NAIROBI: These past few weeks, Kenyans have sat back and watched the now renowned sugar deal turn sour.
Leaders from both political sides have traded words, in what is fast becoming a battle of personalities and egos across the political divide, while the plight of sugar farmers has taken a back seat.
This is not the first time noisy political commotion has diverted attention from real issues.
Ultimately, politics is nothing but a game, the country is just a chess board while we citizens are merely pawns.
It is very dangerous to trivialise matters of national importance especially in a highly-polarised society such as ours. It is unfortunate that politicians, and to a certain degree citizens, do not see the negative impact that this has on our nation.
This is generally because many citizens use bias-based reasoning and no longer care about what should be considered as important.
Leaders are normally aware of this and tend to use it to their advantage so as to gain political mileage.
Because issues of national importance are very critical and should not be turned into a political game, leaders need to put politics aside and start to work towards finding lasting solutions that will help the common man.
Citizens as well, must start demanding accountability from leaders across the divide. It is important that we shun non-issue based politics and dwell more on matters of national values.