and call by promising them all the financial requests they had issued but were stalled by those who didn’ t deem them urgent.
Before parliament could even settle to business, he orchestrated a political coup whereby he bought out the non-ODM legislators and hence had a majority in parliament and the senate and with a pliant judiciary his consolidation of power was cemented.
The one true test to his masterplan that everyone has a price was put to the test when the Gen-Z protests broke out and since they were leaderless and did not have a formal organization, there was no one to bribe to buy peace.
The situation quickly got out of control and for the first time in his political carrier he was backed into a corner and clueless. This was not a group that wanted political power but one that demanded accountability and good governance.
Help came to him from an unlikely quarter as his principal opposition party ODM under Baba’ s leadership delivered him from the lion’ s claws at the grand price of the now incongruous broad-based coalition that has lost direction with the demise of Baba.
Kenyans had gleaned liberation and actually believed that the constitution was actually right when it stated that power not only came from the people but rested with the people. Baba thwarted that dream and again money had won. All seemed hopeless.
Hope for Kenyans came also from an unlikely place, the Ol-Kalau byelections that may eventually go down in Kenyan’ s political annals as the period that power was restored to the electorate and the time the voter woke up to his strength.
Ochieng is not quite sure why the government invested so heavily in the outcome of that byelection but it is safe to postulate that it needed to win a PR victory and emasculate the party of the former impeached vice-president who was now an arch-rival.
The administration unleashed the state machinery and state coffers to ensure that they won the seat and to send a national message that it was unwise to parrot the Wantam refrain by a combination of official intimidation and state largesse.
Ol-Kalau residents saw the government in its lavish splendor and nothing was spared as the government relocated to Ol-Kalau to buy out the electorate as per their usual tactics and to bamboozle the
132 MAL72 / 26 ISSUE voters with material gains.
Any Kenyan who had not done geography soon knew where Ol-Kalau was and that the hitherto sleepy town had been elevated to national prominence as the town became the epicenter of the biggest political operation ever seen in Kenya.
Riggy-G’ s call to the electorate to accept the free money and other bribes but to vote right, connected with the people on the ground and they publicly informed thegovernment that they would accept all gifts but would reject the government sponsored candidate.
Intelligence agencies told the administration that the buyout was failing and hence the government decided to terrorize the populace in a bid to suppress the voter turnout and to rig the elections in favor of their chosen one.
IEBC even toyed with the idea of postponing the elections citing violence which their employer was paradoxically directly sponsoring, but the government usual tactics failed to deter a determined electorate.
The electorate organized themselves into vigilante groups that policed the voting stations and ferreted out imported voters and ensured that all government tactics to create chaos were stillborn and ineffective as the voter turnout was impressive.
The elections took place and the government was whitewashed but what happened thereafter is perhaps the most significant development that has taken place in the country’ s political history and the one Ochieng would like you to note.
In the subsequent victory meeting that were held by the electorate, the people gave the money that was given to them as a bribe to the victor. The message was very clear, they were not for sale and if that meant no development, so be it.
So, there is a crack in the narrative that everyone has a price, that was first demonstrated by the Gen-Zs and ably replicated by the Ol-Kalau residents. They refused to have leaders imposed on them by bribery and intimidation.
Another noteworthy incidence took place innocuously on the trail of the Linda Mwanainchi national campaign that has caught the national imagination by the unexpected but phenomenal political ascendance of Sifuna after his ODM saga.
The narrative in the political cycles has been that you cannot attain political office without money as the electorate expects you to dish out money for them to vote for you as their representative and we all know that the agreement expires on day two after elections.
What Kenya witnessed in the Sifuna trail was something quite novel in Kenyan politics where the people are the ones offering money, the little that they have, to assist the aspirant in their quest, Sifuna has not even declared his intention to run.
The gamechanger may be that the voters are tired of lies and bribery and are saying that their votes are not up for sale. Should that be the new rallying call then the political pyramid will be upended and the money that favors the elite may be neutralized.
There are Kenyans that can remember when politics were issue based and an aspirant could campaign on foot and be elected if he captured the imagination and hopes of the voters. Money destroyed democracy and ushered the era of charlatans.
The parliament is now the residence of immoral and unprincipled political class, who no longer even pretend to represent the people as long as their greed and personal wealth is guaranteed by an executive that knows their appetite is insatiable.
The last word in this new awakening is that the power may be shifting back to the people who are now tired and aware of the cynical and sickening tactics politicians use to stay in power. The Tutam evangelists are not patriotic but greedy scavengers.
Ochieng is positive that this administration can be vanquished and the writing is on the wall that it will happen even though Kenyans can expect concerted effort to thwart their will by a kleptocracy determined to stay in power to prey on Kenyans.
Ochieng is equally certain that the only way Kenyan’ s hope will be defeated is if the opposition fragments as soon as they sense that Kasongo can be sent to Sugoi come next year. Greed for power will be the undoing of the opposition.
Ochieng is in the forefront of exhorting the opposition leaders to unite under the urgent banner of saving Kenya from an unscrupulous administration and remember that theirs is a calling to serve Kenyans and may the best leader emerge amongst them.
‘ Together we prevail, divided we collapse!’ must be the motto!