• When the people cry over non-existent markets for their produce and the “cold blood coup” at the National Cereals and Produce Board orchestrated by leading individuals, they are ignored.
• This habit of whipping up tribal emotions for the sins of a few rotten apples is barbaric and uncivilised. These thieves are a strange breed: They steal and vomit on our feet.
The Rift Valley has lately been a pale shadow of its former self. Gone are the days when the region was the breadbasket of this beautiful but battered country.
Dangerously corrupt leaders with insatiable thirst for wealth are squarely responsible for this.
Long are the days when farms were intermediately turned into green humongous carpets of maize and wheat. Once upon a time, these were the main cash crops that brought delight and comfort to many a household because their bank accounts never ran dry.
Parents could easily pay fees and meet other parental obligations without worries. Milk was also flowing. Sadly, that is no longer the case thanks to poor policies and sheer greed among elected leaders.
When the people cry over non-existent markets for their produce and the “cold blood coup” at the National Cereals and Produce Board orchestrated by leading individuals, they are ignored.
Only two MPs — Silas Tiren (Moiben) and Alfred Keter (Nandi Hills) fought for the farmers.
Of course, the dukes of sleaze and their court orderlies call them bluff and sellouts.
The same looters advised the farmers to venture into avocado farming, a venture they know too well is doomed to fail because Kalenjins and avocados make strange bedfellows. It is a ridiculous idea that has since died and buried just like the hopes of the populace for a better future. The people have resigned to their fate of being led by robbers and cooks.
And as if that was not enough, the farmers were awoken from a castles-building-slumber with news that a whopping Sh21 billion set aside for Kimwarer and Arror dams in my godforsaken county had been looted.
The plunder failed to ignite anger from elected leaders towards a people suffocated by actions of graft that have reduced them to beggars.
The sorry excuse of politicians formed on the sides of their mouths as they unashamedly condemned investigations to unearth the well-choreographed heist, whose footprints can clearly be followed from Kenya, Italy, London and back to Kenya.
Among the loot defenders were men and women who have never made a maiden speech in the 12th Parliament. Not a single one of them has moved a motion or tabled a Bill on anything under the sun.
They risked breaking their legs or suffering pneumonia as they outdid each other defending people suspected of thievery. Blaming opposition leader Raila Odinga for their woes can never change stubborn facts.
The last time I checked, Raila is neither the occupant of the House on the Hill nor the appointing authority of the DCI and the DPP.
This habit of whipping up tribal emotions for the sins of a few rotten apples is barbaric and uncivilised. These thieves are a strange breed: They steal and vomit on our feet.
I was in the county last week and I never met any man or woman who benefitted from the loot. Why are you dragging them into your games?
Elgeyo Marakwet, where the two dams in question are domiciled, is grappling with multiple problems, among them cattle rustling, runaway graft and frequent inter-communal attacks. Who has seen these leaders hold a press conference to condemn these wrongs?
The assembly is on the spot for gobbling up nearly Sh600 million in a county with a Sh800 million development budget!
This revelation by President Uhuru Kenyatta jolted Governor Alex Tolgos, who has since confessed that this savagery has been going on as people suffer from preventable diseases such as cholera and hepatitis.
The most nauseating thing is that Tolgos pretends as though it is the first time he is learning about the corruption in the county assembly.
Where was he all along? What if the President did not disclose this little secret? Would he have acted on his on?
It is clear why more than 30 MCAs and five MPs from the county attended a presser to defend the indefensible. A sage once said, “Birds of a feather flock together.”