Is the Kenyan voter smart? That’s pap

Wajinga waliisha Kenya. You hear this remark a lot from politicians and voters these days. It's pap. The Kenyan voter is not smart. Absolutely not. The politicians know that too well. The voter is soaked with lies, which he swallows wholesale. He is not guided by common sense. He prefers propaganda. He doesn't analyse choices. A child will make a more informed choice when picking a toy in a shop. 

The other term you hear a lot these days is “hatupangwingwi”. It's another piece of humbug. There’s nothing easier than to brainwash a voter or wobbly MP (or clergyman). Cash handouts work wonders. Once the bribe is in the pocket, hallelujah! The voter and the politician will sing whatever song their controller wants. It's as easy as enticing a stray pet animal with crumbs.

The voter is manipulated to believe somebody malevolent is the cause of his poverty. Weak politicians are programmed to shout at rallies that the problems in the country are not caused by the bad policies they make, but by a few “oppressive” families. Other hired political clowns proclaim circumcision as the panacea to all the world’s problems. Europe, Asia, you hear that? No wonder the world considers us so backward. 

Bribes and handouts are not new in Kenya. They were the fuel of the Nyayo regime. Nyayoism relied on cronyism. For its survival, buying support was a necessity. When Mwai Kibaki came in to clean things up, the same types who are today’s corruption apologists grumbled that the Nyayo regime’s corruption was beneficial because “we would at least get the crumbs”. That is sheer foolishness. Unlike crookedness, it is incurable. 

For the average Kenyan, handouts do not empower. They create dependency. No nation has ever developed this way, through tokenism. That is Mike Sonkoism and his amorphous Sonko Rescue nonsense. 

Sustainable development

Development is not about charity or philanthropy. Otherwise we can as well leave the running of the country to charitable agencies like ActionAid or Care International. 

Incidentally what defined the failed Nyayo development “model” were endless and uncoordinated harambees. There was no holistic grounding in policy. I've heard misguided folk who never lived through that era say it was better than today. Aha, if we don’t stop being stupid, we’ll be back to those Nyayo days sooner than we think. Those with eyes can see. 

Underdevelopment calls for policy-driven solutions. Solutions based on solid programmes that bring sustainable development and empowerment. Focused leaders drive such programmes, not charlatans peddling pie-in-the-sky fantasies that masquerade as policies. Blame the Kenyan voter for his infantile ignorance. Infants are the ones who are put to sleep with lullabies like ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star'. 

We’ve heard hitherto respected leaders say Kenyans “don’t eat roads”. We don’t eat those gentlemen’s fat tummies either. The Handshake is being blamed for stalled projects and everything else under the sun. Perhaps even the outbreak of war in Ukraine was because of the Handshake. Or the current lack of rain in northern Kenya. 

Integrity? Principle? Those are alien to our politicians. Today all they care about is to be elected or re-elected. They'll readily sleep with a skunk – knowingly – if it guarantees re-election. Greed and selfishness is the currency. 

Normalised corruption

There are voters who sense when something is rotten. However, the majority don’t care. It’s like they have the electoral equivalent of a death wish. They give lip service to the urgency of eradicating corruption. Essentially they don't give a hoot. These are the same folks who circulate hashtags like #MyThiefMyChoice.

We've normalised corruption so much that thieving is taken to be part of the national code. The voter will casually and calmly tell you corruption will never end in Kenya. Everybody is a thief in Kenya given the opportunity, so it goes. Ehe, it's just that the majority don't get to where the resources are. We should just let the thieves be, they say. That’s idiocy on steroids. 

The youth are being told fabulous tales that they will be made wealthy overnight. Direct monetary gifts to families and constituency bounties worth billions have been promised. Will these eradicate poverty? Is there a coherent roadmap? Will the promises even be met? That’s where the muddle starts. 

I still remember the mad example of Zimbabwe. In 2008 the government was printing 170 trillion Zimbabwe dollars a week. Yep. The peak month of hyperinflation was mid-November that year when the inflation rate was at an unimaginable 79.6 billion per cent month-on-month, or 89.7 sextillion per cent year-on-year. One US dollar was equivalent to 2,612,984,228 Zimbabwe dollars.

To make these sums intelligible for banks and citizens, the Zimbabwe Reserve Bank issued crazy denominations. There were Zim$50 billion notes and even one for Zim$50 trillion! In short, everyone who did cash transactions was a nominal ‘billionaire’. Zimbabwe money became utterly worthless. With scammers all over us here posing as economic saviours, that’s where we are headed to. 

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All’s well that ends well. I’m happy for Mrs Tabitha Karanja of Keroche Breweries for having sorted out her problems – for the time being – with KRA. It’s good KRA has given her company a reprieve, by way of a tax repayment plan. Just to remember, taxes must be paid, by all. This applies to Excise duty that is levied at point of sale for alcoholic drinks. 

Personally, I think where African businesspeople fail is when they shift focus to secondary passions, like politics. Kenyan Asians, by the way, always keep their eye on the ball. If one is in manufacturing, you'll rarely see him diverting into, say, real estate or farming. It never works out well to play too many balls together. 

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