Dear Mr. President I am honestly preparing you for a resounding defeat and humiliation in the Malindi and Kericho by-elections. You should have studied the wind and change your modus operandi immediately after the resounding defeat in Kajiado central. I urge you to employ qualified political advisors who should in-turn invest in the political mind-game of Kenya citizenry.
I wish you can refrain from the ill-advised decisions of creating political vacuum by appointing duly elected legislators into your cabinet. These by elections are unnecessary for you but anyway, good for Kenya! We thought you learned from the Kajiado central abd Bomet defeat. In Kajiado central, Orange Democratic Movement (ODM's) Elijah Memusi flooded your preferred Jubilee Alliance Party (JAP’s) candidate Patrick Tutui in the battle to succeed another ill-advised Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph Nkaissery whom you appointed as secretary in your cabinet.
This appointment was not warranted! You should have appointed other qualified people in Kenya like General Karagi among others instead of exposing yourself to public anger! Again, you have gone ahead to creating another political humiliation by poaching elected legislators into your cabinet. The Kericho people have launched a ruthless campaign against your Jubilee preferred candidate Aaron Cheruiyot and are out to pulverize the coalition. Your own lieutenants from Jubilee in the region have already decamped you and are fiercely fighting Jubilee in the interest of Bomet’s governor Isaac Ruto and his new political PPK and KANU’S merger! You should now know better that they are not part of you and if they are, they wouldn’t be supporting a rival candidate. This should tell you that they have already abandoned the Jubilee party.
Kericho and Malindi by-elections will be a non-warranted litmus test for you and your Deputy William Ruto. Remember that you have been facing growing political revolt in Rift Valley and Coast backyards. ODM and KANU have been re-branding with their top officials holding meetings across Rift Valley and Mombasa to popularize their party. The by-election also comes at a time Bomet Governor Isaac Ruto has launched a campaign to popularize his new Mashinani Development Party of Kenya (MDPK) which is expected to work with KANU.
Indeed, your public confidence is losing grounds because of your dubious decisions of appointing duly elected legislators into your kitchen cabinet. We have enough qualified civilians from whom you can appoint to your cabinet. Why do you keep dipping your fingers into a jar of rotten honey? Having said this, it’s also good for the public to show you that Kenya are maturing politically and that your unmerited favour to rewarding certain communities with your cabinet secretary jobs is a shadow! You should know from today that Kenyans are a wiser lot! Communities will not reward you at all by appointing one of their own into your cabinet and that this does not directly translate into political gains. Though you are allowed by the constitution of the land to appoint duly sworn in legislators into your kitchen cabinet, the trend we’ve seen recently where your Jubilee party is flooded by opponents even after appointing one of their own should not be the case.
Dr. Njenga, Solomon
School of Governance, Peace and Security
Africa Nazarene University, Kenya