State must commit to prioritise suffering of people

The last one week has seen former President Uhuru Kenyatta celebrate his birthday in pompous fashion.

Kenyans of goodwill, especially in the Mt Kenya region, came out in large numbers to celebrate Uhuru’s birthday in a fashion that sends very interest messages to the establishment. Well, in politics, nothing happens without a reason and even if the celebrations were incidental, consequences are almost always politically big.

And this is big given the statements made by many Kenyans in relations to how they voted and the regrets they have. You see, Kenyans are increasingly coming to terms with the reality that they had a choice and after making their choices, they are juxtaposing their experiences today and in the previous regime.

The high cost of living and punitive tax regime instituted by our elected leaders with no clear pathway of how the bottom-up economic model will alleviate suffering of the hustlers will always echo the warnings by the former President. Indirect taxes are up, preying on payslips seems to be a legislative time bomb as spending by most consumers has gone down and consequently government revenues have gone down, especially from fuel.

Democracy as a system of governance has leaders who either approximate the collective will of the people in their decisions or make individual decisions that they believe best serve the interest of those who elected them. In the former, leaders seek the majority will of the people they represent while in the latter the assumption is that leaders were elected based on their intellectual prowess and understanding of the plight of the citizenry and therefore any decision, they make is good for the people.

Well, these two approaches are not mutually exclusive, and leaders often straddle between the two. Uhuru was situated somewhere in between when he made a decision, for the country as a responsible citizen, in the last elections and as things unfold, we will always look back and evaluate our choices.  Kenyans crying loudly today, calling on Raila Odinga to speak and saying they regret going against the former President are probably the ones who voted for this regime and were cocksure that Kenya Kwanza would transform their lives.

I hypothesised a while back that this lot would become disillusioned, and they would be a thorn in the flesh of this regime. Today, this lot is the one reflecting on what Uhuru did for this country, especially for the disillusioned Mt Kenya region against the hardship they are going through and, the reality is sinking in.

They are coming out and since this regime has continuously attacked Uhuru to the point of giving him moral legitimacy to engage in political discourse. There is now a critical mass of disillusioned Kenya Kwanza supporters who are increasingly undoing the wanton lies that were spread by the well-oiled Kenya Kwanza campaign propaganda machine.

World over regimes are judged on failures. In Kenya today, many are not thinking of the failures of this regime, neither are they evaluating it on its failures. Kenyans from all walks of life, from hustlers to MSME and SME businessmen to the salaried and mega businesses corporations are evaluating this government on the basis of the pain and suffering it is causing them.

Businesses are closing shop; Kenyans are now cutting down on basic needs and there is no money in pockets. Kenyans are yearning for leadership that will address their basic and immediate needs, leadership that will address the cost of living and help them make money.

The juxtaposition of life during the previous regime and now means that for this government to redeem itself, it must stop the suffering of the masses and take us beyond where Uhuru had put us.

—  The writer is a PhD candidate in political communication