The recent endorsement of Former Deputy Speaker Farah Maalim by Raila Odinga to vie for the seat of Garissa Township has not been taken as a progressive idea by majority of the electorate in the Constituency. This has been seen as a way of curtailing development and introducing the idea of imposing politicians against the will of the people.
This decision will go down as one of the most disastrous decision in the history of politics in Kenya considering the Majority leader’s brilliant policies of development. Garissa and the expansive Northern Kenya has since independence lagged behind and complained about marginalization. This being the first time Garissa has had a place in the national government, we have seen tremendous development in all sectors; from infrastructure, health, education and much more. It is only in the last 3 years that we have seen construction of roads and other vital social amenities that has helped the residents access vital services all this in the name of Hon. Aden Duale.
Garissa Township has never been this better before. Farah Maalim has been the Deputy Speaker for five straight years and his constituents decided to do away with him because of the simple reason of not delivering the required services to his people. Thus fighting Duale has been termed as fighting development and progress in the region which will be counterproductive.
Raila would have been more appealing to the people of Garissa if he addressed the runaway, wanton corruption of CORD Governors than fighting development. For example in Garissa the Governor has more than once been accused of corruption but we have not seen CORD’s top brass addressing the issue. It is therefore important for Raila to first clean his house and discipline the corrupt ODM officials than engage in unproductive battle with progressive leaders.
Last but not least Raila is to some extent killing Democracy by imposing politicians upon the people against their wish. By asking Farah Maalim to vie on an ODM ticket means direct nomination which will discourage other candidates who have the interest of vying for the same position using ODM ticket, this will therefore be taken as an attack on democracy not knowing that Garissa is a jubilee strong hold and therefore 2017 will be a walkover for the Majority Leader.
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