{UAH} Edmund/Pojim/WBK: Standard Digital News - Lessons from Kericho, Malindi

http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/m/?articleID=2000194507&story_title=lessons-from-kericho-malindi

Standard Digital News - Lessons from Kericho, Malindi

Lessons from Kericho, Malindi

By Kipkoech Tanui

Updated Friday, March 11th 2016 at 00:00 GMT +3

The Kericho County and Malindi Constituency by-elections have come and gone, so it is time for reflection. As we have seen and as we predicted last Friday, the interesting bit turned not to be who won and who lost, but why one and not the other.

Barring any misfortune, the by-elections are hopefully the last we shall see until after next year.

I say so because these last two by-elections were 'man-made', not acts of God like that occasioned by the death of Senator Otieno Kajwang' in November 2014. This is because the Malindi Constituency seat was rendered vacant when President Uhuru Kenyatta appointed Dan Kazungu of Cord to the Cabinet.

Like in Kajiado Central where another Cord MP was poached, Mr Kenyatta of course hoped to rob the Opposition of one more seat and at the same time, exorcise from the region what they see as Raila's spell from 2013.

The Kericho Senate seat fell vacant after a gale of corruption claims blew off Davis Chirchir from the Cabinet. Charles Keter then succeeded him. At the time, it must have been out of conviction  that reclaiming the seat would be as easy as what Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho calls mswaki.

Many days later and with millions spent, forgiveness sought, tiring whistle-stop rallies and issuance of threats of political extermination, it is most unlikely that were a Cabinet slot to open up in Cabinet, UhuRuto would ever pick a replacement from the National Assembly or the Senate.

Back to Kericho. Of course, Kanu has contested the declaration of Jubilee's Aaron Cheruiyot as the winner. They argue that the way the results came out faster in Kericho than even in Malindi constituency points to something fishy. They cited the collapse of IEBC's electronic transmission system, and what they argue was an unexplained surge in turnout far too late in the day. To them, the outcome appeared predetermined.

One thing is for sure; the two by-elections have served as a litmus test for the August 8, 2017 General Election. They have also showcased certain worrying trends. The first is our propensity for violence.

This didn't come out in Kericho as much as it did in Malindi where in one case, a red-colour-loving MCA was beaten up and undressed after claims of voter bribery. In Malindi, two Jubilee MPs suffered humiliation and luckily, the police were ever within their shadows. Just pause to imagine how much blood would have been shed had anything gone wrong, given the kind of anger and appetite for confrontation we saw, as well as the dizzying levels of distrust for IEBC.

We also saw cases of open bribery by the political actors. And 2017 will be no different. Jobs, money and 'development' will be promised in exchange for votes but even more, the big boys will be telling their communities that this is not a local contest, but a barrier on their path to State House.

The community will in turn reciprocate with corresponding anger and hate against whomever they are told wants to stop their son. This in short is how the seed of hostility and hate between communities is planted and watered.

Because we have gone 'digital' in our campaigns, as you saw in the by-elections, character assassination and abuse of social media space to tear at each other could probably make 2017 the most toxic in history.

There is also the fact that whereas Jubilee a few months back would never have felt threatened in the Rift Valley where in older days, some chaps would be elected unopposed at by-elections because one was preferred by the system to the other, Kericho gave Kenyans a different political sketch. It exposed the chink in the armour and one can only guess where many will aim their arrows and slings next time.

This is because even though Jubilee was declared winner, the issues upon which this fight was fought remain unaddressed; unemployment, kutenga and empty promises as well as dictatorship and intolerance to dissenting views.

Put differently, despite the contested victory, Mr Ruto saw for himself the numbers crossing the other side, not necessarily because they don't want him to be President in 2022, but because they feel alienated from the centre and have been left at the mercy of political predators whose political insurance is the DP's name and some of whose specialty are crafty deals.

The by-elections, apart from showing the volatility of the tribal and clan fabric that forms our nation, also opened our eyes to the fact that we have crossed the red line and onto the big-money campaigns because the new fad is to fight for votes on land, air and even sea! Now you have an idea of what has served to whet the appetite of corruption in Jubilee, manifested by the Eurobond, NYS and Youth Funds' thefts and the looting in the counties.

Finally, and without elaboration, because one need not do so for it is so obvious. IEBC's long-lost credibility is why Kenyans have taken it upon themselves to guard their votes. Now, just visualise what could happen if things go wrong next year given IEBC may still be what it is today.

Standard Digital News - Lessons from Kericho, Malindi

http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/m/?articleID=2000194507&story_title=lessons-from-kericho-malindi

‎

Sent from my BlackBerry 10 smartphone.