Time to sit back and watch election side shows

What you need to know:

  • Funyula MP Paul Otuoma was recently the victim of a fake Daily Nation front page stating that he had defected to Jubilee, complete with fake posters.
  • The incumbent government is being put to task concerning what they have done in the last five years of their rule, but look, there’s a delivery portal! Progress!

Election year always sounds more like a dramatic stage play than the progression of democracy.

When most Kenyans hear the phrase 'election year', their year stops. No one plans anything on election day or at least a month after. The economy feels destabilised.

It’s not a good idea to travel or make big business moves because you simply don’t know what will happen – from violence to a recount to not being able to buy anything from supermarkets (those that aren’t already collapsing, that is).

But for the majority of Kenyans, after you’ve gotten your affairs in order, it’s time to sit back and watch the inevitable side shows, theatrics and outright lies.

There was the promise of the five sports stadiums that are still, apparently scheduled to be built, despite a complete lack of evidence.

Stephen Musyoka on Twitter described the melee perfectly: the way you scramble around when you know exams are coming. The exam is the election, and you’re trying to prove that you actually did read for it.

There’s also that ludicrous announcement that all of a sudden we should be saving rain water, as the long rains are here.

Why have people not been doing this for years? Why this announcement, as if long rains were unprecedented? Which of course begs the question about Kenyans at risk of starvation year again, and why the government did not act earlier.

TABLE ETIQUETTE

In the last two days, false rumours have been all over social media on defections and misrepresentations. Funyula MP Paul Otuoma was recently the victim of a fake Daily Nation front page stating that he had defected to Jubilee, complete with fake posters. It’s all cause for concern, even if it is free entertainment.

If you look at the facts, maize flour, fuel and milk are all going up. Some supermarkets are crashing and the economy is heading for a continued slump.

In the meantime, we’re spending tax-payer money on things like Sh130 million to teach high school children table etiquette (refer to Ranguma’s latest farce), trying to get Amina Mohammed into an intra-continental body, smiling and dancing and acting like everything is in tip top shape, making international trade deals and telling Trump that we support him.

The incumbent government is being put to task concerning what they have done in the last five years of their rule, but look, there’s a delivery portal! Progress!

Maybe we should ask the portal what happens next with Kenya – perhaps we’ll open our eyes to what’s around us and who owns this country.

Or maybe we’ll just keep watching the play, distracted by the exaggerated acting and bad lines until the credits roll and Kenya – the theatre – goes completely dark.

Pay attention, Kenyans. Everything else is a financed distraction.

Twitter: @AbigailArunga