As election fever begins to bubble, a stark warning rings out: any political roadmap ignoring the climate crisis is a roadmap to ruin.

The campaign season is approaching, and soon the airwaves will be thick with the usual symphony of promises: millions of jobs, double-digit growth, and world-class infrastructure.Yet, amidst the polished slogans and grand ambitions, there is a gaping hole. Eric Kasina, a leading climate action strategist, argues that the traditional political manifesto is dead. In an era where "once-in-a-lifetime" floods happen annually and droughts decimate GDP, any manifesto that fails to center climate resilience is not just incomplete—it is empty rhetoric.

The residents of Syokimau’s 360 Phase 2 Estate know this reality intimately. Recent images of them wading through waist-deep water in their living rooms are a testament to the failure of planning that ignores nature. Climate change is no longer a chapter in a geography textbook; it is the architect of our daily misery. Politicians who speak of food security without addressing erratic rainfall are selling a fantasy.

The Systems Failure

Kasina’s critique dissects the laziness of modern political thought in Kenya. The refusal to link economic goals with environmental reality creates a cycle of disaster and debt. The disconnect is visible in three critical areas:

• Infrastructure Blindness: Building roads without drainage capacity for the new "normal" of extreme rainfall ensures they wash away before the loan is paid.
• Agricultural Delusion: Promising bumper harvests while ignoring soil degradation and water scarcity is a cruel lie to the rural voter.
• The Health Ticking Bomb: Ignoring the link between rising temperatures and vector-borne diseases leaves the healthcare system vulnerable to collapse.

The Voter's New Litmus Test

The call to action is for the voter to evolve. The electorate must demand more than tribal alliances and handouts; they must demand a survival strategy. A manifesto without a climate chapter is a house built on sand—literally and metaphorically.

As the political class gears up to sell their visions of the future, they must be reminded that there is no economy on a dead planet. The floods in Syokimau are not an act of God; they are a receipt for negligence. It is time to stop voting for the rhetoric and start voting for reality.