Kenya’s Redemption Will Not Come From The Current Political Class’ Peter Aowa

By Peter Aowa

Worth Noting:

• The saint he is today, Wamunyoro’s son, is painting the picture of how ill his former boss is and how ineffective the Kenya Kwanza government is. A task he’s doing so passionately. In a joint media interview with media houses from Mt. Kenya region, Gachagua hinted at announcing a political outfit that will have the Kenyan face and be fully embraced by the mountain.
• As he continues with the onslaught of the KK government, President Ruto is back on the campaign trail. I hear his lieutenants call it a presidential duty, moving around the country to launch projects and explaining to the citizens what his government has achieved and is continuing to undertake.

Over the recent past, the majority of Kenyans have shared their thoughts on who they think can turn around the economy of this country and address the vices that hinder good governance. Two years to the election, a number of people have declared themselves ready and fit to outshine president William Ruto. Notable individuals who are setting stage for the position include former vice president Kalonzo Musyoka, former interior cabinet secretary Dr. Fred Matiangi, Busia senator Okiya Omtata, activist Morara Kebaso, former defense team minister Eugene Wamalwa, former chief Justice David Maraga among others

At the center of all these conversations are two rivals who were undeviadable in the run-up to 2022 elections. The immediate former deputy president Rigathi Gachagua and President William Ruto.

The saint he is today, Wamunyoro’s son, is painting the picture of how ill his former boss is and how ineffective the Kenya Kwanza government is. A task he’s doing so passionately. In a joint media interview with media houses from Mt. Kenya region, Gachagua hinted at announcing a political outfit that will have the Kenyan face and be fully embraced by the mountain.

As he continues with the onslaught of the KK government, President Ruto is back on the campaign trail. I hear his lieutenants call it a presidential duty, moving around the country to launch projects and explaining to the citizens what his government has achieved and is continuing to undertake.

Interestingly, a good fraction of the Mt. Kenya population is aligning to Rigathi, and it’s evidently impossible that someone will challenge the status quo.

On the other hand, Kisii is seemingly vouching for Matiangi’s return, and very few of them are talking about the candidature of David Maraga, who also hails from the region.

It’s imperative to note that all these individuals, save for Morara Kebaso, have held public offices, and I won’t be wrong to relate them with the current leadership situations we are witnessing.

Let’s first talk about Fred Matiangi. 99% of those who vouch for his candidature say he is a principled man, uncompromised and visionary. Good. I will look at it from a different perspective, and perhaps to highlight this, we must go back to history.

Dr. Fred Matiangi was the cabinet secretary in charge of the interior ministry when at least 40 Kenyans were murdered and their bodies dumped in River Yala. It should be noted that these killings which were majorly linked to the police came just a year after Matiangi in a meeting at Uhuru na KAZI building in Mombasa, flanked by PS Karanja Kibicho and inspector general of police Joseph Boinnet unequivocally addressed the issue of police brutality and promised an end to extra judicial killings, what followed next was series of police brutality and mass extrajudicial killings under the watch of Matiangi. Even after succeeding the late Nkaissery, Matiangi’s leadership did not tell Kenyans who killed businessman Jacob Juma who was a vocal critique of William Ruto – the then deputy president, and Chris Musando – the head of IT at IEBC who was brutally murdered barely a month to the 2017 general elections among many deaths.

It should not be lost on us that Matiangi alongside Professor Mohammed Swazuri, the then National Land Commission Chairman, were adversely mentioned in the illegal sale of Ruaraka land. According to documents presented to parliament, Matiangi was paid 300 million kickbacks from the role he played in the fraudulent sale of the government land, when he was the then education CS

I don’t want to be partial in painting the image of Dr. Matiangi. Many accolades to him are pegged on his success as the CS education, especially on the issue of exam malpractice, which was at its peak when he ascended to ministry. I pose a question: Do we have exam malpractice? Yes. Then, it’s a question of leadership and systems. It matters not what a leader does presently as long as there are no good laid structures, they’re only effective during their time in office and with their exit goes the functionality. A question of systems!

David Maraga has been termed corrupt by seasoned lawyer Ahmednassir Abdullahi. The lawyer was quoted by the Daily Nation, having said that Maraga has a history of soliciting favors and attributed this to his lifestyle and source of wealth.

Rubbishing such claims is the same as disputing crocodile’s update on what is in the lake, where you don’t live, anyway.

Needles to say, all the aforementioned individuals have been in public offices holding very powerful positions. We must live to the fact that nothing good is going to come out of their endeavours.

Matiangi is being fronted by former president Uhuru Kenyatta, whose administration was marred with enormous corruption and public looting. The possibility that Matiangi would dare those who stole from public coffers during Uhuru Kenyattas reign is a practical impossibility. He wouldn’t. Reason, they all have very deep connections and friendships that would tie his hands too tight to launch any war on corruption in Kenya, that would result to the arrest and hence prosecution of any of his friends. This is the case with Wamunyoro son Rigathi Gachagua, the former share holder of the Ruto government and a former controller guard of the state house, and the other accomplices; Kalonzo Musyoka, William Ruto, Eugene Wamalwa, David Maraga among others.

Okiya Omtatah, apart from his long legal battles in quest for good governance has no way to explain why he has been able to see that far leaving what may be construed to be one of the worst corruption in Kenya, “the session allowances” and has not explained what he has done  in his capacity as a lawmaker and as a lawyer to correct the abnormalities about the salary of the Kenya legislatures. Kenya’s MPs are the most paid legislatures globally, and they were seemingly not contented, had it not been for the Gen Zs uprising, their renumerations would be higher than it is. No MP is talking about it.

The nation has always been mute on corruption. It has never addressed the billions Kenya has been getting every year in the form of grant money. The National assembly has been playing to the galary of the executive. The senate has never been left behind. Governors are looting and living a luxurious life when voters are left in suffering, agony, and struggling to make endless ends meet.

The truth is that the political class in Kenya is one large, self-serving club. They look out for each other. They silence voices of the poor that threaten their grip on power. They protect their wealth while the ordinary Kenyan struggles to afford life. They grant themselves hefty salaries while hospitals remain underfunded, schools collapsing while the youth remain jobless.

These are not the people who will redeem Kenya. How can someone fight corruption in a higher office when one fails while in a smaller one? How can a senator, an MP, or a CS claim they will transform Kenya when they failed to fight for justice while in positions of power before?

Kenya does not need another politician in the State House. Kenya needs a patriot. Someone with a track record of standing up for the people, not exploiting them. Someone with the courage to fight for justice, not to silence it. Someone who has not been part of the political rot that has poisoned this country for decades.

If we continue electing from the same political class, we will continue getting the same betrayal and the same results. It is time for a new face, a new leader, a Kenyan who has proven abilities—through action, not words—that he or she stands with the people. Only then can Kenya find the redemption it so desperately needs.