The Schrödinger’s Citizen, A Kenyan Experiment

We live in a country where our fate hangs, not in the balance but facing public execution like Saddam Hussein. Our paths are uncertain until the chosen few decide whether a Kenyan mama mboga, bodaboda rider or a nurse will eat in the evening.This sad reality for most Kenyans is strikingly similar to Schrödinger’s cat, a famous thought experiment in quantum mechanics. In this experiment, a cat inside a sealed box is both alive and dead until the box is opened, its fate tied to the unpredictable decay of a radioactive substance. For the average Kenyan citizen, life in Kenya is the box, we are the cat, and the political class acts as the radioactive substance, wielding the power to rewrite the past, shape the present, and destroy our future.

Our quality of life hinges on the unpredictable actions of our political leaders,Just as the cat cannot control the radioactive decay, as Kenyans we often find our circumstances determined by these incompetent leaders. When you study our government policies and then compare to implementation, the only constant variable is the political theatrics.Oscar Sudi said this, Rigathi Gachagua said that, it’s just a couple of dudes shouting at funerals, things they could have whatsapped each other. We are a country highly drunk on Hope and Fear, a cocktail that will have us waking in 40 years with a very very bad hangover.

Economic decisions by “waheshimiwa” have left us grappling with poverty and financial uncertainty. Take the Finance Bill 2023, for instance. Despite distaste and resentment from the majority of Kenyans, our very unable president blackballed parliament and the executive. It was signed into law, raising taxes and driving up the cost of living. A citizen that can’t afford education, food or healthcare is a dead man walking, literally.

The Finance Bill 2024 was so bad that it sparked nationwide protests over proposed tax hikes. So harsh was this one that it awakened the ungovernable youth to matters running the country. The government’s response? More than 60 protesters were killed; others were abducted by police in a bid to sell fear, or “kuuza guoya”. Excuse mon français / excuse my French.

Political shenanigans have become the lifeline of the Kenyan government, we have leaders slapping each other in ruracios. They beat up Salasya in a stadium full of 30,000 witnesses and about 50 million online slap in laws.

We never catch a break, man; every day we have drama surrounding the political class, pure drama festivals. It is so funny that they tear gassed high school students for staging a play that seemingly castigated the regime. This is an aristocratic regime in a constitutional democracy,this is bonkers, we have a political class that is selling hope whilst instilling fear.Leaders with no existing job description, their only qualification being “"huyu tumetoana mbali”

 In June 2024, protests peaked with the invasion of parliament, a bold move against tax increases that reflected both desperation and defiance. Now so many people have been killed, joining a protest has become a gamble: will it lead to reform or repression? This mirrors the cat’s plight, where the outcome remains unknown.

We have become a country that kills its women and children, What is a future without women and children?. In July and August 2024, parts of bodies mostly women were discovered in Kware, a suspect was apprehended but not charged. 43 bodies, allegedly killed by one man, who in the most Tyler Perry style of directing, escaped a police station. Do you know how foolish we look to the rest of the world? People think we are stupid as fuck, that we can accept this blatant plunder of public resources. We have become a country where the rule of law doesn’t apply anywhere. The political class has made us believe we are helpless. we are being lied to that we have laws but the justice system can neither protect nor prosecute.

Our political elites are the radioactive substance capable of both harm and help in equal extremes.The political class’s actions are pivotal to determining whether the “box” of Kenyan life opens to reveal stability or the kind of chaos we are experiencing. The life of the average Kenyan citizen is a real-world echo of Schrödinger’s cat, a citizenry trapped in a state of superposition, both hopeful and vulnerable, until the president directs the political class on what they will do. Lakini mwiba wa kujidunga hauambiwi pole, it’s a lesson for next time right?