In a time of deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.
Kenya’s political scene is nothing short of a mummer’s farce. From double speak to hired goons and state-sanctioned terror to silence critics of impunity. The political class is in the lowest trenches of ignominy, without a grain of shame to be found anywhere in their person.
Civic education seems to be giving politicians sleepless nights. An electorate that has been in the past assuaged and easily swayed into voting through tribal rhetoric and handouts, is awakening to the realization that the elected have a mandate, far from giving handouts and stealing public funds.
Over the weekend, headlines have been astorm with allegations of Governor Wavinya Ndeti being stranded abroad following a banking dispute over Kenyan funds. Wavinya’s son, Charlie Oduwale, was arrested in possession of Ksh. 679 million.
Governor Wavinya informed UK authorities that the funds were meant for the Machakos County Government. She claimed the money was earmarked for constructing a Level 5 hospital for Machakos residents living abroad.
Wrap your head around this, Building a level 5 hospital for Kenyans abroad? Machakos County is plagued by a lack of water in large swaths of the county, poor infrastructure, and a health system on its knees with major hospitals lacking critical equipment and medicine.
Wavinya, like other politicians in the current regime, has proven a countless number of times to be shameless beyond words. Constantly referring to the county government as hers, not recognizing the electorates’ authority, she always emblazon her name and face on every county project funded by taxpayers’ money, including sufurias. Sufuria, how do you put your name on a sufuria?
How about taking a chopper to fund raise for the building of a church, donating 20 million, and yet the village has no passable road, dilapidated school buildings with inadequate teachers, and a hospital with no beds and medicine?
Okay, wait, how about building a multimillion-shilling bridge that collapses in a week, painting a road as tarmac? Oh oh, I have a better one, buying a million-shilling watch in a dilapidated economy, passing laws prohibiting the exchange of seeds in an agricultural nation, and making higher education unaffordable to a majority of the populace.
How about asking the youth to look for jobs abroad while looting state entities to the ground and chucking out corporations through unfair policies?
Morara has been doing a commendable job through his civic education campaign and crowd audit of government projects. However, intimidation tactics, the norm of a failed regime, have been and are being used to silence him. During his tour of Isiolo County, his entourage was attacked by rowdy youth demanding handouts, a classic political playbook. Additionally, his tour of Mount Kenya, Nyeri county had its share of drama.
“Someone decided to send a fire engine to come and disrupt our meeting with the people at Kiawara market. The vehicle was headed nowhere to do nothing and even left the tarmac to follow us into the market center where we were discussing issues of national importance. It kept reversing and speeding towards us like a charging bull,” Morara said in an X post.
Ironically, where was the fire engine when 21 children burnt to death at the Hillside Endarasha Academy in Nyeri county as they were sleeping late on Thursday night? Nineteen bodies were found in the charred ruins of the building, while another two died in hospital, but 17 are still unaccounted for.
Didmus Baraza, Kimilili member of parliament is a convicted murderer, however, the security organs seems to loose their tooth, all bark and no bite, while dealing with politicians accused of crime despite damning evidence.
Moreover, the head of state was recently accused of enriching himself through state tenders, case and point, the government hospitality tenders awarded to Weston Hotel to name one.
Reminds me of George Orwell’s observation when he said, Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.
Where did the shame go? I ask you.
Read also: Hillside Enderasha Academy
