Jubilee’s unfulfilled promises may lead to a protest voting in the August general election

“There is no greater fraud than a promise not kept” Gaelic proverb

Two days to the 2013 elections, I approached a fellow villager, a young man I have known since childhood but became a father experimentally before he knew what fatherhood meant. He has a daughter whom he loved so much to date. At that time, Bungoma County was a Coalition for Reform and Democracy (CORD) zone. I requested him to vote for Cord but he stunned me. Quoting his words “My child has been promised a laptop and free milk next year when she joins class one by Uhuruto. What are you telling me?” Time was to tell.

The people from the Uhuruto’s strongholds voted against the ghost of the International Criminal Court (ICC) case that was beckoning their sons. But those from other regions voted based on the manifesto and the promises the duo promised them. It is said that promises are sometimes problematic and this is why Jubilee will have a hard time explaining the unfulfilled promises.

Jubilee’s dazzling manifesto promised heaven on earth and fascinated the undecided voters in ‘swing states’ hoping that it was dawning. Young parents voted for laptops and milk for their children, the unemployed youths voted for a million jobs annually, unfortunately multinational companies are closing and layoffs have increased. In fact, a majority of youths are the casualities of the unfulfilled promises. They still long for the five new national mega stadia in Kisumu, Mombasa, Nakuru, Eldoret and Garissa. Slum dwellers voted for unga that was to cost at most sixty shillings which never was. What a cheap life people hoped for?

Our women were hoodwinked to believe that their slots in government were to be increased and gender balance would be an issue of the past. Alas! Their Two Third Gender Bill was asphyxiated never to see the light of day by a Jubilee tyrannized Parliament. But as far as corruption is concerned which they promised to fight, even the gods of justice will expletive if you defend jubilee for that. The Transparency International report said Kenya ranks twentieth worldwide.

The mishandling of the teachers’, doctors’ and the lecturers strikes is a time bomb for the jubilee government that may lead the affected people to cast protest votes in August. People are dying, parents pay school fees but students are not learning. These things are sinking slowly into people’s minds. Almost two months; Kenyans are dying due to the doctor’s strike and the government has been busy lobbying for Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohammed for African Union Commission’s Chairpersonship in fifty one countries which unfortunately she lost. What a shame!

You look around and wonder why the Jubilee government is being judged so callously for unfulfilled promises. To me, the duo have tried. But it raised the standard of the people’s expectations so high. It overestimated its aptitudes and wanted to be the panacea of all problems since independence. The Gaelic people of Scotland have a proverb that says there is no greater fraud than a promise not kept. When you look at the Uhuruto manifesto and compare with what has been done, then you concur that we’ve been defrauded. We are being forced to see the projects the government has done. This has necessitated the continued launching and re-launching of the already launched projects. President Kibaki never announced what he did but even his opponents acknowledged the projects under his leadership.

 

 

 

Opposition MPs were cajoled to relinquish allegiance to their parties and support the government and promised development in their respective constituencies but they have nothing to show their electorates. Few people have benefited at the expense of electorates. Some MPs realized that they went alone and like the prodigal son they went back home. Some have signed their political obituary for staying put in Jubilee

 

The reality of the unfulfilled promises has dawned on the Presidency when they visited their backyard to mobilize for voter registration. Their strongholds were lamenting of poor roads, lack of markets among others. Even MPs Waititu and and Alice Ng’ang’a told their electorates to tell the President on his visit of uncompleted roads or else they will abscond voting. That’s why the tyranny theory cannot hold waters anymore. In fact the tyranny of numbers theory, to me was a canard for mental and psychological preparedness choreographed for a destined outcome. It never was, it never is and it never will be.

 

Walking through the dusty roads in the villages and populated towns, you can see frustrated Kenyans. They stink of betrayal by a government they entrusted much hope. People from both the ruling and opposition coalitions share same problems and feel jilted. They remind me of Hama Tuma’s short story “The case of the Prison Monger” in which he says great expectations make frustrated men; the less you expect, the less you get frustrated, and greater is your joy if you get more. We have many people who’d great expectation of the jubilee government but are now a frustrated lot. Like my village gentleman who’s sworn to cast a protest vote against Jubilee for deluding him, if the rest decide so, Jubilee will be home by midday on eighth of August.