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The recent political supremacy between the ruling (Jubilee party)and Coalition for Reforms (CORD) reminds me of an old narrative of two siblings who are fighting hard to outshine one another so that their father can know who is bull enough to take over from him. At the end of the day one of them has to win unless he will be laughed at as weak and unable to counter his tough brother.
Shortly after the government had announced of its merge that took place yesterday, CORD also took the stage to lash out their political weaponry of mass destruction. The question is whether Kenyan politics is bracing towards showing off on who is who in terms of money.
It is not lost on me that it is not long ago when the bill to censor on political expenditure was signed into law. Based on the duo party meetings (Jubilee and CORD) how many millions have been coughed out to cater for the events. As if to conquer with Yash Palghai’s words that Africa is a grave yard of beautiful constitution. A continent where we have laws but are not implemented. Who knows what will entail during general elections come August 2017.
This leaves a common mwananchi very confused unable to know which political path to take. While a CORD sycophant will be celebrating how his alliance is set to thwart Jubilee, a Jubilee diehard will remind of the many vehicles and resources that have been pumped in.
Furthermore, it changes Kenyan politics structure that we have been all aware of. Leaders will not be elected based on their manifestos but based on how deep they dig into their pockets and resources they input in the campaign process.
Recently, the campaign strategies that have been trending are counter politics; whereby when a presidential candidate is visiting a given political region (considered as a stronghold); the arch political candidate will immediately visit the same region. What follows is not political based on ideologies as what happens in developed civilizations where leaders are not elected based on their race, religion, political affiliation but rather on the leader’s ability to bring change in people’s lives.
The party hoping bill that was passed by National Assembly, although not highly prioritized, will haunt both political divides as no candidate will be okay by the fact that he missed on party nomination and as such, he will miss out in the elections.
Let campaigns trail but with cautiousness because political supremacy in terms of how expensive our campaigns are, is not a confirmation of mature democracy.