemployed but somehow get to eat -- without resorting to crime)

A person with great maturity and wisdom.

The problem is she does not present herself for nominations by (INSERT YOUR CHAMA HERE) .


Think about it,
By standing to be elected I am esentially saying, "VOTE FOR ME I AM BETTER THAN BABA TOI" . How many good people do you know who behave like that?

Most capable people are busy building their families, careers, writing emails to their University mailing lists to complain about politicians and saving/investing for their "Retirement".

I propose we come out of the fiction of the Great Leader(tm). True it is possible that somewhere there is a Gandhi with a Vision of what Kenya can become, a Patrice Lumumba who is incorruptible, an Abraham Lincoln who will keep Kenya United no matter what.

But even though this Kenyan Exists, I am afraid, unless we find a way to coax him to stand for elections, we will be forced to make do with a George Bush with his NUKULAR weapons, Dan Quayle with his POTATOE 's, Museveni with his Kisanja (third term) and Boris Yeltsin with his partying .... and you know the most anoying part? They will all win their elections - with a landslide.


Challenge

As engineers you get to solve human problems, providing stable solutions utilising imperfect materials.

• Bridges from stone and sand
• Cars from baby Rust (iron as you all know grows up to become rust)
• Aeroplanes from scrap Sufurias (Aluminium, I know nowadays they use Stainless steel but bear with me)
• Electricity from River Tana
• Blackouts from Kengen, Kenya Power, Government, International lenders and Civil Society (You see, you need to form a committee to prepare an action plan so that you can mess up)
  
• Communications..... mainly by Guess work and Magic :)

Surely we can design a system, using the appropriate sensors, controls, feed back and actuating subsystems so that once deployed, it can be operated by even the most common housefl... I mean the stupidest politician* to produce acceptable results.


P.S.
* I know saying stupid politician is repeating myself. I apologise