As we ush­er in the new year with hope and renewed aspi­ra­tions, two inci­dents have deeply cap­tured my atten­tion, reveal­ing a grave under­ly­ing nation­al chal­lenge. First, in Chemase, three days ago a mob stormed a police post, killed a mur­der sus­pect, and set the sta­tion on fire. This heinous act of mob injus­tice reflects a dis­turb­ing real­i­ty that of a grow­ing mis­trust in the very insti­tu­tions meant to uphold the rule of law.

Sec­ond, offi­cers from the Ethics and Anti-Cor­rup­tion Com­mis­sion (EACC) recent­ly arrest­ed nine traf­fic police offi­cers for alleged­ly receiv­ing bribes, endan­ger­ing motorists’ lives, and effec­tive­ly turn­ing their duty posts into toll sta­tions. These two occur­rences, hap­pen­ing with­in days of each oth­er in the new year, paint a grim pic­ture of a soci­ety tee­ter­ing on the brink of an insti­tu­tion­al and moral crisis.

When cit­i­zens lose con­fi­dence in their insti­tu­tions, the con­se­quences are cat­a­stroph­ic. This mis­trust erodes the social con­tract, under­mines jus­tice, and breeds law­less­ness, putting Kenya’s socio-eco­nom­ic progress at grave risk.

For any nation to pros­per, there must be unwa­ver­ing con­fi­dence in the rule of law. Trust in gov­er­nance is the foun­da­tion of peace, secu­ri­ty, and eco­nom­ic sta­bil­i­ty. With­out it, invest­ment dries up, soci­etal cohe­sion unrav­els, and devel­op­ment stag­nates. A police sta­tion is meant to sym­bol­ize safe­ty and jus­tice; instead, the Chemase inci­dent high­lights a fail­ure in the social con­tract. Sim­i­lar­ly, when cor­rup­tion infil­trates traf­fic enforce­ment, it com­pro­mis­es road safe­ty and the econ­o­my, with road acci­dents already cost­ing Kenya approx­i­mate­ly 5% of its GDP annu­al­ly accord­ing to the World Bank.

When insti­tu­tions fail to deliv­er jus­tice fair­ly, cit­i­zens feel aban­doned, fuel­ing mob jus­tice and fos­ter­ing a cul­ture of vio­lence over dia­logue, per­pet­u­at­ing mis­trust and injustice.

The Chemase and bribery inci­dents are not iso­lat­ed. They are symp­to­matic of deep­er sys­temic issues: cor­rup­tion, impuni­ty, and weak insti­tu­tion­al account­abil­i­ty. This ero­sion of trust has pro­found impli­ca­tions for our great Nation. Eco­nom­ic growth stalls when investors shy away from envi­ron­ments where the rule of law is weak. Social divi­sions widen as mis­trust fos­ters con­flict, and human rights abus­es esca­late, with inno­cent lives lost and cit­i­zens’ dig­ni­ty undermined.

To address this press­ing chal­lenge, I sug­gest that we focus on three deci­sive steps to rebuild trust. First, we must strength­en account­abil­i­ty and trans­paren­cy. Anti-cor­rup­tion laws must be enforced with­out fear or favor, and insti­tu­tions like the Inde­pen­dent Polic­ing Over­sight Author­i­ty (IPOA) must be empow­ered to inves­ti­gate and pros­e­cute mis­con­duct swift­ly. Reg­u­lar audits and pub­lic report­ing on insti­tu­tion­al per­for­mance will fos­ter trans­paren­cy. How did Rwan­da fix this? Can’t we learn from them?

Sec­ond­ly, invest­ing in civic edu­ca­tion and com­mu­ni­ty engage­ment is cru­cial. Mis­trust often stems from a lack of under­stand­ing and inter­ac­tion between cit­i­zens and insti­tu­tions. Civic edu­ca­tion cam­paigns can inform cit­i­zens about their rights and the roles of jus­tice and secu­ri­ty insti­tu­tions. Com­mu­ni­ty polic­ing ini­tia­tives can rebuild trust by involv­ing cit­i­zens in the admin­is­tra­tion of secu­ri­ty and jus­tice. I keep won­der­ing what came of ini­tia­tives like Nyum­ba Kumi which with ade­quate fund­ing can fur­ther strength­en the bond between the com­mu­ni­ty and its institutions?

Third­ly, adopt­ing tech­nol­o­gy can play a sig­nif­i­cant role in elim­i­nat­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties for cor­rup­tion. Cash­less pay­ment sys­tems for traf­fic fines and oth­er gov­ern­ment ser­vices can min­i­mize direct inter­ac­tions between cit­i­zens and poten­tial­ly cor­rupt offi­cials. Estonia’s e‑Governance sys­tem, which auto­mates most pub­lic ser­vices, is a tes­ta­ment to the pow­er of tech­nol­o­gy in reduc­ing cor­rup­tion and improv­ing effi­cien­cy. Sure­ly, can’t we adapt such mod­els to suit our unique Kenyan context?

Kenya faces a piv­otal moment, with the Chemase tragedy and bribery scan­dal serv­ing as a crit­i­cal wake-up call. By address­ing insti­tu­tion­al mis­trust with urgency, uni­ty, and bold reforms, we can rebuild trust, secure jus­tice, and unlock Kenya’s immense poten­tial. Let 2025 be the year we reclaim our nation’s promise as a bea­con of integri­ty, pros­per­i­ty, and hope for all. This trans­for­ma­tion will not come from point­ing fin­gers but by each of us tak­ing respon­si­bil­i­ty and act­ing with­in our indi­vid­ual spaces. Think green, act green!