It is hypocritical and dishonest for anyone to tell politicians not to engage in early 2022 campaigns, former Mukurwe-ini MP Kabando wa Kabando has said.
Kabando termed it illogical to prevent those vying for the presidency to campaign while people eyeing other political seats are moving from one village to the other campaigning.
“It does not matter whether it is President Uhuru Kenyatta, former Prime Minister Raila Odinga or Deputy President William Ruto saying it. The law gives them (those campaigning) the freedom and no one has powers to prevent them from exercising it,” he said.
Kabando, who spoke on Inooro TV on Sunday night, said even the meeting convened by Raila at his Bondo home and that by the President with MPs to discuss the BBI last week were campaign events.
He questioned why the leaders were not convening meetings with parliamentary leadership to urge them to come up with laws that fix the problems afflicting Kenyans, especially the youth.
Kabando said 21 million Kenyans have borrowed loans through mobile phone platforms amounting to Sh245 billion, an indication that people are facing economic difficulties.
“If the Sh245 billion is divided by 21 million Kenyans, then it means every person has a mobile loan of over Sh11,000,” he said.
The former lawmaker urged the government to look for ways of bettering the economic situation of Kenyans for the remaining two years of President Uhuru’s term.
It is time people told the President the truth that he has to look into the issues of the economy, he said.
He said many people on the ground are bitter with Uhuru and his administration because of the harsh economic times. Leaders who should be advising the President have turned into sycophants instead of giving him the real issues hurting Kenyans, Kabando said.
He cited failure to fully implement the recommendations of a coffee report that had been prepared and presented to the President in 2016 and last year.
Kabando also blamed the government for dragging its feet in investigating the theft of Covid-19 funds, despite the 21-day probe duration given by Uhuru elapsing. He also cited failure to arrest and prosecute the planners and perpetrators of violence that left two young men dead at Kenol early this month.
No one has ever been convicted of major corrupt dealings such as the National Youth Service scandal, despite the investigating agencies being well-equipped and well-enabled to handle cases expeditiously, he lamented.
Former Nairobi assembly speaker Beatrice Elachi, for her part, said though the President is working hard and a lot of development projects have been realised, some of his team members on the ground are failing him.
She said Uhuru has been sharing his vision clearly, but those implementing it have been doing the opposite.
“That is why people at the grassroots are bitter with the President. But in actual sense, he is doing his work,” she said.
Elachi said people should play politics of improving lives instead of dividing people on the basis of their economic status.
