In the aftermath of a parliamentary by-election in Ol Kalou, Kenya, opposition leader Martha Karua has called on the ruling Kenya Kwanza coalition to accept a defeat that was not merely numerical but symbolic — a decisive rejection by voters who had grown weary of unfulfilled promises. The margin, more than six to one in favor of the opposition Democracy for the Citizens Party, spoke less to the strength of one candidate than to the fragility of public faith in those who govern. Karua's message was not triumphant; it was a sober reckoning with what happens when institutions lose the trust of t