The current political dynamics in Kenya, especially within the ruling regime and the coopted ODM, reflect a deeply fractured state.
Riggy G is coming out with some interesting logic that is probably not shocking. Someone needs to remind him that simply because President Uhuru Kenyatta had told Mt Kenya residents that Raila Odinga was a good man and WSR is now saying the same thing cannot lead to his conclusion that the ODM leaders is indeed a good man.
A good character is not pegged on political expediency. The reality of the game in our politics is deceit, and it is deceit that was at play in the run-up to the 2022 elections. The guys crying wolf now were part of the hurtful and hateful campaign messaging against both Kenyatta and Raila that made it impossible for the people of Mt Kenya to make informed decisions.
They rallied people on hate, and they cannot come out now and pontificate about things that make them, and the entire political class, all look villainous and expect any part of this mess will find favour with the masses. Mt Kenya is not only divided today but also confused, and unless some of these leaders are stopped, we will continue be in high-octane political fever pitch at the expense of development.
A lot is going on that needs astute leadership – from strikes to a new health insurance system – and one would expect our leaders to be at the cutting edge of demonstrating their prowess in serving the citizenry who gave them power. Instead, elected leaders are yet to deliver on the promises they made in 2022, and are plotting another wave built on deceit and hate.
Only that this time round, a breed of Mt Kenya leaders, enjoying power, are out to galvanise themselves in support of WSR by projecting Riggy G as the boogeyman. Well, this script will take us nowhere, because it was played for the better part of Kenyatta’s second term by the Tanga Tanga team, now UDA.
Despite the obvious machinations to ostracise Riggy G, he cannot amass any sympathy from any quarter. This appears to be something he is alive to and that is why his only saving recourse is Kenyatta. It is the reason he works so hard to evoke pity by aligning with Kenyatta, repeatedly mentioning him in interviews and acknowledging him as the indisputable king of Mt Kenya. For a man whose bare-knuckles attacks lack civility he is simply reminding Kenyans that he was part of a deceitful enterprise that has come back to haunt him.
Well, people might not like traitors, but whereas Riggy G wants to come out as a fellow betrayed by a master he was out to diligently serve, Kenyans know better. If you are betrayed by a deceitful ally turned foe, it is the deceit that the new consciousness will call out and that does not translate to celebration of either party. And that applies to politicians who imagine they can bogey Riggy G to another wave akin to the UDA one in 2022.
The truth is politics is local and maybe Mt Kenya leaders, just like leaders in other parts of the country, would want to localise issues and bandy them in a fashion that would create a victorious wave. But then, the new reality is that Kenya is increasingly becoming one big local and the issues of Mt Kenya are as much the issues of Western and Nyanza and Coast in as far as they affect the plight of Wanjiku.
It would be hard to imagine another UDA wave sweeping Mt Kenya. In fact, from the President to some of these leaders who are trying to create movements to please him, let us remind them that we are in this privileged position where the only way they can get our vote is if they drop the politics and the divisive tribal vitriol and deliver on their promises to change the lives of the guys at the bottom of the pyramid.
It would take something out of this world to create a refreshing new formation to defeat Kenya Kwanza and UDA with ODM in government. But some politicians are certainly doing more than enough to make the emergence of a new refreshing formation inevitable.
— The writer is a PhD student in Political Communication
