THIS CONSTITUTION CAN'T IMPROVE OUR LIVES

I think, whoever said that "the more things change, the more they remain the same", may have as well summed our present state of politics, where we seem to believe that by merely changing the constitution we are ended for Nirvana. During the recent referendum campaign to change the the constitution, we almost laughed the political and religious leaders out of town, who were described as water melons because we thought that they didn't have any stand or convictions as they seemed to say one thing during the day and do the opposite at nightfall. What we didn't realize is that they were smarter than the majority of us because they knew that no matter what happened, the status quo would be maintained for their continued control of our daily lives. True to their convictions and game-plan, they knew that "a water melon by any other name is still a water melon", to paraphrase William Shakespeare.
Strangely, Kenyans have been described as an overoptimistic lot and sometimes as peculiar. Is there a chance that we could all that wrapped together? Do we really think the new constitution will change our lives for the better with the current lineup of political class?
For starters, the politicians have now positioned themselves to share the seats created by the new constitution. Some have indicated that they want to be our governors, senators and others wish to remain MPs. They continue to do so without recourse to the electorate who they hope to bribe as usual and get elected. This is good for them because they have more seats to share out. But how about us? Do we really believe that our present leaders, like the leopard, will now change their spots to stop corrupt ways, to stop bribing us, to stop inflating tenders for their benefit, to stop tribalism and nepotism and to start thinking about our general welfare other than their selfish interests?
What is not in doubt, however, is that slum dwellers in Kibera and Mathare will continue to live in plastic shacks where they have to contend with "flying toilets". Poor mothers will be detained in hospitals after delivery for lack of medical fees, people will continue to die of hunger when rains fail, the youths will remain jobless and our education system will continue to produce automatons. Talking of our education system, it was devised to produce Africans who could be employed to work as clerks, cooks, soldiers, teachers and gardeners for the colonial masters. We were not trained to think for ourselves but to read and write to take instructions. I don't think that this has changed an iota since independence in 1963. This is the reason why we have to bribe so that our children are employed as teachers and clerical officers. We continue to bribe the army officers, sometimes with as much as KES 300,000.00 so that our daughters are employed in the military. We don't do so for the love to defend our country but so that we may earn a living that will hopefully get our rural and urban families out of grinding poverty.
Therefore, this new constitution will not make us more patriotic, it will not change our education system to make us thinkers, it will not reduce joblessness, it will not reduce poverty, it will not improve food production, it will not reduce corruption, it will not deliver potable water, it will not improve our health system, etc. The new constitution will not change our lives for the better because it will be supervised by the same political class that wants the status quo to be maintained for their own benefit. However, recent revolutions like the Russian, Chinese and the Cuban revolutions of 1917,1949 and 1959 respectively have changed lives of billions of people for the better. It can also take place here for the benefit of the millions of people and our country.