COVER STORY
“ The Kenyan voter is between the proverbial rock and the hard place since he is not being asked to vote between a good and a bad candidate but between a bad and a worse candidate . This is what creates voter apathy since clearly whoever you choose you lose .”
If you are unable to use force to gain power , then the only option open to you is to become so much popular that the masses follow you on sheer personal charisma . So , what may have been classified as premature campaigns by the hustler was actually a wellmanaged popularity building project .
It is a well-known fact in Kenya that Baba is the only politician with a welldefined constituency and everyone else plays catch up . The DP totally aware of that factor began to build his personal brand five years ago and was relentless at it .
In a well-crafted strategy he became the darling of the churches and the hope of the youth . Kenyans began to identify with the DP as a person and not the president ’ s understudy . He curved out a niche for himself by the time his opponents took any note of him .
The hustler juggernaut managed to achieve a near-impossible political feat and that was to make the president unpopular in his own backyard . What was obviously a comfortable constituency has turned out to be a hostile and vocal opponent .
The handshake that was to gift the Mt Kenya region to Baba has turned out to be a liability to him . Some even opine that he would have done better without the help of his sponsor . But we keep being reminded that a week is a very long time in politics .
The biggest mistake we can make as a voter is to assume that these politicians that hurl unprintable epithets at each other at every opportunity are actually adversaries . They are all members of
the same political class and their aim is to gain and retain power .
Voter , if you recall there was a time when the hustler and Baba were against Uhuru , then a time came when Uhuru and the hustler were pitted against Baba and now it is Uhuru and Baba against the hustler , the permutations change but the actors are the same .
Voter , you have been informed countless times that in politics there are no permanent enemies only permanent interests . There are no such things as friends and adversaries in politics , the bitter foes of today will be tomorrow ’ s best friends .
The political annals overflow with thousands of stories of people who went for broke in support of their candidate and were disappointed when the so called foes forged an alliance without consulting the voters who risked all to ensure their candidate won .
The tragedy is that the followers are so caught up in the political charade and actually believe in the politician of the day to the tune of being willing to die for them . It is quite often when you hear the statement ‘ sisi tutakufa na baba ’ and they mean it literally .
It is well to remember that most of these politicians , their children are out of the country in school or working and the young men recruited to be the foot soldiers of these political aspirants are the voters ’ sons . The voter ’ s sons are the ones in the trenches of violence and turmoil .
The height of stupidity is to get caught up in the electioneering fever and be at the forefront of demonstrations and strife in support of a political position you do not understand and for so called adversaries that have drinks together boasting how ‘ leo tumechangamsha wananchi .’
Every five years without fail there is a claim of stolen votes and stolen elections . In every election there are international observers whose verdict is always that to the best of their observation the elections were held in a free and fair manner .
The observers are not Kenyan and unless you are about to try and convince us that Kenyans manage to compromise the whole lot then we must assume that the observers sent to Kenya are all incompetent fools who simply come to endanger their lives in a politically charged environment .
If truly votes are so easily stolen then you would imagine that all politicians would invest heavily in ensuring that the votes they traverse the country asking for are safeguarded once the votes are cast . Why spend millions to get votes and zero to guard them .
Every person goes into elections convinced that their particular candidate will surely win but the reality is that there is always a winner and a loser even if the margin is by one vote . People find it convenient to hype the vote stealing narrative to deal with their disappointment .
It is a good time as any to remind ourselves that elections are a marketing game and in marketing perception is everything and in the same vein perception is crucial for a politician who is offering a brand to the public that is him .
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MAL 47 / 22 ISSUE