BOTH CORD & JUBILEE HAVE FAILED

Let us get three things clear!

ONE

The government (read Jubilee) is responsible for the overall growth and development of this country. That is the mandate of every government elected into power; it goes without saying. And that is why citizens dutifully pay taxes; to enable governments of the day to undertake their core mandate to the people.

Unfortunately, the government (read Jubilee) has terribly failed Kenyans in this regard. So in effect, Uhuru and Ruto, or any other person who rode to office through Jubilee does not merit another chance in office.

In an ideal situation, the whole lot of them would be guests of the state – incarcerated in gaol for wanton looting and plunder of public resources.

TWO

With the promulgation of the new constitutional dispensation that gave Kenyans devolved systems of government, the opposition finds itself as ‘government’ in some of the devolved units called counties. To be precise, the opposition (read CORD) is in direct control of 24 counties as opposed to Jubilees’ 22.

In which case, as the ‘government’ of these 24 counties, CORD is directly responsible for the growth and development of each of these devolved units. The tax-payers money is channelled right back into these counties after all – directly into the control of CORD governors.

Unfortunately, CORD has also terribly failed Kenyans in these 24 counties. So in effect, all CORD luminaries or person(s) who rode to any office through CORD does not also merit another chance in office.

THREE

With the tyranny of numbers and the massive national resources in the palm of his hands, Uhuru (had he wanted) could have easily effected positive economic growth and development. But he chose otherwise.

With the ‘tyranny’ of counties in the palm of his hands - he once bragged that he controls more governments than Uhuru -( Cord has the numbers), Raila too could have chosen to spur (through his governors) unrivalled economic growth and development in his counties. Used the golden opportunity to showcase his much touted credentials to show Kenyans why he merits the presidency in 2017. Instead, he too chose to let wanton plunder of county (public) resources run amok without lifting a finger against the thieving governors.

You be the judge. It’s your vote after all! Just remember, when you say the government has failed, know that you are invariably referring to both CORD and JUBILEE.

MADNESS OF DOING SAME THING(S) OVER AND OVER

Kenyans are insane. At least according to the person who once wittily remarked that “insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome”. Some people attribute the quote to Albert Einstein; others think it was Mark Twain or Ben Franklin. I have no clue who said it either.

LAST MINUTE VOTER REGISTRATION

The IEBC estimates that a whopping nine million plus (9,130,269) Kenyans with IDs have not registered as voters. As it turns out, this massive number of unregistered voters did not pop up out of nowhere. It is not news. These are statistics that successive governments have known but have been unwilling to address once and for all.

Instead, each election year, successive governments have chosen to treat Kenyans to a last minute ‘mass’ voter registration rush. Suffice is to say the exercises have borne little fruit in ensuring Kenyans of voting age are duly registered to exercise their inalienable right to vote.

Just like the previous years, the IEBC is currently on the same path seeking to register new voters en-masse. By the look of things, this exercise too is going to bear little fruit. In Kisumu County for example, only about 47,000 new voters have been registered so far against the IEBCs projection of 400,000 new voters by the end of the exercise in mid-February.

POLITICIANS ARE NO EXCEPTION

Mr Politician is not left out in the mad dash either. Every politician worth his salt is out ‘mobilising’ voters in their stronghold to come out and register as voters. It is an election period and all of a sudden, voter registration is the emergency – a priority to the government and politicians – never mind that hunger is threatening to kill the very people expected to register.

As usual, Mr Politician is doing it the same way he’s always done it; mount public address systems on top of vehicles and move from one location to the other in snaking motorcades, threaten local administrators for nothing, ask partners to withhold sex from each other, hire goons to harass entire populations for ‘not’ having IDs and voters cards – the list is endless.

The outcome however is always the same – low voter registration and low voter turnout on election day!

As Obama once observed keenly, “it is a failure; a failure of imagination” on the part of our leaders.

VOTER APATHY IS THE PROBLEM

There has to be something fundamentally wrong for someone to lack the desire to register as a voter. People don’t just decline to register or to vote. Top on the list is stolen elections. I mean why bother to register to vote in an election whose outcome is going to be determined by who ‘steals’ the most number of votes?

Number two is pathetic leadership. Once voted into office, we all know what our politicians do – partake in an orgy of never ending corruption scandals. From the MCA, MP, Women Rep, Senator, Governor to the OP, corruption and abuse of office is the order of the day. So what would motivate Wanjiku to come out and register as a voter when it only benefits the politician and the stooges around him?

How does one expect a hard working Kenyan to show enthusiasm in elections while public coffers will always be looted dry irrespective of the monkeys…sorry, political outfit that ascends to government?

WAY FORWARD?

As long as the above issues are not dealt with, expect the number of unregistered voters to grow exponentially.

For the voter registration exercise to bear the desired outcome, all the stakeholders in the game – from the government, the IEBC and the politicians – will need to change their approach and way of thinking.

A good approach would be to merge both ID and voter registration under one docket. That is for Kenyans without IDs. Because all one needs to vote now is their ID (or passport) this would be like hitting two birds with one stone. To supplement this approach, the stakeholders would have to organize things like free medical camps in remote areas. Kenyans in the remote are particularly not keen on obtaining national IDs, let alone registering as voters. But we all have affinity to free things. And because we all need medical check-ups in our lifetime, the attendances to these camps are always great. The catch would be to register for National ID or as a voter at the camp (at registration desk provided) before accessing the free medical check-up.

In the meantime, let us continue doing the same thing over and over again in the hope that the result would be different. IT WON’T!

HOW ABOUT A SINGLE HEALTH UNION?

It has been 46 days since doctors went on strike over their 2013 CBA agreement with the government. However, the writing is on the wall; the government is not about to yield anytime soon to the doctors demands.

This can only mean one of three things;

One

The first is obvious. The government does not give a hoot about the plight of doctors or any other worker(s) in this country. But most importantly, it does not give a cows shit about the wellbeing of its citizens. And that precisely is why hapless patients are succumbing to death due to lack of specialised medical attention occasioned by the doctors’ strike. 

Two

KMPDU is (still) toothless. This is a bitter pill to swallow. I know. But look at it this way, when KNUN called a nation-wide nurses boycott thereby paralyzing health services in the country, the government moved with speed and awarded the caregivers at least KES 15,000 as special “nurses allowance” to appease them to return to work. And return to work they did leaving the doctors to soldier on alone in their strike.

It is common knowledge that nurses have the numbers on their side and therefore any boycott makes their absence from the hospitals sting like a bee. Two factors render the doctors (and their union) less ‘effective’ in organising a strike whose impact is ‘feel-able’ at every level; the number of doctors and the existence of the cadre of Clinical Officers who are currently not on strike.

Three

I have forgotten the third point.  Let’s just move on!

WAY FORWARD?

One. Giant. Healthcare. Providers. Union! Instead of having every cadre in the health sector clamor to register separate and several small ‘toothless’ entities that masquerade as unions, they could think outside the box and register one mega union covering all cadres of the healthcare workforce from doctors, nurses, clinical officers, to lab technicians, pharmacists (is that what they are called?), health records officers, counselors and other cadre in the cog of healthcare services.

Imagine the kind of power a union like that would wield! COTU would be envious! When a union like that calls for a strike, it would be the mother of all strikes. In fact there would be no strike at all. The mere mention of a strike would frighten the government into addressing their issues of contention with speed. It would spare us from these endless piecemeal strikes!

Over to Seth Panyako, Seth Oluga and the rest to chew on that! Case closed!

PS: For a concept like this to sail through, the doctors would have to put an end to their characteristic superiority complex nonsense. No profession is more important than the others to the point of existing on its own. Lawyers, doctors, nurses, engineers, mechanics, journalists; we all need one another.

CORD AND JUBILEE STAND FOR THE SAME THING

So it turns out that Onyango Oloo (former TNA Sec Gen) eventually left Jubilee party for ODM. Well, not much surprise there; it’s the season of political defections after all.

With righteous indignation, supporters of ODM, thinking that they have a say in what happens in ‘their’ party, protested at the move and stated that they did not need and would not have/welcome Onyango Oloo into ODM. In this regard, I would give it to the supporters for having the spine to stand for something at least. 

But with arms wide open, the real owners of ODM did welcome Onyango Oloo with celebration akin to that of the biblical prodigal son. Again, no surprises there; just like Jubilee, ODM has its owners and whatever their supporters may think or feel, their say is not important as far as the owners of the parties are concerned.

ONYANGO OLOO IS NOT A LIGHTWEIGHT
In their online protest, supporters of ODM dismissed Onyango Oloo as a political non-starter with no vote or tangible ideas to table of CORD. Raila Odinga and the owners of ODM however think otherwise. That is why they organised a ‘homecoming’ celebration in Kisumu to welcome him into the fold. A party leader would never take their time to receive and welcome some political lightweight with nothing to add to their party except for their lone vote.

In the meantime, Jubilee luminaries have tried to convince Kenyans that his exit from their party is a non-issue since he was of no use in the first place. My bet is if this was the case, they would not even bother to react to his defection.

BOTH JUBILEE AND CORD STAND FOR THE SAME THING(S)
As far as CORD is concerned, Jubilee is a den of thieves. CORD has always maintained that the Jubilee government, the party, its supporters and sympathisers are a bunch of crooks and should never again be trusted with the affairs of the state.

But when one of the officials of the said corrupt Jubilee defects from his corrupt party to join the supposed ‘clean’ CORD coalition the top leadership celebrates him and welcomes with arms wide open. What does that say about CORD? That as far as principles are concerned, they are on the same wavelength with Jubilee.
And when members of the supposed clean CORD defect, where do they head straight to? The said corrupt Jubilee!

And there you have it. If you still think re-electing the Jubilee government will solve the problems of Kenya, if you still believe replacing the Jubilee government with CORD is the answer to the plight of Kenyans, then you have another think coming.

NO SUCH THING AS VOTERS CARD

When one presents themselves for registration as a voter at any registration centre, they are issued with what is called a ‘registration acknowledgement slip’. This acknowledgement slip is not a voters card and is of little significance; hence the reason the IEBC does not even bother to laminate it (at least mine was not laminated when I registered).

Furthermore, one is not required to produce or present the slip during voting. At the polling stations, one is required to present their original identification document that they presented during the registration process. This can be the national identification card or passport.

It therefore does not matter whether you lose or keep your acknowledgment slip because nobody will require you to produce it anywhere or at a later date.

GANGS HARASSING CIVILIANS FOR VOTERS CARDS

That said, there have been reports of a gang of youths harassing people to produce their voters’ card(s) in the lakeside county of Homa Bay. I refer to them as a ‘gang’ because whatever they are doing is illegal and a criminal offense. This gang is reported to be stopping mostly bodaboda operators within the town and harassing them to produce their voters’ cards. Those found without the purported document are warned to go and register failure to which they should not operate within the town in an illegal operation dubbed “No voters card, no job”.

This act is as defeatist as it is ill-advised. For starters, even though the constitution accords every citizen the right to register as a voter, it does not provide for forceful registration in the exercising of that right. In other words, it is not mandatory to register or to vote. It is not a criminal offense. Otherwise there would have been a body mandated to police the voter registration process and bring to book citizens who fail to register.

Secondly, the IEBC itself does not require one to produce a voter’s card at the polling stations in order to vote. It therefore defies all logic for an ordinary citizen or a group of people to purport to ask one to produce a non-existent document in the name of a voter’s card or even to force one to go and register as a voter.

Thirdly, the fact that you force one to go and register does not imply that they will wake up on the material day to go and vote in the first place. Or yet still, it is no guarantee that they will vote for the candidate for whom you force them to register. Gangs like these ignorantly assume that people who have not registered as voters automatically belong to their candidate of choice. What they fail to realise is that they may be arming the voters of their opponents. Even politicians know that it is counterproductive to force people to register. 

It is therefore a display of ignorance of the highest order and an illegality for anyone to purport to act as self-appointed voter registration police. It is a crime that should be punished. Kenya is not a banana republic where criminal gangs harass innocent civilians after all.