Dirty Kenyan Politics Part 3: Nominations

As Ferdinand Waititu secures TNA nomination for governor

Read Part 1 of this article
Read Part 2 of this article

The most surprising thing about the nomination chaos witnessed countrywide is that it has caught many Kenyans unawares.

But why should it when the country has been neatly divided into tribal zones where winning the nomination of the tribe’s political party is an automatic pass to the desired seat? That means that candidates will do anything, and I mean ANYTHING, to get the party nomination. Indeed in many instances the budget for the nominations is much higher than what will be spent on the actual election.

Dirty tricks are much easier to use during nominations because the political parties cannot be as stringent organized and professional as the national electoral body, the IEBC. Is it not much easier to bribe some party official overseeing some nomination process? In any case has anybody carefully examined the real motive for most in taking up the responsibility of being a returning officer for their political party? Let me spell it out for you; personal fundraising. And it is fundraising for big projects like buying a shamba. And fortunately for those with these kinds of motives the 2013 elections are a goldmine.

Remember that we have more elective posts than we have ever had before. And the posts people are going for are pretty powerful. Being an MP is nothing. A governor for instance has more power than the president and will be a true boss in a county. Even senators will have much more clout than members of the national assembly. However most Kenyans at the grassroots level are still to come to terms with these new realities and so to them an MP is still a very important person indeed.

When you take all these facts into consideration then the only conclusion is that the nominations that we have just witnessed went pretty well.

Headquarters of rigging
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Most people are unaware of the real politics behind these nominations. Admittedly when a party is popular in a certain region rivals will always try to disrupt things by planting their own less popular candidate and looking for a way for them to win. In other instances they will allow their “planted” candidate to go through on the ticket of the popular party thus having their man or woman on the inside of the rival party for the purposes of passing on information and even voting in their favour when crucial bills come up for a vote.

For this reason party big wigs usually sit in Nairobi carefully monitoring the results coming in from all over the country and where for some reason they doubt the winner (or don’t like them), all they have to do is place a call and strange things start happening on the ground.

Politics can hardly get any dirtier than that.

Waititu Bags TNA Nomination For Nairobi Governor

Just a few days after my much-maligned-Sonko-for-president post rogue MP Ferdinand Waititu has beaten Jimnah Mbaru for the TNA nomination for Nairobi governor.

What is interesting is that Mbaru beat Waititu in the latter’s own backyard of Embakasi. Clearly there is something that went very wrong there.


The bottom line is that Nairobians need to prepare themselves for governor Waititu, as mentioned in this blog many months ago, he is unbeatable.

All in all this is a sign of things to come and Kenyans should be prepared to see a class war clearly emerge in these elections.

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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