Just pose and think for a minute about corruption. Every Kenyan has been affected by corruption either directly or indirectly. If a thief comes to your house and is from your ethnic community, would you protect them from the police saying he or she is your own? Definitely no, you would be ready to pounce on him or her. Believe it or not, Kenya is our house and there are thieves stealing from our house. The thieves are saying you as a community are being targeted as they continue stealing. Welcome to the Tangatanga movement’s propaganda.
The Tangatanga movement especially politicians from the Rift Valley region have gone round preaching in funerals declaring that the war on corruption is about their tribe. They have embarked on a strategy of poisoning Kenyans with the intention of creating hate towards the government’s fight on graft and using their community as a shield, creating animosity among the people especially from the Kalenjin community. Meanwhile, they steal the fortunes of poor communities, they steal from their own people a chance to have a better livelihood, all the while lying to them that the government wants to curtail development in their respective counties.
Arror and Kimwarer dams would have been the talk of the town in Elgeyo – Marakwet. If the Sh21 billion had not been stolen, construction would have began. Jobs would be available, the poor communities would have been compensated. Availability of income would mean children would go to school, surrounding towns would have opened up more for business. We can only talk from an imaginative point of view, the ‘would haves’ and the ‘could haves’
In short, leaders from the Tangatanga movement together with their leader Deputy President William Ruto are inciting Kalenjins against every form of goodwill the government is doing. I believe as Kenyans, we have all seen and we know the repercussions of tribalism which usually starts as a tiny flame before it spreads like wild fire causing destruction. For the likes of Kapseret MP Oscar Sudi and Nandi Governor Stephen Sang they know the drill; create hate by declaring Kalenjins are being targeted on the war on graft, create hate among communities and an eventual fight ensues just as it happened in the 2007/2008 post-election violence. However, with access of information and exposure more and more Kenyans are seeing the negative narrative that the Tangatanga movement is preaching. A statistics on all the corruption scandals has fortunately brought a different light from what the Deputy President and his allies are propagating.
The Director of Public Prosecutions recently came out to give important facts so that Kenyans can figure out for themselves whether the war on corruption is pegged on ethnicity or whether the war on corruption is literally a war meant to fight the goons of corruption. By ethnicity, a total of 141 Kikuyus have been mentioned in the war of graft, 46 kalenjins (less than a third from the highest number), 56 luos, 15 Indians, 31 Kambas, 29 luhyas, 37 kisii, 34 swahili/mijikenda, 5 Embu. Therefore, no one should be complaining especially not the Tangatanga thieves hiding behind ethnicity. Kenyans must come to the realization that the war on graft is a war on individuals who have no sense of integrity and want to destroy the country.
Even before this, Elgeyo Marakwet Governor Joshua Tolgos came out himself to apologise to the President on the unruly utterances of his counterparts. They know and have seen the propaganda that the Tangatanga movement is spreading. Indeed, this is what leadership is all about, calming tensions and ensuring the people know the truth. Governor Jackson Mandago has also openly come out urging the residents that the drama they are seeing is all politics and people must not put it into heart. A corrupt individual is a corrupt individual as no thief ever steals for another. The thieving is all about ‘me, myself and I’ and never about the community; that is a fact!
We must drill into our minds that the war on corruption is not ethnical but to catch and jail thieves, stop impunity and ensure that Kenyans receive value for their money. As the Tangatanga movement’s ethnicity narrative fails they have already devised their next move which is declare William Ruto’s assassination. As Kenyans we must stand up and fight these thieves. Stop the Tangatanga thieves. Support the war on graft.