‘Hustler’ has taken a well-beaten path

There could be a hundred genuine reasons Deputy President William Ruto’s travel plans were scuttled on Monday, but those not entitled to know them probably never will, and they have to rely on speculation. Governments all over the world have their reasons for doing anything and they don’t have to explain themselves to the multitudes.

However, the way the DP’s private trip to Uganda, which he claims was of a business nature was, in my view, both maladroit and needlessly embarrassing to the individuals concerned and to the country. There was no need to air our dirty political linen in public; the whole thing could have been handled with more finesse.

My only quarrel with what happened is that if this was a continuation of the ongoing measures to contain the DP’s over-arching presidential ambitions, it backfired spectacularly, for it just turned him into some sort of martyr especially on matters political. 

The idea that the DP is being persecuted by the so-called “Deep State” for wanting to become president was given substance and the propaganda value was incalculable. Humanity in general loves the underdog, and Kenyans are no exception. Someone should have seen this coming, and they probably did, but were ignored.

At this juncture, I must register a disclaimer; I am not in any way a subscriber to the Hustler Nation poppycock. I do not believe in the so-called bottom-up economic theory which is at once new-fangled and time-worn, for I think it is populism at its very best. But thousands, maybe millions, are increasingly being convinced that it is the only thing that will lift them from endemic poverty and parachute them to the Nirvana of opulence. 

By the time they get to know that nothing of the sort will happen and all they are being told is so much hot air, it will be too late. The reason is simple; nothing short of a revolution – which historically brings with it a great deal of pain and suffering – can work in a society as unequal as ours.

Secondly, although many thinking people may have no issue with the message being preached, they have a problem with the lies that characterise that message, and with the messengers themselves. The mental picture of a fat cat sitting on a perch somewhere enticing hordes of mice with goodies keeps coming to mind. 

Judging from past experience, there is no reason to believe that all the things they are being promised will ever materialise in their lifetimes. They have been lied to by their MCAs, their MPs, their governors and their governments in the past, and they are still waiting for the next chorus of lies for which they will pay dearly.

A painful, abject failure 

All past governments came into office vowing to uplift the lot of the downtrodden. Sessional papers have been written on their behalf, and all sorts of development plans and visions conceived and propagated. Why has it not happened? 

Pundits keep citing China as the best example of a bottom-up approach that uplifted the living standards of millions of poor people. However, they carefully forget to mention that this experiment was an abject failure – and a painful one as well – until some elements of capitalism were gradually introduced that saw the standards of living of those millions improve significantly. Today, China is a world power, one that is exercising a great deal of economic hegemony over many parts of the world, Kenya included.

Having said all that, as a political strategy, whoever came up with this bottom-up, hustler-dynasty narrative deserves congratulations; it is simply brilliant for it resonates with millions of Kenyans. This is a country where a third of the population survives on less than Sh100 a day – the internationally recognised poverty line. Any suggestion that an economic model can uplift at least 20 million souls from absolute poverty by simply empowering them at the grassroots sounds great and it doesn’t matter that the details are too abstruse for the average Kenyans to grasp.

All they need to know is that someone is thinking about them and sympathising with their lot, something they are not used to. After all, most of them have eyes and they see that their political and economic overlords live in glory, never having honestly earned their wealth. They know that such people most likely plundered the country’s coffers and got away with it.

Is it a wonder then that they are willing to gamble on another lot who tell them what they want to hear? Never mind that some of those preaching to them economic redemption cannot really explain how they acquired their own wealth either. 

All they are being told is that if their daily hustles are supported at the grassroots, they too can raise themselves to similar high levels of material well-being, which is total baloney. Let me put it this way; whatever will be will be, and those who have watched the country’s wealth being drained through corruption without lifting a finger should stew in their own juice and stop all the melodrama. They have to work hard to extricate themselves from blame.

Mr Ngwiri is a consultant editor; [email protected]