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If You Hate Politics, Then You Clearly Hate Yourself— The Brutal Truth About How Politics Owns Your Wallet, Your Business, and Your Future

BY Steve Biko · October 26, 2025 01:10 pm

Politics is not an optional subject you can skip; it’s the air you breathe, the pothole you dodge, the tax you pay, and the reason you’re still queueing for fuel at midnight. Everything you touch, eat, earn, or even dream about is drafted in a policy somewhere. Yet many walk around declaring, “I don’t do politics,” as if that statement exempts them from its consequences. Ignoring politics is like ignoring gravity — it doesn’t stop you from falling; it just guarantees the landing will hurt more when your economy collapses on your face.

Every coin you hold bears the weight of a political choice. That shiny Sh100 note is not just paper; it’s a statement about debt ceilings, inflation targets, and who benefits from them. Money, like morality, flows where politics directs it. Politicians decide the price of fuel, electricity, and sugar, then smile as you blame the supermarket cashier. If you think your salary is small because your boss is greedy, look again — it’s because your leaders sold your taxes to foreign creditors, wrapped in ribbon, and called it “strategic partnership.”

Politics is the puppet master of your business dreams. You can have the best product, perfect marketing, and unmatched customer service — but one careless regulation, one sudden tax amendment, or one “public-private partnership” scandal later, and you’re filing for bankruptcy. Entrepreneurs in Kenya don’t fail because they lack innovation; they fail because they live in a country where policy is a weapon and bureaucracy is a battlefield. In this land, survival isn’t about profit margins but political immunity.

The economy you admire is nothing more than politics in a suit. GDP isn’t a divine blessing; it’s the reflection of policy priorities. When politicians steal billions meant for manufacturing, your dreams of industrialization die quietly, wrapped in the pages of the budget estimates. When they exempt their friends from taxes, your business carries the burden of patriotism. You call it entrepreneurship; they call it indirect taxation through frustration. The Kenyan hustle is not just economic — it’s political endurance disguised as ambition.

Insurance is supposed to cushion you from uncertainty. But in a politically dysfunctional system, insurance itself needs insurance. A hospital cover is meaningless when the health ministry is a playground for looters. Life insurance becomes comedy when your government keeps creating conditions that shorten your life expectancy. How do you ensure against poverty when poverty is a government policy? Every premium you pay is a quiet tax on your hope that maybe, just maybe, this system won’t collapse before your claim matures.

Taxation is the purest form of political communication. Every deduction on your payslip tells you who’s winning the national debate. When you see “housing levy,” “health insurance fund,” and “VAT adjustment,” understand that your government is speaking loudly, arrogantly, and often incoherently. Taxes are not about revenue; they’re about obedience. The state doesn’t need your money as much as it needs your submission. It wants to remind you who really owns your income — and hint: it’s not you.

Investment, too, is politics in a tie. Before you put your money in stocks, you study not markets but moods — the political climate, the appointments, the scandals. Investors are not analysts anymore; they are astrologers reading the stars of Sthe tate House. A single careless speech from a politician can erase billions in market capitalization. You call it volatility; we call it governance failure. In Kenya, investment decisions are less about risk appetite and more about risk survival.

Savings are the silent victims of politics. You save hoping to build a home, educate your children, or start a business, but inflation — a political invention — eats it faster than termites in a wooden house. The government borrows at higher rates, crowding out private borrowers, and the bank smiles as your interest shrinks to dust. You aren’t saving; you’re subsidizing government incompetence. The tragedy is that you still think you’re being “financially disciplined,” when you’re actually paying rent to political stupidity.

Pensions, once symbols of dignity, have become political ATMs. Every regime treats retirees’ funds as soft loans for campaign financing or debt restructuring. The old who built this nation now live as beggars because some politician found a new way to “invest” their future in offshore fantasies. Pensioners die waiting for approvals signed by the same leaders who shout “hustler” slogans. If you think your retirement plan is safe, remember — in Kenya, policies mature faster than promises.

Education, the supposed equalizer, has been politicized to death. A curriculum isn’t designed to create thinkers; it’s built to manufacture loyal voters. Every new government changes the syllabus to fit its slogans. Teachers strike, students suffer, and parents pay more for less. Education isn’t broken — it’s functioning exactly as politics designed it: to produce a compliant citizenry that can recite but never rebel. If you think degrees guarantee jobs, ask the thousands of graduates queuing at NYS recruitment drives.

Healthcare, too, is political theatre. Hospitals become campaign venues, ambulances become billboards, and patients become statistics for manifestos. When leaders fly abroad for treatment, they aren’t escaping sickness; they’re escaping the consequences of their governance. You die of preventable diseases because your taxes fund private jets, not public wards. The next time you see a health center without medicine, remember: that emptiness is not by accident — it’s a political statement written in your blood.

Infrastructure is not built for citizens; it’s built for contracts. Every road, bridge, or dam carries a political price tag. They build where cameras are, not where needs exist. Roads collapse faster than promises because the goal isn’t connectivity — it’s commission. You clap at groundbreakings and cry during funerals when the same roads claim lives. Infrastructure here is less about development and more about laundering public theft in broad daylight.

The cost of living is the most honest political barometer. It doesn’t lie, it doesn’t campaign, it just screams. Prices of bread, fuel, and unga tell you what your government truly values. If politics were efficient, inflation wouldn’t be a national anthem. The irony is that citizens complain about high prices without realizing they voted for them. You can’t elect thieves and expect miracles; even Jesus needed loaves to multiply — not corruption files.

Employment is another casualty. Jobs aren’t created by market demand but by political convenience. Appointments are based on surnames, not skills. Meritocracy has been exiled; nepotism is the new economic model. When youth unemployment hits 67%, the government calls it “youth potential.” Politicians turn hopelessness into campaign material, and every jobless graduate becomes a prop in the theatre of political empathy. You’re not unemployed; you’re strategically underutilized for electoral optics.

Corruption is not just theft; it’s government culture. Every tender, every procurement, every handshake carries a price. Politicians don’t steal because they need the money — they steal to maintain the hierarchy of control. It’s economic colonization disguised as governance. When you pay a bribe for a service, you’re not funding inefficiency; you’re voting again — this time with your silence. Every shilling lost in corruption is a stolen vote in economic democracy.

The justice system is politics in a robe. Courts are not temples of fairness; they’re theatres of convenience. Verdicts are drafted in political offices long before the judges sit. When you lose a case, don’t curse the law — curse the politics that wrote it. The rich buy justice while the poor buy airtime to rant. In this republic, law doesn’t protect; it negotiates. Your freedom is not a right — it’s a privilege that expires when you criticize power.

Religion, the supposed refuge, isn’t spared either. Churches have become extensions of political rallies. Pastors sell salvation like campaign promises, blessing corruption as long as tithe arrives. Faith is now monetized loyalty. Religion here doesn’t save souls; it launders sins. You don’t attend church for repentance — you go for political networking. God must be confused — His house now doubles as a polling station.

Media, the watchdog, has become the lapdog. Headlines are bought, narratives are edited, and truth is auctioned to the highest bidder. Journalists who question too much suddenly “resign.” The fourth estate has become an estate of silence, fenced by political influence. When propaganda becomes the news, ignorance becomes patriotism. The citizen who stops questioning becomes the perfect slave — educated enough to obey, informed enough to fear.

Technology and innovation, too, bow before politics. Policies decide whether your startup thrives or dies. Licenses, permits, approvals — all political toll gates on the road to progress. A nation that taxes creativity kills its future. Our leaders see tech as a threat, not a tool. That’s why Silicon Valley builds rockets while we debate who stole Wi-Fi. The innovation gap isn’t technological; it’s political arrogance disguised as conservatism.

Climate change and ethe nvironment are victims of political hypocrisy. The same leaders who ban plastic bottles approve deforestation tenders. They attend COP summits for photo ops, not policy shifts. You can plant a million trees, but if policies still favor pollution, your seedlings will die in bureaucracy. Politics decides whether the air you breathe is clean or imported with tax. Mother Nature doesn’t vote, and that’s why she keeps getting exploited.

Security, too, is a political budget, not a public service. Soldiers defend borders, but who defends citizens from policy terrorism? When the police shoot protestors instead of criminals, understand that security isn’t about safety — it’s about control. You pay taxes to fund your own intimidation. In this system, protection is selective; justice is optional. The real insecurity is leadership that fears accountability.

Gender equality remains a political slogan, not a societal principle. Women are used as campaign décor — empowered in speeches, erased in decisions. Every election cycle, gender becomes a checkbox for donor funding. Empowerment funds vanish faster than promises. True equality isn’t about seats in parliament; it’s about dismantling the systems that profit from silence. Yet the same leaders who chant “gender balance” can’t balance their own integrity.

Youth empowerment is the cruelest political joke. They promise “opportunities,” then create hurdles. Youth funds become retirement schemes for middle-aged bureaucrats. Internships replace jobs, and exposure replaces pay. The youth are told to “innovate,” yet every innovation is taxed before it’s born. They call you the future, but ensure you never arrive there. The youth don’t lack ideas — they lack politicians who believe in honesty over optics.

Agriculture is politics in a plow. Subsidies, fertilizer, and seeds — all decided in closed rooms far from the farms they’re meant to help. Farmers feed the nation but starve first. Every planting season is an election rehearsal. You can predict corruption from rainfall patterns. Food insecurity here isn’t due to drought; it’s because policy is irrigated with greed. The politician doesn’t see maize — he sees margin.

The transport and energy sectors are twin pillars of political corruption. Each fuel increase is a silent coup on your wallet. Electricity tariffs are adjusted not by engineers but by politicians seeking donor applause. You wonder why matatu fares rise even when oil prices fall — it’s because policy trumps logic. The same government that can’t fix potholes claims to be building highways to heaven. We’re just waiting for the toll gates at the pearly gates.

Foreign policy is domestic policy in disguise. The handshake between presidents decides whether your factory survives or dies. Every “bilateral agreement” is a transaction where sovereignty is collateral. Loans come with flags; independence comes with interest. We celebrate foreign investors as saviors while local industries rot. Diplomacy here isn’t about cooperation — it’s about outsourcing responsibility.

Culture is not spared. Art, film, and music are censored by committees that confuse morality with control. Artists become activists by accident, forced to speak truth in rhythm because prose is too dangerous. Cultural funding is handed to cronies, not creators. You can’t build national identity on censorship and call it patriotism. Every banned song is proof that leadership fears lyrics more than logic.

Tourism, another darling of politics, thrives on illusion. Leaders sell safari dreams abroad while citizens at home can’t afford bus fare. They market wildlife but ignore human welfare. Every tourism dollar passes through a political filter before reaching communities. When image outweighs impact, development becomes decoration. Tourists come to see lions; citizens live among jackals in suits.

Housing, once a basic need, is now a campaign slogan. The so-called affordable houses are priced for ghosts. The government builds concrete dreams for votes, not citizens. Mortgage rates climb faster than skyscrapers, and tenants are taxed for daring to exist indoors. Housing policy isn’t about shelter; it’s about showcasing. You don’t own the house — the manifesto does.

Public debt is politics on steroids. Every new loan is a future tax disguised as progress. Debt isn’t development; it’s delayed poverty. Politicians borrow to build vanity projects, then blame global markets for insolvency. The more we borrow, the more patriotic they claim to be. You can’t run a country like a Ponzi scheme and call it fiscal policy. Our grandchildren will inherit roads, but they’ll be too broke to drive on them.

Elections are the grand circus. You think you’re voting for change, but you’re just choosing the color of your oppression. Every five years, thieves rebrand as saviors. You campaign for them, fight for them, even die for them — then complain when they loot. Elections here aren’t democratic exercises; they’re periodic scams that reset national memory. Ballots don’t change systems; accountability does.

Freedom of speech is the illusion that keeps tyranny fashionable. You can talk, but not too loudly. Criticize, but not too effectively. The government doesn’t jail everyone; it just ensures most people jail themselves in fear. Silence is the new civic duty. The moment you stop speaking, corruption starts applauding.

Public participation, the supposed foundation of democracy, has become a rubber-stamp ritual. Policies are passed while citizens sleep. The government pretends to listen; citizens pretend to be heard. Participation without influence is manipulation. If public opinion mattered, half the laws wouldn’t exist. In Kenya, consultation is code for confirmation.

Patriotism, once a noble ideal, is now weaponized. You’re told to love your country but hate questioning it. True love demands accountability, not applause. The government confuses loyalty with blindness. Real patriotism is paying taxes and demanding to see where they go, not waving flags while your pockets are emptied.

Ultimately, every aspect of life — from birth certificates to death certificates — is shaped by politics. Your financial independence, your business survival, your healthcare, your children’s education, even your dreams, are all signatures in political ink. The tragedy is not that politics controls everything; it’s that you still believe you can live outside its reach.

The TRUTH is simple but brutal: the quality of your financial freedom mirrors the quality of your politicians. Ignore politics, and you delegate your destiny to thieves. Understand it, and you reclaim your power. Politics doesn’t need your permission to affect you. It already owns your tomorrow.