Kenyans, don’t you love your country enough?

I am angry. And you should be too.

Let’s get serious here because our future and that of our loved ones depends on it. It seems that there is a plot to make me go through another 5 years very similar to the last 5 nightmarish years I have gone through. Hell no!!!

As things stand at the time of writing this, on March 4th we will have a choice of electing either Uhuru Kenyatta or Raila Odinga to be the fourth president of Kenya.

Did you say Raila Odinga? The man who has been the second most powerful man in Kenya for the last 5 years? Are you sure that is the man you are talking about? Well with all due respect to the man I voted for in 2007, what has he done in the last 5 years? Surely he should have given us a glimpse (at the very least) of what he is capable of doing? Please let’s not get tribal here and let’s leave all the emotions out of this. Yes, the election was stolen from him and my sympathies go out to him. But I dare say that where our beloved country is now, we cannot afford to elect somebody purely on sympathetic grounds.

Do you read the newspapers (when you can afford them)? Insecurity all over the place, people getting killed and robbed? Injustice, impunity, rape, corruption etc. My dear friends surely Kenya can only take so much. Surely sooner or later something will give. What am I saying? We are in a crisis as a nation and we cannot afford to make decisions based on emotions.

So if you get sober enough you will realize that voting CORD will be a big mistake. Who did you say is Hon Raila’s running mate? Kalonzo Musyoka? Wow. Those are the guys you want to hand over the reigns of the country for the next 5 years?

What was the name of the other person Kenyans are so eager to put into State house? Uhuru Kenyatta? I think I am going to have a fit at his rate. Isn’t that the guy with a case before the ICC? So what you guys are saying is that you want to make Kenya another Sudan? Well, they have plenty of oil gushing out of the soil and they have bossom buddies in the Arab world with deep pockets. So you don’t want to tell me that you want to push Kenya into deeper crisis by causing the country to be shunned by every other nation that matters do you?

Most of the good folks who will hear nothing of electing anybody but the son of Jomo ride in matatus. When was the last time the Jubilee luminary rode in a matatu? When was the last time he worried about insecurity in the country? I will not even discuss his silver-spoon-in-the-mouth upbringing within the grounds of State house because I know that at least 7 million Kenyans (priviledged information) want to turn our beloved country into some kind of kingdom where certain people come from a royal lineage and have a right to rule.

Folks we have been had. The political class have all ganged up against us the voters and put us in a corner where we have no choice but to vote for either of the candidates of their choice. Don’t you get it? Why do you think that they have all meekly and obediently lined up behind either of the two horses? And I mean ALL OF THEM. Don’t you think that there is something they know that we don’t know?

I have a solution. Good people we have the power to say NO. We have the power to say enough is enough. We have the power to teach all these guys a lesson by refusing to fit into their neat and well laid plans. We tiny mice that always get caught in that mouse trap, inches away from the juicy cheese and other goodies they put there to lure us in, need to stop and think. Guys it is the very same mouse trap and the very same bait and it will get the very same results. You and I will be left complaining the same complaints over the next 5 years and taking about how our leaders are corrupt and greedy and selfish. But who will have elected them into office?

The young people of Kenya have a nice phrase that I really love. “Kuingizwa kwa box” (t be put into a box). It is used to refer to a situation where you have been chasing this girl and she has shunned you until one day she gives in to you and accepts her fate with you. She “ingias kwa box”. Guys let us refuse kuingia kwa box.

I have an idea. Why don’t we all elect somebody who is out of the box. Somebody who is not even seeking the presidency as we speak. Why don’t we hand pick our very own leader? Somebody who is acceptable to all tribes because I honestly don’t know what tribe he is and I really don’t care. And more importantly neither do his die-hard supporters.

Let us all together demand that this person stands for president and then let us all ignore the circus that has been elaborately prepared for us and elect this guy just to teach the political class a lesson. To remind them that we have the power. Because we do.

Gideon Sonko has many things about him that I don’t like. Actually my list is pretty long. BUT he understands the common man. He knows what the ordinary mwananchi goes through. And that is why he is extremely popular on the ground and most of all… roll the drums please! The thing I like the most… he is tribeless. Yes!! That is the big cancer we must get rid of NOW before it consumes all of us together with our children. Sonko has no tribe to favour. Although I dare add that having a person who belongs to your tribe in State house has NEVER been known to put any ugali on anybody’s plate. Ask your Kalenjin friends what they benefitted from President Moi’s 24 years in power. Ask our Kikuyu brothers what they have to show for Kibaki’s 10 year rule. I dare add that when you have your tribe in State house it is in fact a disadvantage because they have to work very hard not to look like they are favouring you. The result is that you will be disfavored for the next 5 years.

So let’s just cancel out this tribe thing and look for a tribeless guy to be our next president.

Now I can see you twisting your face in horror at my very suggestion and wondering what I am smoking as I write this. Guys I am extremely sober.

President Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma is the President of South Africa. That economy is much more complex than ours and much bigger too. Sample this; if you lived in South Africa instead of Kenya you would;
-    have 40% more chance at being employed
-    make 6.3 times more money
-    use 36.1 times more electricity
-    consume 6.3 times more oil
-    spend 10.7 times more money on health care
-    have 18.15% less chance of your yet to be born toddler dying in infancy

That country is in the hands of a man with less education than our own President Gideon Sonko.

Oh yes I know what the law says about the qualification of a presidential candidate but that is something that can be challenged in a court because you do not need a law degree to see how unconstitutional it really is. The rich kids go to school and they don’t want the poor kids to ever become president because some folks in some ivory tower seem to think that Kenya suffered under Moi because of his poor educational background. I don’t agree. Kenya has suffered the most in the hands of educated people who were crooked and did not care about the ordinary folks because they will never understand them. Most of them believe that poor people are poor because they are fools. I beg to differ.

But I digress.

I and a lot of people in this country would love to see Gideon Sonko on the ballot paper for president on March 4th. I dare the guys who own Kenya to put him there and let the people decide. Please don’ limit our choices.

Musituweke kwa box!

P.S. Kindly forward/photocopy etc this article to other voters. Grab this opportunity to have something to brag about to your grand children, it may be your only chance.

P.S. You are free to suggest any other tribeless candidate of your choice that we can all comfortably vote for. For better or for worse let’s do something different this time round instead of doing the same thing and hoping for different results. As you know that’s the definition of madness and surely Kenyans are NOT mad.

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Dirty Kenyan Politics Part 2

Read Part 1 of this article first

For you to be able to analyze anything soberly you must be able to step back and away from all your emotions and the immense euphoria that engulfs most Kenyans during any election.

If you do this you will quickly realize that election 2013 is already shaping up to be the most violent in our history. Yep, even more violent than 2008.

Interestingly the fiery earthquake prophet Awuor has already predicted the following about the upcoming general elections;

I see terrible animosity, with a worse magnitude than the 2008 violence. It will sweep Kenya with flood of blood and wananchi will hack one another like ones hacking down trees. Kenyans will kill one another with renewed appetite and the agony will be as horrible as never ever seen in the land. It will occur simultaneously with the elections to disguise the cause.

Even if you do not believe in prophets, it is abundantly clear that the chief dirty trick being used in these elections is violence. There are few political strategies that are as effective as violence when it comes to winning elections. Kenyans urgently need to be educated on this and you can do a great service to the nation by forwarding this article to as many of your friends as you possibly can. This is a message that those  who own Kenya do not want Kenyans to know. They are determined that we remain naïve and swallow the cock and bull story that two tribes who have been living peacefully together for years can suddenly wake up one morning and start killing each other over some livestock or watering holes. This is hogwash. Just carefully study cattle rustling and compare it to the troubles we have seen in recent times. Look for where women and children were hacked down or houses burnt and if you find the same pattern then you can believe some of the down right lies being peddled to Kenyans with abandon.

The Tana clashes are linked to presidential politics. Sadly I cannot say more here but readers of my raw notes will get all the info in their inboxes.

But how does violence win elections? Here’s how;

a) Your opponent's voters are forced to relocate from the place where they need to be to vote. In many cases your core supporters are the ones you are using to keep the fire of trouble and violence burning and so they will remain to vote. Those who remain who are not with you, can hardly make an objective choice when their priority is to stay alive. (This is one reason why the law should be changed to allow people to vote from anywhere).

b) In the ensuing violence and the chaos that follows there is nobody to stop you "importing" thousands of voters to win the election for you.

c) Violence spreads fear. The idea is to create very serious fear, then come in and quell the violence. It is then very easy to convince the voters that if they don't vote for the "people who quelled the violence" then the violence will return if the other side wins.

d) It becomes easy and much cheaper to collect voters cards from those who remain in return for their lives and security. (Our new electronic voting system seems to have nipped this one in the bud which is great news.)

e) It becomes impossible for any candidate to sell their agenda to the electorate.

In brief election violence and intimidation works like magic. That is why people use it. When you are seated in safety in that posh apartment in some smart neighborhood or in some foreign country, it is impossible for you to understand what it is like to live in constant fear of your life in your own country. Chances are that you have never lived in a populated area where election violence has broken out. How then can you even begin to understand?

Adds Kumekucha; 

Certain politicians are inciting the Tana tribal clashes, to eject one community from the region. It is political.
 
The aim is to speedily assemble evidence against the persons implicated and arraign them in a court of law. There is also strong indication that prosecution of the key perpetrators will restore law and order and bring the killings to a halt.
- Inspector General of Police David Kimaiyo- 
 
The violent clashes have little to do with communal rivalry over shared resources. In most of these attacks there has been no theft of property and where it has occurred, it is more of an afterthought [rather] than the actual motive. In one incident, 60 heads of cattle which could have been easily stolen were instead killed.- Police Spokesman Eric Kiraithe addressing a press briefing on behalf of the Inspector General-


To be continued. Next post: The man who invented extreme election violence warned Kenyans first.
 
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