EUPHORIC VOTING VISA VIS POOR LEADERSHIP, OUR MAIN UNDOING ASTHIKA/KIAMBU ELECTORATE.

Have you ever wondered whether the political leadership in Kiambu County represent the same mwananchi? Whether they were all voted to office by the same people or each had different sets of voters? 

I ask these questions, though they seem impish, because of the way our elected leaders are currently behaving. You may be forgiven to believe that our governor or our MP have their own set of constituents whom they represent that are quite different from each other's or those of the MCAs, Senator and so on. 

We being the people they all claim to represent, it should have been simple and common basic knowledge that they would all be fighting in the same direction. There would have been some sort of unity of purpose since they would all be aiming at only one goal and target, to better the lives of their electorate. But my friend, if you are still living in that old school of thought, ndugu yangu amka uende ukalime. You are in dreamland you fokojembe.

The fact of the matter is that each one of them vied for office for as diverse reasons as their number. It also doesn't call for a rocket scientist to discover that  about 99% of them did so for their own selfish reasons. These are the candidates who went to any lengths to win their seats. Yes! They are the ones who bought you for the price of mandazi in order to win your heart. The same ones who used clandestine tactics, including hiring goons to inflict fear on their competitors and their supporters for undue advantage. They are the same ones who soiled their competitors' reputation in the name of politics. The same people who had no concrete agenda for the people in their manifesto. 

Those are the people who rode on the UHURU/TNA euphoria to guarantee themselves the seats they are now capitalizing on to make the kill. They are the reason you are lamenting and gashing your teeth.

When we tried to warn you against voting parties in 2013, majority of you who included the elites, dismissed us as a bunch of crybabies who didn't mean well for your then presidential candidate Uhuru Kenyatta (as though he wasn't ours too). You claimed that we wanted to weaken his presidency, thus you had to 'piga kura kwa suti' liwe liwalo. 

What you did not understand is that in this constitution, we had two distinct governments and it was only in Parliament (Senate & National Assembly) that the president needed real foot soldiers to fight for him. That not withstanding, it was quite obvious that none of those candidates were a factor for Uhuru's election. In fact, all of them were dependent of his candidature (and they still are) for election and wouldn't survive if at all they went against him. This meant that even after the polls, they wouldn't dare stray against the tide lest they were digging their own political graves.  

It was for this reason that we were against 'suit' voting. Mischievous candidates has played all the dirty tricks they could to access the TNA ticket. Majority of the 'right' candidates lost it unfairly at the nominations, thus getting locked out of the 'winning team'. Even when these candidates tried it using other Jubilee Affiliate Parties, these election crooks managed to convince gullible Uhuru supporters that the said candidates were not in the president's party. 

They inflicted fear that by voting them in, a President Uhuru would find himself in the same sorry state his predecessor His Excellency Emilio Mwai Kibaki found himself in during the Government of 'Nusu Mkate'. I too here blame President Uhuru for this because when he made that triumphant landing in Thika Stadium, two days to the polling date, he was kinda arm-twisted by the same political class to declare 'suit voting'. The result was that Thika and Kiambu in general ended up voting in the wrong people (Please note that mine is not entirely some blanket condemnation of all the elected leaders. I know some who mean well for the people). 

That was the genesis of our bad and visionless leadership, the reason the we suffer some prudent leadership deficiency in this town and the county. The Kikuyu Community, which is the dominant tribe in the area, are known to have an upper edge over their other counterparts in terms of the intellectual and enterpreneurship capacities but unfortunately we lack wisdom, a vital ingredient in prudent decision making.

The Madaraka Market fire incident last week was just a tip of the iceberg but should serve as a wake up call to each and every potential voter. It should help us intensively reflect on the kind of leadership we voted into office in 2013. 

We are now less than two years away from the next polls and yet Thika, and in extension Kiambu County has nothing tangible to show for the three devolution years. I believe my accounting has not failed me to conclude that this area has currently handled more money than ever in its history through C.D.F., Devolution Allocations from the National Treasury and the county government rates and levies which are now more than were previously collected. 

With six elected MCAs, an MP,  a Women Rep, a senator and a governor (not forgetting that each ward has both a Ward Admin and a CDF Committee), I believe Thika people can take pride in an over-representation. Other than the governor whose work is executive in nature, the rest are mandated to legislate good laws and oversight both levels of government to ensure better standards of living for their electorates. It therefore beats logic to see the people being in a worse state, both socially and economically, than they were in the previous system. Being better represented than before, one fails to comprehend why their plight worsens each other new dawn.

So many children are dropping out of school due the lack of fees, yet every other day we read eye-catching headlines of millions being disbursed as bursaries for the needy students by both the constituency and county offices. A good number of our senior citizens never receive the 'Pesa Ya Wazee', not forgetting our persons living with severe disability, the orphans and vulnerable children. One cannot also fail to notice the ever increasing numbers of street families. All the allocations meant for these groups of people end up with the "well connected" and undeserving cases since they can maneuver through the systems that actually consists of only the 'politically correct'.

Our health facilities still lack essential drugs though we are paying for every little service we get in these hospitals. Security is wanting regardless of so much being injected into this sector. Majority of public schools lack basic facilities and proper monitoring. We no longer have free basic recreation and social facilities. Our children no longer have public fields to play on. Our infrastructure and road network is in deplorable condition. Some roads within the former municipality are impassible during the rainy season. Madaraka Market, the biggest and busiest market in the Mt. Kenya Region, is usually a paddy during the wet season. 

Those who receive tenders to repair or do construction works are the well connected and for one obvious reason, because the leaders' kick-backs (Kitu Kidogo or commission) are guaranteed. No wonder they will do shoddy work or delay project completion and just get away with it. (Note, the delays are deliberate. The projects will be completed towards the campaign period so as to sway the vote in favour of the incumbent). 

Did I even mention that the public tenders and job vacancies that these leaders advertise on print media are usually a gimmick? They are simply a formality. Their people are usually pre-prepared for these exercises well in advance. They get tips on what the tendering committee would be looking for, what to do and what to avoid in the interviews and tender documents so that they would have an undue advantage over genuine candidates. And as I had earlier  said, this is all meant to safeguard the leaders' 'catch' in the tenders and also reward their loyal sycophants. 

Our youth are still hustling without jobs yet our leaders boast on TVs of their success stories in job creation. Who has ever ever benefited from the UWEZO FUND, the Youth Fund or the much publicized Kiambu Biashara Fund? Are we not being treated to some political circus meant for the Media Cameras? These money ends up with the same people in the system. Majority of the groups we see benefiting from these funds are stage managed for political expediency. They are the leaders' foot-soldiers in the grassroots who will be used to blow their trumpets when campaign time comes. 

A critical analysis of the kind of projects they initiate leave a lot to be desired. Majority of them are not a priority. They are usually targeted for a particular group, usually small in number, but very critical in their re-election, such as the bodabodas. They will please these lot with an intention to using them to create enough noise for them during campaigns. Other projects are meant just to silence decenting voices and not for the good of majority of their electorate.

In very simple and plain language. What I am trying to pump into your medulla oblongata is that those who you elected into office in 2013 are now busy recovering the amount of money they used to buy your vote. They too are taking full advantage of the golden opportunity you presented them to consolidate enough funds to buy you off come 2017 and still remain with some for them to enjoy life thereafter. Whether you vote them in or not, their life will never be the same again. They will live happily ever after.