What Next For BABA After Losing Home And Away? My Take…………………………
To the people of Embakasi South and Ugenya, April 5, 2019 will forever remain August. They’ll remember it as the day they buried the shackles of perpetual political conmanship, It will go down in the books of history as the day they openly resisted and rejected those who sought to throw them into economic, social and political captivity. Kenyans will remember it as the day the valiant people of Embakasi South and Ugenya expelled the chains of domination and oppression. It is on this day that voters from the two constituencies defied those that were deployed to intimidate, dehumanize, harass and steal their inalienable rights to elect leaders of their choice in free fair and credible by-elections.
The people of Ugenya and Embakasi East have fought for years to retrieve their dignity. This time round, when forces of darkness came like a flood, the great voters, armed with their votes raised a standard against them. They re-elected Waheshimiwa Mawathe and Ochieng and not the people imposed on them by some political godfathers. They no longer live in a fool’s paradise.
The victory of Mawathe and Ochieng is the victory for the great and valiant people of Kenya. They represent the new face of true democracy in Kenya. The people of Ugenya and Embakasi East have displayed their rich pedigree with royal courage. Political godfathers thought they could beguile voters like they usually do. But the people were wiser. They did not fall like they used to before. They showed resistance and they are happy for it. They were not intimidated to abandon their mandate. They were not moved by the by the slush funds that were openly distributed to electoral officials in bid to make them complicit in the rigging of election.
The entire country needs to follow borrow leaf from this exemplary determination and courageous disposition if we must witness the change that we need in going forward. The people of Embakasi East and Ugenya have proved to be too positive to be doubtful. They are too optimistic to be fearful and too determined to be defeated. They have not only elected Mawathe and Ochieng, but also defeated the worst form of coup against democracy in the annals of Kenyan history.
The sophisticated people of Ugenya and Embakasi East must be commended for their rare courage and doggedness to preserve and make democracy work in Kenya. They must be specially commended for exposing the rigging plan of some political warlords before election. They must be lauded for refusing to run out of town in the face of the fiercest intimidation and political terrorism in the history of this country. They have proved that the harder the battle, the sweeter the victory.
The victory of Mawathe and Ochieng remains a potent signal to party owners and all agents of election rigging in this country not to try their evil antics in 2022. This is not 1997. This is not 2002. This is not 2007. This is not 2013. This is not 2017. This is going to be 2022.Ugenya and Embakasi South have shown the way and the rest of the country will follow their sterling example to make their votes count in 2022. ODM and Jubilee and all reactionary forces in Kenya are beatable and defeat-able. The people of Ugenya and Embakasi South have proved it. They were ready to die for the men that will lead them out of Egypt to the Promised Land. They rose up, having learnt from their past mistakes, to defend their votes. Those tribal leaders who are banking on stolen mandates in 2022 or imposing leaders on the people should beware.
Henceforth, Kenyans must not go to sleep. They must not be deceived by the outcome of these two by-elections which were won due to the tenacity of the people and believe that this will usher in a free, fair and credible election in 2022. They must know that dynasties have sensed danger and will change tact. For elections to turn out the desired way, the people must insist that their votes must count like they did yesterday in Embakasi South and Ugenya. The owners of the land like comrade Anwar Saddat calls them, cannot be trusted based on this flash in the pain in Embakasi South and Ugenya.
Democracy in Kenya must truly be the government of the people, by the people and for the people and never a government of the mighty, by the mighty and for the mighty. In view of this, IEBC must not take glory for the success in the two by-elections. They have always compromised wherever the people are not defiant like the people of Embakasi South and Ugenya. They either shape up or ship out. The people of Kenya will not tolerate any shenanigan from them in 2022. The people must be allowed to choose their leaders at all times. Embakasi and Ugenya are not the litmus tests for 2022 as many may erroneously think. 2022 is going to be the litmus test for credible, free and fair elections in Kenya. Until then, let IEBC not bask in false euphoria of having got it right.