Spare a thought for the victims of NASA's boycott campaign

With the swearing-in of President Uhuru Kenyatta, the electioneering period is now over until 2022.

As the President reports back to Harambee House, it is paradoxical that creation of new jobs, investing in education or healthcare, fighting terrorism, growing the economy, expanding infrastructure or enhancing food security will not be the issues receiving the President’s full and undivided attention.

Rather, these critical priority issues will have to compete with Opposition leader Raila Odinga for attention as the President will have to prioritise managing artificially manufactured crises, divisions and strife exemplified in secession threats and economic sabotage.

Obsession

This has become the signature and trademark of the Opposition outfit that appears consumed in opposing Project Kenya rather than playing its role as a loyal Opposition that interrogates government policy, expenditure and other possible excesses and offering constructive criticism where applicable or viable alternatives for our common national good.

The Opposition has instead been a big distraction to Kenyans.

There are several cases in point. When the elections were called on August 8, Raila Odinga fashioned himself before his supporters as the Biblical Joshua and promised to deliver them to the land of milk and honey called Canaan.

With the election now over, ‘Joshua’ has not delivered them to ‘Canaan’.  This then begs the question to his supporters as to whether Raila Odinga has the capacity to manage an entire nation or he is all hot air and bubble.

When the Supreme Court of Kenya ordered that the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) conducts a fresh presidential election which was subsequently carried out on October 26, Raila told his supporters that there would be no elections.

When he realised that the election would actually proceed according to the law, he then stopped them from participating.

In the process, several of his supporters and innocent by-standers mainly in National Super Alliance (NASA) zones, were put in harm’s way with several injuries and even deaths occurring.

Apart from the human cost, the economic cost has been debilitating to the country but most severe to NASA strongholds where the man-hours lost in endless riots, protests and demonstrations; the burning of roads, looting of businesses, burning of cars and business lockdown has been a frequent occurrence.

He even ordered his supporters not to go to work on August 14 because “he would be making a major announcement” after his electoral loss to Uhuru Kenyatta.

Then there are the so called economic boycotts.

In the case of the call to boycott Safaricom, the telcom giant, the real sufferers are Safaricoms’ network of ordinary M-Pesa agents who represent millions of innocent families with children to feed and educate.

These people know nothing about and are not interested in results transmission or whatever else NASA is accusing Safaricom of doing.

Innocent victims

Or the Brookside establishment; a collection, processing, packaging, marketing and distribution company.

The dairy products they deal in are the produce of millions of hard-working small scale dairy farmers most of whom are peasants scattered across the country and who wake up at as early as 4 a.m daily to milk their cows and sell it to Brookside dairies.

These farmer’s families and their livelihoods are pegged upon this business.

They don’t participate or play any part in the electoral disputes that NASA is seeking to enjoin them in.

The soy bean and sunflower farmer is also probably an ordinary peasant farmer somewhere in rural Kenya who wakes up early to till their land so that they can sell their beans to Bidco in return for their family’s sustenance or to pay a hospital bill.

They and the over 1,800 employees of Bidco do not deserve to see their lifetime investments and only sources of livelihoods destroyed and sacrificed at the altar of political expediency.

Wrong approach

If you consider the above stated effects of the boycotts it becomes clear that NASA is not actually just asking for a boycott of Safaricom, Bidco or Brookside- they are asking that we boycott and bankrupt millions of innocent peasant farmers, dealers and hawkers and deny millions of families and communities their livelihoods.

This cannot be right.

The dairy, consumer products and mobile telecommunications businesses are part of huge value chains where the companies targeted by NASA are just a small part.

Downstream players are usually the most affected.

Mr Murkomen is the Senator for Elgeyo-Marakwet County