DEAR KENYANS, BECAUSE YOU LOVE YOUR VOMIT A REPEAT OF 2017 IS HIGHLY WELCOMED
Supporters of the Kenyan opposition demonstrate in Nairobi, Kenya, on October 11, 2017
By: Odhiambo Jerameel Kevins Owuor
Worth Noting:
- The poverty rate in Kenya has risen exponentially and the government has been only good at getting loans and stealing the cash in equal measure to the extent that there is no impact of the money to the local mwananchi.
- It is at such times I remember how Uhuru was being fronted in 2013 and 2017 and I just shake my head like really Kenyans we deserve better leadership. Haven’t we suffered enough? Do we still want to suffer? Will we ever elect better?
- Kenyans seem to love their vomit and they will go back to it any moment they wish. For, we Kenyans love suffering kindly let’s repeat the mistakes in 2017.
In less than three months Kenyans will be electing their leaders who are to serve them for the next five years. According to the Constitution or the Supreme law of the land elections are to be held in August even the Independent Electoral Boundaries Commission has reiterated on the same. Politicians are right now campaigning in order to get the various seats from Members of County Assembly to the Presidency posts.
I will now have to summon the wisdom of my High School History Teacher Mr Kasera Emmanuel who shared with us the reason why elections take place after every five years in Kenya. He noted that elections let the citizens determine who makes decisions for them. Different decisions are made at different levels of government and knowing who the final decision maker is on the issues that matter to you, will make you a more effective electoral advocate.
That is one of the reasons why we have elections. Other reasons are listed herein as follows: elections encourage citizens to engage in their country’s affairs while still remaining politically active and alert; it forces political workers to act for the people’s wellbeing; elections guarantee that no government is elected for an indefinite period of time and thus becomes tyrannical; it offers an opportunity for citizens to choose the party whose policies will guide the making of government and law; elections are the most powerful tool of indirect democracy since they encourage citizens to elect their representatives who then pass laws on their behalf.
Lastly, elections provide citizens with a peaceful transition of power from one form of government to another. Citizens may always nominate another party to form government if they are dissatisfied with the current government, its policies and the way it operates.
The aforementioned reasons highlight why elections are necessary and cannot be taken for granted. The Constitution as well grants the various political rights to the citizens of which I won’t quote for that is not the subject of this article.
Despite noting that in a nutshell the Constitution gives provision that each citizen has a right to vote, right to campaign for one’s favourite political party; right to free, fair and regular elections based on universal suffrage; right to vote by secret ballot in any election or referendum; right to form, or participate in forming a political party, right to participate in the activities of, or recruit members for a political party and right to be a candidate for public office or office within a political party of which the citizen is a member and if elected to hold office.
On the face value the eddicts of the Constitution seem pleasant and appealing not until you meet with exercise that happens on the ground. As I always argue there is a perfect mismatch between the law in the books and the law in the ground or in action. In 2017 Kenyans were accorded an opportunity to vote for their leaders. For the Presidency seat a good number of citizens who were against the NASA candidate voted for Uhuru so as to punish Raila Odinga and send him back to Bondo, that is according to them. For the gubernatorial positions another perfect mistake happened.
Homabay residents elected a corrupt governor back to office; in Kirinyaga they decided to elect Ann Waiguru who has been implicated of graft charges while serving as a Cabinet Secretary incharge of Devolution; Siaya residents weren’t left out of the mix they re-elected Cornel Rasanga who performed dismally in the first term even at the eve of his second term there is nothing worthy he has done and Nairobi residents decided to elect a popular person that is Gideon Mbuvi Kioko alias Mike Sonko, like seriously who elects such a person, who has criminal links and has no qualities of a good leader. Am glad Mike Sonko was impeached though not legally.
What I have realized so far for the short time that I have been observing elections in Kenya, Kenyans have a high affinity of electing non-responsive leadership by all means. This in turn affects them in the long run. The counties that have noted above, the citizens have been crying foul that had they been wiser they couldn’t have elected such characters to the various posts that they are currently.
They compare their counties to other counties like Machakos or Makueni and they wonder who bewitched their county and themselves in equal measure. Now getting on the national front; the second term of Uhuru or let me just say the ten years of President Uhuru term has been the worst and I am unapologetic about that.
Interestingly, in 2013 and 2017 he was elected by many a voters and he got the Constitutional threshold of fifty plus one percent. As of now Kenyans are really suffering, the prices of basic commodities keep on soaring for the price you acquire an item today won’t be the price you acquire it tomorrow.
The poverty rate in Kenya has risen exponentially and the government has been only good at getting loans and stealing the cash in equal measure to the extent that there is no impact of the money to the local mwananchi. It is at such times I remember how Uhuru was being fronted in 2013 and 2017 and I just shake my head like really Kenyans we deserve better leadership. Haven’t we suffered enough? Do we still want to suffer? Will we ever elect better? Kenyans seem to love their vomit and they will go back to it any moment they wish. For, we Kenyans love suffering kindly let’s repeat the mistakes in 2017.
In a nutshell, in Kenya the forest changes after every five years but the monkeys have remained the same. The monkeys in this case are the citizens and the politicians. I have argued severally Kenyans are their worst own enemies the earlier they realize the same the better and correct it. Of Kenyans electing bad leadership and then cry later on, it perplexes me to date. Regardless, because you Kenyans never realize your mistakes kindly elect a wrong leadership again. I beseech you.
Odhiambo Jerameel Kevins Owuor is a law student at University of Nairobi, Parklands Campus. He regularly comments on social, political, contemporary and legal issues.
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