How does it end?

Maji yaliyomwagika, hayazoleki. ~ Swahili proverb.

This past week the Republicans in the United States Congress have been agonising over the Clintonian gift that keeps on giving, attempting to find the right knife to stick in Hilary Clinton's back before she can get her sea legs in what is presumed to be her next stab at the Democratic Party's nomination for the US presidency. Mrs Clinton, when she was Secretary of State, kept a private server for her emails, both official and personal and when she was asked to give access to these records for the purposes of archiving, she stonewalled, dissembled and obstructed the reasonable demands of her government. What is instructive, however, is that despite her attempts to hide what she did, the American people have an opportunity to witness her at her best - and her worst.

Back home, though, we are still not sure whether the chairperson of the National Assembly's Parliamentary Accounts Committee, PAC, is corrupt or not. Allegations have been levelled at him and he has retaliated by alleging that his life is in danger. This coming on the heels of revelations that he taped his party leader allegedly engaging in corrupt acts. To say that the scales have finally fallen from Kenyans' eyes regarding the state of our public institutions is to presume that Kenyans are paying attention, the same way that Americans are paying attention to the state of their political institutions.

We have been here before. We know how this movie ends. I will be shocked if the PAC chairperson resigns his post. The allegations are bad enough, but that he would, in an underhanded way allegedly tape his party boss engaging in the commission of an offence and do nothing about it raises serious doubts about his integrity. How can the man tasked with overseeing the investigation of the executive branch be party to the commission of an offence and not speak out?

Parliament, as an institution, lost its integrity a long time ago. What we are witness to in this day and age is akin to the dying days of the Roman Empire, when corruption brought it low and allowed its enemies to strike without fear of retribution. If there is a Kenyan who still believes that the war against graft will be won, the recent revelations about the National Assembly, the Ethics and Anti-corruption Commission, the National Police Service or the Teachers' Service Commission should be a harbinger of how far from victory we are as a nation.

It is not personalities who make a nation great. Inspiring leaders are all well and good, but they must lead inspiring institutions too. It is institutional strength that guarantees ultimate survival against all enemies. Our institutions have been hollowed out by greed and sloth. Parliament is no longer the institution to lead the fight, neither are the police nor the anti-graft watchdogs. Kenyans are on their own. Their choices are simple - either we carry on as before or fight for change. Past behaviour is as good a guide to future actions. We have seen this movie before. Will the ending be the same this time around?