In Turkana

In Turkana

Thursday 31 January 2013

OBAMA - (not) MADE IN KENYA


Happy New Year, dear reader.

In awe of politician's shallow talks
Back in 2004, I’d just joined high school and this almost unknown guy by the name of Barrack was making his name heard over our airwaves as the son of a Kenyan immigrant to the United States and who was seeking to be the Senate representative for the state of Illinois.  Like a snow ball picks speed and increases in size, so did his popularity grow. Even a now extinct beer brand, ‘Senator’ was christened to ‘Obama’. We all know how history played itself out, if you do not, you might want to check who’s currently the most powerful individual in the world.

At that time, The Standard newspaper publication on Sundays had a pull out called Society and in which one caricaturist aptly drew a comparison of political campaign styles of Kenya and the U.S of A. Sleeves folded, a keen crowd and smiling faces portrayed Obama while a pot-bellied guy was addressing a rather rowdy crowd to exemplify the typical Kenyan counterpart. Perhaps the greatest contrast laid in the words being uttered. Michelle’s dad was speaking of democracy, healthcare and such matters of sobriety. The other dude was literally talking of nothing sensible but quite evoking with a guy in the crowd wondering out loud when a teargas canister will be lobbed to disperse the crowd, or a rival crowd shows up armed with stones and machetes.

Violence that killed 1,300 people
9 years later and a lot has happened in Kenya’s political scene. The hate speeches in campaign rallies have gone down; lest one finds themselves live on CNN, al-Jazeera et al facing international crimes. But I wonder if the hearts of the ruling class have been transformed or it is fear thet they are operating from.  One of the men I look up to, a guy by the name of Anyangu Yohana once said ‘Freedom is not worth having if it doesn’t include the freedom to make mistakes’ and I concur with him. Listening to political banter makes one realize that nothing much has changed in accordance to our attitudes. Sadly, tribalism seems to be so deeply rooted, not even the death of 1,300 people after the controversial last general election seems to have made us sober up a bit as Kenyans.

Looking at the six almost ten presidential aspirants, I personally see no better or ‘Obamasque’ one among them like Peter Kenneth. Not only with his cultured mannerisms, coherence of speech and a good track record with the people he has represented before, but even in his demeanour and sound policies he’d like to implemented if he was elected the CEO of this great nation. Sadly, we all know he’ll not even be among the top three for the majority will vote for ‘our people’. Truth be told, that guy was spot on in that cartoon publication in ’04. We seem to be a nation dazzled and almost held in a trance by the political heavyweights. It’s like when they hold a microphone, they instantly become entertainers who enchant us with their shallow speeches, funny dancing styles and belittling the other aspirans. This needs to stop. Now.

The caption says it all!
I have a theory. Hearing of so many people who use their money to fund their campaigns then lose out and eventually get sick, miserable and deep in debts, I wonder what if corruption is a never ending cycle due to such circumstances. I mean, upon gaining a political seat after spending your millions that you’d previously worked hard for, you’d want to get it back, right? Yet the buck stops with us, as former US president Truman put it aptly. We are the voters. We are the people who determine which fellas we want. We employ them. We are the bosses. Unfortunately, it’s the other way round it seems. Branded helicopters hover over and about our skies as they seek our votes but the same effort is rarely seen when the electorate are in trouble like famine, floods and war.

It’s approximately a month to the forthcoming general elections. I see no much change according to how things seem to be spiraling to another imminent disaster like we had five years ago. It seems like a 50-50 race of two men but referred to as horses now. Sadly, the race seems to be based not on differing policies as the ideal situation would call for but rather political clamour for leverage. As you decide to cast your ballot, reflect deeply. And as many of us already have our minds made up, let us resolve that as close as the election will be, we’ll accept the outcome. At the end of the day, we are a democratic nation.


 I remain, Njabia the 3rd.

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