Despite opposition forces gaining ground and increasing their sway from 17% to 45% in the just-ended Kericho by-election, Kenya is still far from first world politics where electorate are addressed based on ideology and policy. Because the vast majority of Kenyans are were educated through the 8-4-4 system and either dropped out at primary school or secondary school level, the destiny of our country will largely be held hostage by this core-base that is stuck in illiteracy largely for the benefit of the status quo.
But the reality is that many Kenyans have had post-high-school educational or vocational exposure and we are the emerging middle-class that drives consumption and boosts the economy. We are the ones who create jobs for the lower cadres of society by employing them either as house-helps, matatu-touts, drivers, watchmen, car-wash, builders and the likes. Any economy like the Uhuru Kenyatta Government that is stifling the middle-class is inextricably finishing off the lower class too. Unfortunately, the target market for politicians is the lower class because of their inferior intellect, are deceived by cheap handouts and populist measures like price-drops on paraffin, and being narrow and short-sighted, cannot correlate their eternal poverty to the political rot in the country.
In 2010, the middle-class in Egypt stopped and said that enough is enough, by flocking the Tahrir Square. The first revolution witnessed three million Egyptians toppling Hosni Mubarak, in a country whose population is over 90 million. That’s a fraction of the country’s economy who stood and said that they were tired of the corruption and looting by the Government and sacrificed just a week of their time, to make change.
The biggest fear of demonstrations is perhaps police reactions, but it is evident that the Kenyan security forces have equally become exacerbated by this Jubilee regime, seeing that police welfare has not improved one bit. Kenya Police still have to endure the indignity of sharing houses, no health/insurance scheme, ill-equipped, no hardship allowance and horrible working environments. And the Police are consistently lied to that their welfare will be looked into, but yet the Government will happily cough Kshs. 55 Billion in buying fake cameras from Bob Collymore, yet not improve the welfare, salaries and benefits for security agencies. With time, we know the Kenya Police see that they are also getting a raw deal. That money should have gone into paying salaries of the Kenya Police, as there are no better intelligence gatherers than humans; boots on the ground. The Police would defend any citizen action by the middle-class. They would protect you; us. They know very well that the billions used in the recent equipment purchased by Joseph Nkaissery would have been better-off spent increasing their salaries, building their houses and buying them better apparel.
Secondly, the Military too has seen how the Government has handled their plight. El Adde massacre where hundreds of KDF soldiers were massacred yet the African Union admitted that they handed the Kenya Government intelligence days before it happened, means that this could have been intentional, meant to solicit sympathy from international donors who have warmed up to the Kenyatta regime due to the mutual-interest of destroying Al Shabab. And for this reason, Military have been misused beginning with the bungling of the Westgate rescue so as to stall ICC proceedings, to turning a blind eye on the El Adde attack so as to solicit for funds under the guise of fighting terror. The Military have been the biggest victims of incompetence, yet only a few bosses make money from trading charcoal and sugar from Somalia.
The special-units like REECE Company also saw how their colleagues have died and their work hampered due to corruption. Some died at Westgate when their command was breached by a military unit that was sent there with a purpose to sabotage the work of REECE. We also witnessed a tragedy in Garissa, where 147 students died as President Uhuru Kenyatta continued addressing a gathering of private sector extortionists under their umbrella group KEPSA, as students were being massacred by Al Shabab in their campus, and the plane that was supposed to deliver the rescue team kept waiting for hours because the official Kenya Police aircraft was flying some whores to Mombasa. And with the many helicopters owned by the Government, or private ones at the disposal of Statehouse, none of the idiots in Government saw it fit to scramble one for rapid deployment of RECCE to Garissa.
To stoke ethnic tensions, Government dispatched toxic messengers like Mutahi Ngunyi who coined phrases like “Tyranny of Numbers” meant to further balkanise Kenyans based on tribe, not out of independent analysis, but for personal gain through NYS tenders where Ngunyi was paid Kshs. 47Million to do literally nothing.
Vernacular radio stations have equally played the worst part of misleading uneducated or intellectually-inferior Kenyans, beginning with Kameme FM owned by the President’s family, whose work is to propagate the twisted notion of use vs them. Inooro FM also has notorious morning show hosts who thrive on handouts/bribes from Governors and MP’s, to drive a deceptive propaganda campaign, and misusing their influence to condition Kikuyu’s thinking through herd-mentality. Kass FM which has their lead anchor facing war-crimes charges at the ICC in the Hague is run by ethnic-centered individuals, who are precipitating the biggest post-election violence ever seen in this country.
Mama mboga’s are too blind and dumb to realise that they have educated their children to college or even university levels, and that those children are still living with their parents, as the economy is not absorbing graduates anymore, plus Uhuru Kenyatta killed the “hustle” where normal Kenyans would engage in business and thrive. A mama mboga can comfortably survive on Kshs. 1000 for a week, but their child that has to use matatus, eat lunch, buy clothes, airtime, etc unfortunately can’t.
Recently activist Boniface Mwangi tweeted a near-satirical comment, asking the middle-class not to shy away from protest, and that their stunners and iphones will be safe. But that was a very deep and profound statement. Because the Egyptian revolution was largely driven by the middle-class. You cannot expect Kibera slum-dwellers who comfortably live on less than a dollar a day, to camp at Uhuru Park for a week calling on the PR-esident to step down. They would be hungry and would hastily retreat back to look for food. But the middle-class know the stakes. They know that the money Waiguru stole can build a referral hospital in every County. They know that the money Bruce Odhiambo stole can be given as loans to hundreds of business to spur growth. They know that the Eurobond billions hidden in Qatar can build super highways connecting Eldoret-Kisumu, Voi-Mombasa, Nairobi-Machakos, plus airports in Meru, Isiolo, etc.
It’s us who are educated and exposed through the Internet who can correlate our current mess to the political establishment, whose only desire is for Kenya to degenerate and become another South Sudan. The middle-class can no longer allow the lower cadres of the society to determine the destiny of this nation. The stakes are too high to leave the fate of Kenya to idiots that will be bribed with Kshs. 500 so as to vote for incompetence. With yesterday’s fumbling of IEBC’s tallying process, it is evident that elections will be disputed countrywide. Kenyans have no faith in the IEBC. Whether it is reconstituted or disbanded, it might be abit too late to regain the lost trust. We can either choose to allow politicians to stoke ethnic sentiment for their own gain, or we as middle-class can arise and do what is necessary. One important week that will alter the course of Kenya’s destiny.
We hate to say it, but IEBC’s incompetence will create anxiety and possibly trigger mass protests around the country. We have been through this, and know where all of this is heading. We can choose to be part of the political dumbfoolery and take their bait triggering a bloody post-election violence, or we can seize the moment as middle-class to do out own French Revolution, without harming each other or destroy property. They recently did it Burkina Faso, and there is no reason why we also can’t. For how long will you keep raising funds to pay for Njambi Koikai or Janet Kanini’s hospital bills in India? What about those who don’t work in the media? What about their plight? Shall we mask corruption through all these media-driven initiatives or call for accountability of our funds which is enough to treat everyone for free? We have educated doctors and nurses who can treat us better than the Indians. They just lack facilities and motivation.
What did the boda-boda guy say? Let’s Nduthi’s!
