Is he for real or a passing fad?

George Wajackoyah

Roots Party of Kenya leader Prof George Wajakoyah gestures during the interview at Cara House in Karen on February 17, 2022.

Photo credit: Francis Nderitu | Nation Media Group

The new buzz-phrase, “Wajackoyah the Fifth”, has a nice ring to it.

As we scribes say, this man has taken the political space by storm, upended the status quo, disrupted conventional wisdom, and may even end up determining who becomes president on November 9.

Professor George Luchiri Wajackoyah has become a sensation in a matter of weeks with his ideas, which are as radical as they come, and the highly educated outlier is seemingly very serious. Some may think he is a joker, but others are right to be scared.

He won’t make president. However, it would be folly to dismiss him or the impact his ideas are making.

No, he won’t turn Kenya into ganja nation populated by dreadlocked reggae-dancing rastas; and no, he will not suspend the Constitution or execute wife-beaters or those women from certain regions said to be fond of chopping off the “transformers” of their irresponsible spouses.

Descent into anarchy

Kenyans are too wise to allow this descent into lawlessness and anarchy.

The good professor has some sort of plan, however crazy it may sound, on how to revive the country’s economy, and he has therefore gained a huge following especially among the youth.

This is not just because he has told them they can grow weed in their gardens without going to jail once he becomes president. Apparently, they are excited about his promise to commercialise it, and he seems to be talking the language they want to hear. Therefore, to show their love, they are vowing to vote for him in droves.

The novel approach has elicited many hilarious reactions especially in social media, and even ordinary folk are, obviously tongue-in-cheek, suggesting that come the ganja revolution, there will be no need to grow cash or food crops and therefore they will uproot all their cereals, legumes, coffee, tea and even avocado because with their new-found wealth, they can buy all the food they need.

I don’t think Prof Wajackoyah had that in mind at all, but his is a fresh voice and a major contrast to the ones that people have been hearing for ages.

The trouble is, like most fads, his appeal is likely to fade pretty soon instead of translating into enough votes to propel him to the big house, for once the novelty wears off, people will start thinking of the implications of his ideas.

While it is true that such popularity came too close to the election date for the comfort of the more established political parties, it will probably not matter. After all, as they have proved in past elections, Kenyans in general will always vote for their tribal kingpins first before interrogating their ideas.

I don’t always agree with what my MP Moses Kuria says, but to give him his due, he was the first politician to sound the alarm, saying Prof Wajackoyah’s populism may lead to a run-off, an outcome that both Azimio and UDA would like to avoid.

He probably meant that the loss will be most felt by the coalition he supports, but he didn’t say so. However, it is possible the biggest loser will be UDA because the majority of its supporters are in the 18-35 age bracket. They certainly seem to be most excited about his economic revival plans involving bhang cultivation, not for the possible psychedelic experiences, but the practicality of the idea.

Prof Wajackoyah has more implausible proposals, but certainly, the most startling is his pledge to suspend the Constitution so that he can get a free hand to fight corruption. Coming from a seasoned lawyer who has also dabbled in matters of national security, he surely must know that what he is saying is criminal.

The only people who have succeeded in suspending or abrogating that sacrosanct document are military dictators after staging coups d’etat and they often don’t succeed in their stated aims; they just end up brutalising their people.

Man-made pandemics

It is true that fighting man-made pandemics like corruption has proved well-nigh impossible in Kenya, but imposing the death penalty on its perpetrators can never be the answer. After all, it has been proved that the deterrence value of capital punishment is negligible and most of the world is moving away from that route.

What perhaps Prof Wajackoyah should do is to moderate his message so that it can get more traction. Mere populism has never won an election in Kenya because voters eventually see through the razzmatazz, and even brilliant economic plans may go up in over-liberalised puffs of smoke.

In the meantime, I believe it’s time to amend the Elections Act and do away with the higher education requirement for elective office-seekers. This is not the first time that this issue has cropped up, but there has been no resolution.

Many commentators have in the past argued that one does not require a degree certificate to offer effective political leadership, but others counter that a person holding the highest executive offices in national and devolved governments must know exactly what he or she is doing, and a higher academic grounding helps. A renewed conversation on this degree issue is long overdue.


Mr Ngwiri is a consultant editor; [email protected]