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The last week was exceptionally tough for one Calvince 'Gaucho' Okoth following his appointment as a member of the board of Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital.

A political scalawag and school dropout, Gaucho successfully deployed his mouth and muscle in opposition politics, earning recognition and dalliance with top ODM politicians who have since joined government.

His appointment to the hospital board was not surprising given the country’s dalliance with patronage politics. Unfortunately for him, the appointment came at a time when Kenyans are increasingly getting frustrated with the manner in which things are being done in the country.

Besides, when Kenyans elect to descend on someone, they clearly don’t come to play. They come down hard, hammer and tongs. They deploy both solemnity and humour to the occasion.

The memes around Gaucho’s appointment have been particularly riveting. They have made a complete joke of his appointment and a mockery of the appointing authority.

There is one which had him addressing the inaugural board meeting, asking the hospital management not to allow thespian-cum-politician Cleophas Malala to stage his plays at the hospital theatre.

In another one, he was asking the management to add him to one of the hospital’s WhatsApp groups, the blood group! In yet another, Gaucho was advising the hospital management not to worry about striking nurses, because Kenya has plenty of graduates in hospitality courses.

My favourite one was where Gaucho was recommending popular Patanisho radio host Gidi Gidi to the hospital’s radiology department. The memes and sharp criticism keep coming.

Activist Hanifa Adan is probably the only one who came close to belling the cat thus far. Writing about the debacle, she bemoaned the rising trend of treating goons like a misunderstood demographic that just needs a hug.

I have read and heard many other censures, many of which missed the mark. They have failed to appreciate where Gaucho came from, where he is at the moment and where he is headed.

They have least appreciated the phenomenon in the man, which is spread out in the full length and breadth of our political architecture, across the national and county governments.

Calvince 'Gaucho' Okoth is not an accidental product of Kenya’s political architecture. He did not drop from the skies or come forth from the oceans. He did not suddenly jut forth from the uttermost parts of the earth to occupy the space he now occupies.

Calvince 'Gaucho' Okoth is a refined product of the crooked Kenyan political system, which condones notoriety, suppresses excellence, embraces violence and promotes mediocrity.

He is a product of a system that thrives on the patronage fanned by a conniving political class, runaway impunity enabled by weak institutions, and the civic dormancy of the populace.

Kenyans themselves have been the greatest enablers of this culture. During elections, they reject quality, visionary and reformist leaders and opt for the more dramatic, moneyed and flashy ones who offer them Kool-Aid.

They look the other way when incompetence is rewarded and defend the indefensible. The institutions that should provide the requisite checks and balances have struggled the longest.

The leadership and integrity test, which is deployed on all candidates running for political seats in the country, is an open sieve. Every prospective candidate passes with flying colours. Kenya can do well without the inconvenience of the leadership and integrity test.

Because of these factors, the country offers fertile ground to breed nincompoops and crooks for high public offices. In turn, they recruit their ilk and transform the country into one huge, nincompoop's paradise.

Many of us have noted the phenomenon of people’s assemblies in our villages, streets and estates. While they have enhanced civic participation and free speech, they have, at the same time, entrenched calumny as an essential factor of political mobilisation.

There is now a common misconception propagated in these assemblies that everybody, especially those who can run their mouths faster than the rest, can make good leaders. Next year, we are likely to have more hecklers for leaders than at any other time in our history.

Until Kenyans begin to take the enterprise of identifying leaders seriously, they will continue to deserve more and more Gaucho’s.

Advocate of the High Court and Senior Project Manager with the Friedrich Naumann Foundation. The views expressed here are his own