Nairobi Woman Rep Esther Passaris (centre) joins city residents in a procession on January 27, 2024 to protest against the prevalence of femicide in the country.
Last week saw the heckling of the President and the Nairobi Woman Rep. It was also the week that was filled with campaigning by both the Kenya Kwanza Alliance and the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM). Some of the attendees were elected politicians who should have been in their offices working like all other Kenyans.
The heckling of Nairobi Woman Rep Esther Passaris was by Kenyans who came out for a peaceful protest against the rise in femicide cases in the country.
An attempt by Ms Passaris to address the protesters was thwarted by the angry crowd, who wondered where the politician has been all this time while women were being killed and what she has done to help end femicide.
The questions were totally valid. The establishment of the post of county woman representative was, above everything else, to ensure that the rights of women were not only protected but preserved.
In this regard, and given the rise in femicide, under-age pregnancies and female genital circumcision (FGM), it is only fair to ask whether the seat of the woman reps adds any value to women affairs apart from twerking and rubber stamping unsavoury government policies.
On the other hand, to single out only the woman reps as the poorly performing political representatives is missing the failure in the whole political structure. Just like the woman rep, I would go as far as to say, Kenyan politicians, bar one or two, are in politics to serve themselves and not the voters. As I have reiterated previously, our politics is the one and the only lucrative career if one can get it. The violence and the murders that are associated with our politics are not there to save the voters but the politicians and his/her family’s kip.
The recent evictions of Kenyans from their homes to pave way for a controversial and unconstitutional housing scheme has not been condemned by politicians, who should be the first to protect their voters. The role of the government, which is comprised mostly of elected officials is to ensure that rights to a home are protected. Should there be any need to move people, that needed to be done in a humane way and alternative accommodation sought for Kenyans affected even on a temporary basis until they are able to move.
The scenes we have seen of Kenyans being forcefully evicted from their homes is leading to Kenyans being internally displaced. This goes from those evicted from their homes in towns and out of ancestral lands such as the Ogieks in the Mau Forest.
The eviction of Kenyans from lands and their homes should not have occurred before the conclusion of the court case challenging the new housing policy. The government’s pre-emptive action has left Kenyans open to exploitation.
A precedent has now be set where anyone who desires a home or has dispute over property just tears it down forcefully. A sister has just rendered another sister homeless because they have seen the impunity from the government on evictions. Politicians’ silence, despite all the forceful evictions happening almost weekly, is very telling of a political system that cares very little of the very people that put them in power.
Youth employment was the manifesto of successive governments. Instead of creating employment at home, politicians encourage them to look for work abroad. One then wonders whether Kenyan politicians were elected to serve other governments or their voters? Either that or the attempts to push Kenyans abroad, especially nurses to the Middle East must be inspired by some financial deal for politicians that we don’t know about.
How can a country struggling to nurse its own people instead off-load its medical personnel elsewhere? The brain drain in the medical sector should not be something that any government worth its salt should encourage. Instead, it should look to employ enough medical personnel to help the country realise its health agenda in commensurate with World Health Organisation’s protocols on the patient-to-nurse ratio.
County governments are notorious for failing to employ nurses, which makes me think they are just out to save more money for embezzlement. It is not that we have over-supply of nurses hence the need to send them abroad, but it is because our self-serving politicians do not think voters deserve better healthcare, housing or even food. Public services have now become personal property for politicians to auction, grab or cash into.
The heckling of politicians is, therefore, a manifestation of public anger seeping into the Kenyan society as a result of broken promises and wanton abuse of power by those elected to serve them. If politicians are not careful and refresh their mind on their responsibilities to the voters, the anger by Kenyans has the potential of getting out of hand.
Although many of our politicians think their post is a ‘get-rich-quick- scheme’, it in fact is not. The offices they occupy are public offices to advance policies that are beneficial to the public. If they want Kenyans to stop being angry, then they must start serving the public and not themselves.
Ms Guyo is a legal researcher. [email protected]. @kdiguyo
