1. “LET RAILA GO BACK TO SCHOOL”
DECLARES UHURU
Campaign emotions are running into a fever pitch in Kenya. When opposition
giants Messrs Raila Odinga, Kalonzo Musyoka and Moses Wetangula landed in
Machakos town to a tumultuous welcome, it sent jitters down the spines of the
Jubilee alliance government. In less than 48 hours President Uhuru Kenyatta and
his deputy made a dash to the same place using 13 petrol guzzling helicopters
conquering both the airspace and the grounds of the small town, in a show of
might.
Perhaps riled by the low crowd turn-out compared to the yelling mobs that
greeted the Cord trio, Uhuru went personal, telling them, especially Raila, to “ go
back to school and learn some discipline.” It was refreshing to hear our president
lecturing anybody on the need to be disciplined, given that he was born with a
silver spoon in the mouth.True, Raila had railed at Machakos governor Alfred
Mutua for skipping the Cord rally while Cord party wiper sponsored him for
governorship. Raila said when Uhuru comes, “you will see Mutua going there to
kneel before him.” Sure enough when Uhuru arrived a few hours later, Mutua
was there drinking some soda with Uhuru at a forlon kiosk, minus the kind of
euphoria that had electrified Raila’s meet. Indeed, the WEEKLY CITIZEN
newspaper states that Mutua had to hire 40 buses to ferry people to attend Uhuru
meeting and each one attending was given Shs. 1,000/= and leaders Shs. 3,000/=/
Things seemed to be moving faster faster. Apparently the government didn’t
expect Raila to pull off such crowds any more. So their perennial propaganda
pollster, Ipsos Synovate, did the needful coming up with an impromptu poll
survey portraying Raila Odinga as being nowhere near even beleaguered Deputy
Preident William Ruto in terms of popularity rating in Kenya today. The
scandalous, nay shameless survey was splashed on front pages of all papers the
next day, definitely “disciplining” or humbling the mammoth crowd that showed
up at the Machakos Cord rally. The press was once accused of sleeping with the

2. enemy and they are still not very far from it, in spite of the tribulations so far
encountered.
This panic situation on the part of the government is quite contrary to their first
year in office when they berated opposition for sleeping in class, being so
toothless and clueless. They had a field day ridiculing the opposition for being
inept and rudderless, which was not far from the truth, as opposition was still in
shock what had hit them. The government has the numbers in both houses of
parliament, and the rigging machinery or secret weapon was intact. Ipsos
Synovate is charged with the task of preparing ground in advance for the rigging
process, so people are psychologically ready to soak in the unimaginable poll
outcome statistics.
This kind of drama is a shocker to many, as nobody expected the duo in
government to be serious and desperate about continuing in leadership. After
almost deliberate failure, the many blunders, insecurity chaos and corruption
anarchy, they are still serious being in leadership and are provoked the
opposition is trying to upstage them! We thought all they wanted was to
disengage from the Hague cases, make history and enjoy the attendant glory. For
if they were really serious about future leadership, they should have done it
differently, Exchanging bitter words like this accompanied with high drama can
easily lead to turmoil.
What we have with them is just a case of conceited entitlement. They have been
busy campaigning for the opposition by the I –don’t –care-attitude regarding
sensitive matters of insecurity, unemployment, corruption and inflation. Those
whose loved ones die in incidents like the Garissa University terrorist attack
cannot be impressed with them, especially when they land on Machakos with 13
helicopters and there was not even a single helicopter to go rescue caged students
at Garissa University. It was a waste of public funds sending 13 aircraft to
Machakos. They expect respect and adoration from the people in spite of these
grave missteps. The kind of self-discipline that involves stifling personal rights
by an authority that undermines public dignity, human rights and freedoms, is
deplorable and unacceptable.

3. Kenya cannot succumb to mismanagement and dictatorial tendencies in the name
of toeing the line or self discipline. Discipline is a two way traffic. You cannot
expect it from others when your actions or words prompt them out of order.
Impunity cannot breed discipline, and the Jubilee government is steeped neck-
deep into it. Good schools teach people to be maturely disciplined, and not
sycophantic or disciplined under duress. The result is a disorder leading to
hidden resentment and unprintable misdeeds. Dr. Bonny Khalwale, the
Kakamega Senator, scoffed at Uhuru’s discipline remark by saying that if
anything it is the government leaders who should show self-discipline by
maintaining electoral morals and due process in governance. He wondered which
side of the divide between opposition and government was teeming with
academic dwarfs and the mentally challenged.
In the general elections of 2013 the Jubilee team exhibited conduct unbecoming
rigging elections. Contrary to what people think they assume they’ve managed to
get away with it and can make a repeat of the process. That is why organs like
Ipsos Synovate are still actively in existence. Now what sort of self discipline is
that? They were given the benefit of the doubt but people are quietly rueing that
oversight, given the emergent dire consequences. Nobody is at ease, except the
tribal inner circle, family and relatives of the bigwigs. It is a makebelieve, and an
insult to common sense that they think they are more popular than the
opposition. Wrong priorities, wrong politics, through and through. Common
sense is not all that common after all.
So Kenyans are out to remedy the situation. That is why back-bent 80 year old
grannies stooped with three legs to attend the Cord rally in Machakos. Unethical
conduct, pretentious and deceitful behavior and other integrity issues roadblock
the government way to real popularity. The opposition is not actually
campaigning for the 2017 general election as is assumed. The opposition are
campaigning for the referendum dubbed Okoa Kenya, Save Kenya, in which they
want to address electoral reform. The idea of correcting electoral wrongs riles the
government so, a pointer to their continued belief in rigging to secure power.
Indeed they bank on it.

4. Through constant struggles the opposition managed to give birth to devolution.
This has enabled even remote and far-flung places to benefit from government
funding, for the first time in history. Machakos governor Alfred Mutua would
not be in office now were it not for the struggles of the opposition. So if the
opposition set things in motion to right electoral wrongs, we can understand the
government anger. But we cannot be deterred. The rigging card is no longer
acceptable or tenable and has to be discarded. If we shall be called indisciplined
by doing that, so be it. Machakos is just the beginning. Okoa Kenya campaign is
still to start in earnest. If they were alarmed by the Machakos crowd they have
not seen anything yet. They will not be able to keep pace with these masters of
the multitudes. Ipsos will not manage polling in the wake of every campaign
onslaught. They should look for better, more civilized and disciplined ways of
countering each and every move the opposition makes. That is my half – penny
advice for them.
By;-
FREDERICK OWINO OYARO
Email: frederickoyaro@gmail.com