By April 22, 2022, political parties will have conducted their primaries and probably sorted out disputes (if any) that might have arisen. All political parties will having candidates contending for the different seats.
To many, including university students, this will be an opportunity to make a killing from the vigorous campaigns that will be staged thereafter. After all, what other time will mwananchi come into contact with their leaders' money if not during this opportune time?
Apart from the unemployed youth in our communities, university students are usually the best targets for politicians, especially when it comes to being campaign tools for propelling propaganda.
We are in harsh economic times but this does not call for desperate moves by university students. Whenever there is a campaign meeting, university students get sourced at a fee, from as low as Sh200, and transport is provided by whoever called the meeting.
It is high time that university comrades, and other youth, realised that they are being exploited—they are in a vulnerable position and it is detrimental. Most universities are ending their January-April semester around this time, meaning that politicians are assured of a readily available human resource.
If they will not be hurling insults at opponents, this group of people will be used to cause chaos or to disrupt opponents’ rallies, whether the rally is of goodwill or not. To them, poverty is the enemy.
The election will come and go, but comrades' problems will remain, unfathomed and unresolved.
Talk of insecurity—one of the greatest threats to university comrades. Not a single day goes by without one hearing stories of students getting attacked on their way to school, or on their way back home.
Many universities are situated along roads that are poorly lit, leaving students exposed to attackers.
Come August 9, 2022, let us vote in leaders who have the interests of mwananchi at heart, always. Let us not elect leaders who are going to be joyriders in Parliament only waiting to pass bills that enrich and favour them. Take time and analyse your choice.
Student at St Paul's University.
“WATCH: The latest videos from the Star”
