The UhuRuto Decade is a cocktail of contradictions. The saboteurs of yesteryears are the architects of new fantasies. Victims of election-driven mendacity should know there is no better time to wake up than on the eve of another potentially false dawn.
The Jubilee Decade is a tragedy of great expectations. Jubilee promised a double-digit growth economy in 2013. The regime promised international standard stadia in all the 47 counties. It still has eight more months to fulfil these promises.
The UhuRuto regime pledged to invest in agriculture to boost food security. But farmers in Uasin Gishu are still crying and reporting, "Iligulwaa... Waligulaaa... Waligulaaa." Incomes have not improved. Food security has not improved during the Jubilee decade.
Jubilee promised laptops for Standard 1 to 8 pupils – a signature plank of the power duo. The 2013 campaign shoutfest still echoes with more lofty promises.
The digital goalpost has changed, from 21st century technologies back to analogue wheelbarrows. The seashore shift begs interrogation – once bitten citizens should avoid the bait.
They promised industrial parks in Naivasha, and other places, which were supposed to create 100,000 jobs a year. There are no such parks.
Jubilee also promised 1 million jobs a year and a double-digit annual growth in a Sh3 trillion budget economy. The economy is bed and debt-ridden, with a Sh1 trillion budget deficit.
Creditors are demanding trillions of shillings in debt repayment. The Treasury is digging new holes to fill up old ones. Architects of these challenges cannot be the solution.
The UhuRuto promises were a shared campaign platform. While the President is still struggling to deliver, he has to contend with insider contradictions. Infrastructure growth, including in Nairobi, is phenomenal. Electricity connectivity has grown, so has fraud billing for power consumption.
Then there is the war against history. The DP's faction of government wants to remember only elements that create an image of a man more sinned against than sinning—an ally who has been betrayed.
The DP claims he convinced the late Mark Too to resign so that Uhuru could be nominated to Parliament during the Moi era. That he stood by Uhuru when the late Kanu strongman Nicholas Biwott wanted to snatch the party.
He supported Uhuru in 2013, when others shunned him. He stood by Uhuru in 2017, after the presidential election was nullified. And, that Uhuru is repaying him with betrayal and 'madharau'. But history has a wider spectrum than 'Uhuru Kumi, Ruto Kumi'.
It should worry reasonable observers when leaders fight history. It should also worry when the same leaders expect to force everyone else into their selective memories.
History is a verified record of past events. These events influence future trends. A people who don't know their past, may not know where they are headed.
A voyager who does not know where the path leads, is more likely to take any route. Reasonable Kenyans should know where the country is coming from, and where it's headed.
But again, remember some accounts of history are presented from the perspective of the writers. The history of hunting will always glorify the hunter. The history of colonialism glorified colonists. History of slavery glorified slave holders, while savaging societal underdogs.
When advocates of 'Black Lives Matter' demolish monuments of slave riders, reasonable people understand their anger. When progressives join the fray, they are showing readiness to reconfigure race relations.
History is stubborn. Politicians who are remembered for false promises should not get away with deceit. Collective memory of the electorate cannot be that feeble.
