POLITICS GONE WRONG

‘The Digitals have won it against the Analogues’. Uhuru Kenyatta is the country’s fourth president after a grueling battle against his rival, Raila Odinga of the CORD coalition. This is the battle deputy-president elect; William Samoei Ruto had christened the analogues versus digital era’s showdown. Outgoing premier minister, Raila Odinga called it the punda na farasi race. Forget these farasi na punda and analogue versus digital story lines. The election eerie is gone and Kenya must forget the political fights and move towards Vision 2030! We cannot eat and sleep politics. Never!

Elections are supposed to usher in new leaders and breathe a fresh air into the leadership of any nation. Thus, there should be development on the social-economic and political aspects of a country. They are not supposed to be a cause of bloodshed and agony to the ordinary citizens who religiously take part in the electoral process, to the advantage of the leaders. Congo DR, Somalia, Ivory Coast and Mali represent the latter, where elections bring agony, bloodshed and misery upon the very people who unfailingly take part in the electoral process. Kenya almost went down this tumultuous road in 08 after the bungled 07 elections, when three months of madness had the entire world worried as the country was nearly thrown to the dogs. 

Thank the political gods because the just concluded elections have not ripped the country apart. Indeed Kenya has not let herself down! Democracy has won and the Amani, CORD, Jubilee and other parties’ differences have been put aside and the election results accepted by all Kenyans. Those disgruntled have the courts as the avenues to seek redress from and not the streets that were too busy during the 07-08 post-poll bloodbath!

However, subsequent elections have left the Kenyan voter a disillusioned fellow. High expectations in new regimes have best remained to be fertile imagination! Election pledges and promises never fulfilled. The end of every five years has been characterized by agony and frustration by the voters. Perhaps this explains why every election has seen the fall and demise of great men and women, those who never thought of life outside the August house. Waheshimiwas become watakaokumbukwa!

These unfulfilled promises have been the outcome of every five years in Kenya. In 2002, NARC ousted KANU from her 24-year reign in power. A constitution was to be delivered in the first 100 days. Corruption was apparently condemned, to be fought head-on by the Kibaki administration. Bitter reality set in and the first meaningful attempt to a new constitution was in 2005, 3 years later and was unanimously rejected through the referendum. It was later baked afresh and promulgated in 2010, after it passed the August 4^th referendum. Corruption was never fought and impunity has reigned supreme. The Kazi Kwa Vijana funds, the Grand-Regency saga, Free primary education and Mavoko cemetery mega-scandals are some of the key corruption issues that were never addressed. The culprits stayed put in office. It took the 2013 ballot box to send them home and indeed Kenyans got their day to pay off the politicians in the same coin!

When one takes a keen look at these election promises and how they are gather dust on the shelves after the elections, you ask yourself if the Kenyan politician gets carried away by the election heat or if it is a case of the Kenyan voter losing his head to the election euphoria! One has to bitterly realize that election promises and pledges in Kenya mostly wither and die without their realization. The politicians are never held accountable by the very people who voted them into power.

The 2013 elections were characterized by ground-shaking manifestos that promised to turn Kenya into the heaven we so much dream of. The pastoral communities were promised lasting solutions to their water and pasture nightmares, school children were promised free laptops and five new ultra-modern stadiums are to be build across the country. These pledges made the difference on

March 4^th   but the question of their realization is a different one altogether, never mind that teachers are poorly remunerated and must down their tools to get an increase in their salaries, a nationwide shortage of these invaluable Kenyans, notwithstanding!

Kenyans religiously heed the calls by the politicians to vote them into office, follow parties and coalitions based on the goodies their manifestos promise to them. A six-piece suit system of voting to ensure that even the incompetent corruption-smelly politicians are retained in power is openly advocated for by the country’s senior politicians, who seek the highest offices in the land.  However, once the elections are over, the two go back to their old ways. Politicians throw these manifestos to the archives to rot while Kenyans fight with their daily challenges, not concerned with what becomes of the manifestos and pledges. This makes me think that the Kenyan politician is not to blame for underdevelopment. Rather, Kenyans should be accused of voting in incompetent leaders who forget about their pledges and promises once they get into office.

As a nation we need to start keeping our leaders on their toes to ensure that they live up to every word of their election pledges promises, no matter how fantastical they might be! This is the only way to avoid desperation and agony every five years. If this is not done, then the politician will continually plunder the public coffers and enjoy state security as the Kenyans in Kibera, Korogocho and Kyang’ombe slums sink deeper into economic hardships!

Let us tame the politician before these cheap politics eventually eats up the people!