Why Kethi Kilonzo should contest Makueni Senate seat

By Peter Nguli

The advisors of Kethi Kilonzo are sleeping on their job. First they should advice her that politics is a very dirty game.

Second, since she is a ‘young girl’, they should embark on giving her strength and confidence in the world of politics. In politics, you don't just give up, you fight till others give up.

That is why the likes of Charity Ngilu who in her capacity as a Cabinet Secretary is not supposed to be involved in politics at all, is still fighting as never before politically because without a fight in politics, you are done.

In politics, you are not supposed to care about anything; you are supposed to hear nothing, see nothing, smell nothing and feel nothing. 

In politics, you have to stand up and you have to pretend nothing is happening. In politics, you are not supposed to be irked easily by minor things and utterances, you are supposed to take everything as hullabaloo devoid of substance.

In politics, you are supposed to act like former president Kibaki; close your ears, eyes and mouth and bury your head in the sand and pretend nothing is happening; just eat your ugali, nyama choma and sleep. 

In politics, you are supposed to be ready to be insulted, ridiculed and downgraded. In politics, your private life, including that of your own family will be scrutinised and you will be insulted and ridiculed. In politics, you are not supposed to be kind, clean or calm; you are supposed to be very rude, dirty and ruthless. 

That is what politics is all about but Kethi's advisor's have not told her this; politics is just a very dirty game involving scrutiny in your private life and people hurling all sorts of insults at you. Then at long last you earn Sh500,000 per month which is really a fair deal. 

But if the media will not scrutinise you, the MPs or the public, including your own relatives will, definitely irk you at some point. In politics you are supposed to be strong and steadfast, not the good behaved girl (by the way Kethi in Kikamba means 'unconsumed') or boy we used to see walking in the streets of Moi Avenue in Nairobi.

If I was Kethi Kilonzo, I wouldn't really care whether my step-mother is standing against me or not and I wouldn't care about curses, she is never my biological mother anyway, because in Kamba traditional language, Kiumo kya nguku kiikwataa kilui (A hen's curse does not affect an eagle).

The Kenyan public came to know Kethi because of her exemplary and excellent job at the Supreme Court defending the voting rights of the common citizen referred to as Wanjiku.

She was the youngest in the court, having done her KCSE as recently as 1995 while the rest in the court were the old Middle Stone Age museum recycled lot of monuments who sat for their secondary exams in 1960's or 70's.

Kethi represents the youth and is a symbol of the young and energetic women whom we are aiming to elect to represent us in order to bridge the gender gap.  

In contrast, we had not heard about Nduku Kilonzo until the passing of her husband, the late uncompromising Senator Mutula Kilonzo. 

Kethi  is extremely brilliant just like her father. We have seen her while she fought for the rights of Kenyans. Kethi is exemplary and she can contribute a lot in this country. She is humble and takes her points home in a very contemporary way unlike our politicians. Kethi Kilonzo is a person that Kenya cannot just ignore. She is a gifted humble mind. 

The people of Makueni will have the final verdict. But people electing sons and daughters of politicians happens everywhere in the world. Indeed, a third heir of president George Bush refused to join the coming USA elections on the grounds that 'there have been too many Bushes in the White House'.

To cut a long story short, Kethi Kilonzo's case is that of a family competition and feud. Its a family fight. What we must ask Kethi is that she must be ruthless and fight hard and never to give up.