Let’s have a referendum and abolish the need for Members of Parliament.

They haven’t even gotten into office and already our erstwhile MPs are busy lobbying for a referendum so as to disband the salaries and remunerations commission.

I am all for the idea of getting rid of bodies that just don’t work, and as our MPs have proven they certainly aren’t working on anything other than a pay hike.

These are the self same politicians we sooner or later have to trust to vet nominees to cabinet secretary. If they are so myopic as to demand a pay rise before even doing the first month’s work can you imagine what sort of vetting they will be capable of doing?

It gets to me, especially considering that these undeserving MPs are also the self same people who argue that one does not need to be a medic in order to run the health sector. One of the most upsetting references in the past week was that Kenyatta National Hospital is not run by a medic CEO and it has improved in service delivery. Really?

Let’s see what the service providers at KNH actually say concerning the systems there. This excerpt is quite telling of conditions at KNH:

“Just performed a major operation at KNH without theatre gowns… 32y female, severe APH, at 30/40.  Lost 4.5 l of blood, sub-total hysterectomy inevitable. No gowns available from NSSU, main and trauma theatre or LW delivery packs. To save life we adorned sterile gloves and dove in. At KNH level 6, national referral, ISO certified. Then to add salt to injury BTU says there is no blood to release…have 2 pints whole blood and FFP. Did I say she lost 4.5 l?”

This is how a non-medic “runs” an ISO certified institution, Kenya’s main referral hospital. This is how a non-medic thinks. No gowns, no blood, no sterile instruments, none available in 5 major units in the biggest referral hospital in Kenya where all the damned doctors are trained.

When you imagine what those money hungry MPs will do during the vetting process, given their shallow mentality, do you imagine them capable of even asking a slightly relevant question? It’s not encouraging at all that majority of these MPs are from the nominating government!

Politicians are surely the most evil creatures mankind has ever created. Consider this – that with no gloves, no gowns, no blood even in the maternity unit at Kenyatta National Hospital how then did our populist Jubilee government decide that promising free maternity and delivery healthcare is remotely feasible?

Mark you, the circular authorizing this free maternity care is due to arrive in a few weeks, opening the floodgates of hell upon the poor doctors and nurses who have to deal with thousands of expectant mothers country wide and with almost no resources; meanwhile the MPs successfully get a pay hike!

I have to put these two events together so that you can actually see how insane the situation is in this country. MPs will argue for a referendum and a pay hike before they even start working, while at the same time denying doctors leadership position in the health sector, while at the same time the health sector is grossly mismanaged, while at the same time the government promises free maternal healthcare!

The lady who underwent the major operation was only 32 years, she now have no uterus, and no hope of ever bearing a child. Because there was no blood for her to be transfused, she is probably hanging on by a thread. Now multiply this situation by our national birthrate. Tell me how many women are going to end up barren or dead because of the way we insist on doing things in this country?

As I said earlier, let’s disband bodies that don’t work. Given how much collective output the MPs have (not) done in the first month of their tenure, it’s clear that we don’t need the likes of Linturi representing anyone in this country. So, as they agitate for a referendum, let us indeed have one, and disband the need for members of parliament and simply give the Senators a pay hike and forward the legislative duties of MPs to the Senate. Even if we gave the Senators a pay hike of 1 million shillings each it is still far cheaper than the 3.4 billion a year it would cost us to retain useless MPs who clearly don’t have any sort of work ethic.

That way, we can diminish the possibility of disservice to the nation during the vetting process and also, having sent a resolute message to politicians that they can be fired by the republic, perhaps more seriousness will be taken when selecting the heads of ministries.