The Gluttony Of Kenyans That Is Devouring The Nation

There is a fire that burns in the hearts of Kenyans. A fire not of ambition, not of resilience, not of hope, but of unquenchable greed. It is the hunger that knows no satiety, the thirst that cannot be quenched, the abyss that swallows all and still demands more. It is greed, and it has wrapped its bony fingers around the throat of this nation, squeezing until the air is thick with corruption, suffocation, and decay.

Where did we learn this art of insatiable hunger? Did it seep into our veins through colonial exploitation? Did we inherit it from the sellout chiefs who exchanged their people for a handful of coins and whisky? Or did we craft it ourselves, like a blacksmith forging the very chains that will one day shackle him? Whatever its origin, greed has become the foundation of our national character, the guiding philosophy behind every decision we make.

Look at our politics. It is not a contest of ideologies or visions; it is a contest of stomachs. The winner is not the one with the best policies, but the one with the widest mouth and the deepest belly. They come to us with empty pockets, empty promises, and empty hearts, and within months, they are swollen with stolen billions, their mansions rising where hospitals should stand, their bank accounts fattening while schoolchildren share pencils. And still, they want more. Like hyenas circling a carcass, they fight not for the people, but for the biggest chunk of the loot.

Greed has transformed public service into a hunting ground. You do not enter to serve, you enter to eat. You do not climb the ladder by merit, you climb it by bribery, by connections, by selling your soul to the highest bidder. And once you reach the top, the rule is simple: close the door behind you and start collecting your spoils. The CEO takes his cut, the procurement officer takes his, the accountant inflates the invoice, the clerk demands chai, and the security guard at the gate will not let you in without “something small.”

Is it any wonder that our roads crack open within weeks of construction? That medicine disappears from hospitals before patients can receive it? That police posts become auction houses where justice is sold to the highest bidder? Even the dead are not spared. Morgues refuse to release bodies until their palms are greased, and gravesites are sold like plots in an elite suburb.

Yet the ordinary Kenyan, too, is an accomplice in this grand conspiracy of greed. We bribe traffic police and complain about corruption. We cheat exams and wonder why we have incompetent doctors. We demand kickbacks to vote and then cry when leaders steal. Every finger that points at the corrupt has three fingers pointing back at itself. We are all drowning in this swamp, yet we pretend it is only the politicians who are rotten.

This greed has turned public service into private business. To get an ID, you must pay. To get a passport, you must pay. To get electricity, to get a water connection, to get a police report, to get a bed in a hospital, to get a job in the military—everything has a price. The constitution may call Kenya a republic, but in reality, it is a well-organized criminal enterprise where every service has a toll gate and every official is a toll collector.

The Kenya Kwanza administration, the ruling coalition, has taken greed to demonic levels. Their hunger is unlike anything we have seen before. They have no shame, no restraint, no limit. They loot in broad daylight, with cameras flashing and microphones recording, and they do not even blink. They create taxes not to build the nation, but to fill their pockets. They pass policies not to help the people, but to benefit their cronies. Their greed is a black hole, an endless pit that swallows taxes, loans, grants, and donations, leaving nothing for the common mwananchi.

And this is why greed is not just an economic problem—it is a national security crisis. A nation where justice is for sale, where leadership is an investment to be recouped through corruption, where the poor cannot access healthcare, and where youth cannot find jobs, is a nation sitting on a ticking time bomb. Hunger, joblessness, and desperation are the perfect recipe for crime, for radicalization, for rebellion. A country cannot be at peace when its people are starving while a few men hoard billions in offshore accounts.

Greed is the reason why bandits rule the North, why slums swell with unemployed youth, why cholera outbreaks still kill people in 2025. It is the reason why we have more churches than factories, more thieves than investors, more politicians than leaders. It is the reason why a university graduate becomes a hawker, why a mother must choose between paying rent and buying food, why a boda boda rider dies chasing an extra fifty shillings.

Read Also: Kenyans Must Rise Up Against The Betrayal Of Our Democracy By The Greedy Politicians

There is no future for a country where money is worshipped more than morality. Where the rich steal from the poor and the poor steal from each other. Where even religion has become a business, and men of God auction prayers like market vendors selling tomatoes.

If we do not confront this greed now, it will consume us completely. It will strip our land bare, turn our children into beggars, and our streets into war zones. We must recognize that no nation in history has ever prospered on theft and deception. The Rome of excess collapsed. The empires of plunder fell. Kenya will be no different if we do not change course.

We must kill this gluttony before it kills us. We must reject leaders who steal. We must refuse to participate in corruption. We must teach our children that integrity is worth more than wealth. We must make greed expensive and honesty profitable. And we must remember that a nation is not built by thieves, but by the honest labor of its people.

The future of Kenya is at stake, and the choice is ours: do we continue down this road of self-destruction, or do we reclaim our souls from the grip of greed? Whatever we decide, one truth remains: if we do not defeat greed, greed will defeat us.

Read Also: Kenya Keeps Fumbling Her Foreign Policy As Its Determined By the Greedy Desires Of a Single Man Who Has Put Their Greed First, Not The Country’s