The public opprobrium generated by opposition politicians following Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua's pronouncement that the Kenya Kwanza government will first consider its supporters for government appointments before the opposition is unfounded.
One may hate the Deputy President but the man speaks the hard truth without sugarcoating. Most importantly, political speech is always adapted to the target audience and what the DP said was appropriate for the audience that he was addressing in Kericho county.
In any case, politicians pursue power in order to control the allocation of resources and values; and in an ideal democracy, political divisions occur along ideological lines.
Both the Azimio-One Kenya Coalition Party and the Kenya Kwanza Alliance presented their manifestos to the electorate. They spent a considerable amount of time campaigning in a bid to persuade Kenyans to elect them to power.
We can safely assume that those who opposed the Kenya Kwanza manifesto did not believe that it was the right direction to take Kenya and they had no faith in the leadership of President William Ruto together with his deputy.
For the Kenya Kwanza plan to be realised, President Ruto needs to populate strategic government positions with loyal men and women who have faith in his vision and believe in his leadership.
This is the background from which we must understand the Deputy President's analogy that the government is like a company with shares and shareholders.
It does not make sense to appoint, to government, individuals who spent years campaigning against Ruto, calling him names and tagging him labels that made him look like the sole source of all Kenyan governance problems. Such people will be stooges and their propensity to sabotage Ruto's vision for Kenya cannot be underrated.
Gachagua did not mean to say that public services will be offered based on how people voted. What the DP meant is that as a matter of priority, appointive positions in government will go to those who supported the Kenya Kwanza Alliance and believed in its manifesto.
Our political culture since Independence is rooted in the reward of loyalists. Although this is what happens the world over, ours is not an ideal democracy and our political competition is not based on ideologies but on personality cults and momentary gratification.
This means, therefore, that the Kenya Kwanza government should not be too hard on the Azimio politicians salivating for government appointments. The DP should learn not to serve the naked truth but to dress it with a little sense of accommodation so that such truth is not misconstrued.
Communications expert and political analyst
