Cc @natty @spear
Stolen
After reading the piece below, Courtesy of Silas Mailu Kakui and Anthony Mutero I’m thinking again about the choice of my next President
Copied As Received
KIKUYUS AND RAILA
By Wairimu Mbuthia
“I voted for the first time in
2013. My decision to vote for
Jubilee was largely based of
their promise to transform
kenya, as clearly captured in
their 2013 manifesto: create
1 million jobs annually,
provide free Wi-Fi spots
across the country, lower
unemployment, grow the
economy by double digits,
unite our nation, improve our
schools, provide better
working conditions for our
policemen, improve our
security, fight corruption,
among many things.
Also being a Kikuyu, I bought
into the Jubilee’s narrative
that the PM, Kimundu as
President Uhuru likes to call
him, was using ICC to
eliminate competition for the
presidential elections after
Uhuru told us that Raila
forced Kibaki to fire him from
the ministry of finance. It was
therefore an easy decision on
who to vote for. I voted for
Jubilee.
It’s been over 4 years since
then. I don’t regret voting for
Uhuru then because I believe
that my vote contributed to
the end of his cases at the
ICC.
I am sad and disappointed
though, that after the end of
his cases, President Kenyatta
has never done anything to
improve the lives of people
around me.
President Uhuru has been to
my town about 5 times. On
those occasions, all he keeps
telling us is how Raila is bad.
Since I had no much
information about Raila, I
went out to seek information
on my own.
I found out that Raila stood
by SK Macharia when Moi was
out to close his TV and Radio
network; I found out that
Raila stood with Kuguru
when the government tried
to close his businesses; I
found out that Raila defended
Master Mind tobacco when
the government was fighting
it; I found out Raila
intervened in UK to have
them lift the Miraa ban. All
these businesses are owned
by Kikuyus. If Raila didn’t like
Kikuyus, why would he fight
for them?
On politics, I found out Raila
said Kibaki tosha, airlifted him
to London and paid his
hospital admission fees. He
campaigned for him until
they won the elections of
2002. He has nominated and
appointed numerous
Kikuyus, who later abandoned
him.
Based on my research, I
begun to question the
motivation behind President
Uhuru Kenyatta demonizing
Raila.
President Uhuru has had the
opportunity to improve our
lives; tackle corruption; create
jobs, improve the working
conditions of our policemen;
improve our security
situation; tackle
unemployment; tackle rising
inflation; but he did not. The
best way the president would
have made Raila irrelevant
was by fulfilling his election
promises, but he hasn’t.
I know the president and his
surrogates will return here
and urge me to defend
Uthamaki as a Kikuyu.
But I like the president to
know that I, my relatives, or
my neighbors have not
benefited directly or indirectly
from his government: we buy
goods at the same price point
our brothers from Nyanza
does; we suffer the same
effects of higher inflation.
As a Kikuyu, I will be voting
Jubilee out. And I know many
Kikuyus who will. Our voting
decision is dictated by our
own economic situation,
which is different from those
that have directly benefited
from the corruption of this
government.”
~Wairimu Mbuthia