Nairobi, June 30 -- Is the future a set of unexpected events or can it be managed, planned or somehow influenced by our actions today? To paraphrase a diplomat who was not very diplomatic in his assessment of our 2017 general elections, do choices have consequences?

For instance, most of our political parties are built around individual profiles and not political ideology.

We then act surprised that they turn out weak and transient. In successive electoral cycles, we consolidate the vote by mobilising tribe against imaginary enemies, often other tribes. By defining others as our enemies, we force them to become, then act surprised at the outcome.

On the policy front, the debate hardly goes beyond our choice words for each other. For in...