Wanjiku is tired of the government's many games

I have lived long enough to have witnessed bad and somewhat good governments in post-independent Kenya. I came of age largely during President Daniel arap Moi’s paranoid state, which, throughout its existence, fuelled by his paranoia, constantly preyed on its citizens, suspecting them of subversion and subterfuge.

Towards the end of President Moi’s reign in 2002 – he had been in power for 24 tough years - he became a much maligned ruler. Unlike his successor Mwai Kibaki, Moi was not an economist ¬ - he did not understand the mechanics of how a functional economy impacted on the success of the national politics and government.

True, as he was wont to referring to himself, he was a “professor” of politics: Moi dazzled Kenyans and politicians alike with his dexterity in controlling and manipulating the national politics of his time – all, at the expense of everything else that could have improved the quality of life of Kenyans. Yet, at the end of the day, all he could bequeath Kenyans was his accumulated knowledge of bad and treacherous politics and how that knowledge could be disastrous to a country, still struggling to find and define itself as a democratic state.

Bad as Moi’s government was, and hated as it came to be, in the political history of Kenya, there has never been a government so derided, so removed from people’ lives and so contemptuously held by its citizens like the current Jubilee government. It is amazing how, today the people are openly talking of a government in denial of the confusion surrounding it.

When did the government lose so much favour among the people it purports to serve? How did it succeed in disconnecting itself from the citizens? Nobody seems to believe in whatever the government tells the Kenyans: Not its purported fight against corruption, not its purported seriousness in delivering services to the people, whatever those services are. In fact, when the government recently indicated that it wanted to mine personal data through a Huduma Namba from Kenyans, purportedly for their own good, the people immediately read absolute mischief.

The consequence of a distrusted government naturally and obviously leads to cynicism from the citizenry. Every time such like governments want to do something, whether for the benefit of the people or not or even indeed ask them for a favour, the people become cagey and suspicious and question the real motive behind the government’s call: What is it that it wants from us? Why can it not leave us alone? We have had enough of this government… it should let us be… the people are likely to retort.

KENYA RED CROSS

Now, apart from a distrusted government rubbing the citizenry the wrong the way, it also tends to create animosity between the people and other publics that are not necessarily governmental, but do work closely with the government. I have in mind how Kenyans, through the social media, have reacted to the urgent pleas by the Kenya Red Cross Society to Kenyans to help the famine-stricken people of especially Turkana County in the face of the devastating drought.

Kenyans on Twitter (KOT) throughout last week did not pull any punches and took no prisoners as they answered the Kenya Red Cross boss Abbas Gullet. “This pay bill number should be taken to Parliament, not to the common mwananchi. As much as we would like to help our brothers and sisters, it’s unfortunate that we doubt if the help will reach them, since we have lost trust,” wrote Mary Wangari on her Twitter handle.

But even before KOT warriors had ferociously lunged onto the appeal by Red Cross, some of them were not amused by the Jubilee government seemingly-lackadaisical attitude, towards the now perennial drought in one of the harshest regions of northern Kenya. “Where was Kamwana (President Uhuru) when that (the drought) was happening? How can he go to Namibia to celebrate, while Kenyans are starving? (It is) a disgrace for (a) president I voted twice,” reckoned Hezbon Mochama.

POLITICIANS

If there is category of people that Kenyans have decided they will not touch even with a 10-inch pole, it is the greedy politicians. From these sample of KOT messages, it is clear that Kenyans hold their politicians in utter contempt, they disdain them and trust them the least. “You ain’t getting a single cent from me, all the governors of respective counties should go home…” MC Sergio twitted. “This is a scam. We ain’t giving out money…transport the people dying here…we shall share the little food we have,” said Mercy Mose.

Nikolae Ronoh did not mince his words: “This time, hatunchangi, si William alisema government has enough to feed starving (people).” We won’t contribute anything this time – didn’t Deputy President William Ruto say the government has enough food for all Kenyans? Last week in a press conference, DP Ruto brazenly told Kenyans that no Kenyan had died of hunger and that indeed, there was enough food to feed the people, even the drought stricken counties such as Turkana. To date, officially, two people from Turkana County, are already dead from hunger.

Even economist David Ndii, hearkening to the appeal call by KRCS, spoke on his Twitter handle of the need for transparency and accountability if the Turkana people are to get help from fellow Kenyans. ‘‘The Turkana people surely have an M-Pesa, they trust and we can equally trust to send our donations directly to them’’ he posed.

It is apparent that issues of trust among our public leaders, in this country, have become a matter of life and death.

Mr Kahura is a senior writer for 'The Elephant', a Nairobi-based publication. Twitter: @KahuraDauti