WHO IS FOOLING WHO?

A GENERATION OF LYING POLITICIANS

To be sincere, politics and the intricacies of politics are not quite my area of thoughts, but every now and then I bump into things or information to make me think and ask questions. This article is one of such bumps.

Quite frankly, most of the political dramas we find in the nations of Afrika are nothing but showcases of stupidity and mindless chases of vanity and which, like always, never produce sensible results. I sometimes look at the political atmosphere we have in Afrika ( let me limit it to Afrika) and the kind of decisions and choices politicians make or the things they say about what is going on in their nations, and then I wonder who these people really work for. Is it the people that elected them into office or some other people outside the people who elected them? But the answer staring me in the face points to the fact that, most likely, they are working for the system in their nations, which is controlled by outside forces.

To paint a picture of what I am thinking, I will use two statements by two Kenyan state officers which were made concerning two different issues and at different times.

Recently, there was some unrest and gun attacks by bandits in a place called Laikipia in the Rift Valley Region of Kenya. Concerning the violence, an article was published on the ExpressNews website, which captures the statement of one of the police commanders in that area. The article was titled: “Natembeya On encounter with Laikipia gunmen: They have better weapons than police”

The Rift Valley Regional Commander George Natembeya admitted that the bandits own sophisticated weapons, which are often used for wars by international armies. He went on to say that the weapons were powerful and capable of deadly mass destruction. He was quoted as saying “While our officers are using AK47 and G3 rifles, the bandits (in Laikipia) are using M16s and other heavy machinery which are usually used  by foreign armies who come for training in Kenya. We don’t know how they (the bandits) get these heavy weapons.” Please pay attention to the part of the statement that says that the guns the bandits use are only used by the foreign armies who come to Kenya for training.

The second statement was made by Moses Kuria, a Member of Parliament for Gatundu South constituency of Kenya. He was recorded on the 7th of September, 2021, to have said, concerning the national budget “What used to happen was every year before we passed the budget, we would be called to State House, both members of Jubilee and NASA. We would be given goodies for our constituencies, we would be told to shut up and pass everything as it is.”

For perspective, Jubilee is the current ruling party while NASA which is now defunct, was a coalition of opposition parties.

I find these issues very telling of what really is the problem with Afrika and why nothing seems to be moving as it should in our beautiful continent.

Number one, if according to Mr Natembeya “We”, that is, the Kenyan government do not know how bandits who are often pictured as illiterates, jobless rascals living in some wild places in the rural areas, get sophisticated weapons, which the government of Kenya does not have and which are only used by rich foreign armies, should someone in the interior ministry, customs, immigration department, airports, the army, the police etc., not be on their way out by now and be prosecuted for negligence of duty? Or what do you think?

Secondly, if Mr Moses Kuria, a member of parliament of Kenya can come out to say they receive “goodies” for their constituencies to shut them up in order to pass bills without due questions, should both the members of the executive and the entire parliament be out of the door and under prosecution by now? Or is giving of bribe (goodies) and the receiving of bribes no longer against the law in Kenya? Or is the law just for the young man on the street who is trying his level best to make something out of life or just for the woman selling vegetables at the street corners? Just maybe I am too naive to understand what this all really means and how it’s supposed to be effected in the society. Just maybe. But is it not a bigger self deception and foolery to say that the laws and constitution of  Kenya are “supreme” while it only affects the common citizens who have no godfathers and political backbones, leaving out the many spoilt brats we have in the executive and in the parliament where the laws are made?

Men do reap what they sow

It has become a very popular notion, especially recently, to hear Afrikans say that the religion that the white man brought to Afrika is what is making things not work in Afrika. Some even go to the extent of saying that, while the Afrikans closed their eyes praying using the Bible that the white man brought, the white man stole their land. Meaning that when the Afrikans opened their eyes after prayers, they had the Bible and the white man had the lands.

You can pull out some sense in the sentiment, but the question right now is this, do we ever question our politicians when they boast of having thousands of acres of land in their procession? I mean land that is as huge as hundreds of thousands of acres. When one political family has about five hundred thousand acres of land to themselves alone, another has about two hundred and fifty thousand acres of land, another two hundred thousand acres, and the list continues, in the same country, who then really used the “Bible” or let’s say the position of authority to steal the land from the hands of Afrikans? You be the judge.

Mind you, I am in no way approving of the evils the white man did in Afrika. I hate the thought of it. And neither am I excusing those who used and are still using religion as blindfolds for stealing from Afrikans. They will have their just rewards. But, I am saying that, the sooner we begin to look again at what really is the problem of Afrika and to do everything that is possible to tackle them at their root source, we will only remain jokers who are not fit to be called people. For to point at effects and not deal with causes, while expecting changes is the same thing as madness. For crying out loud, we have a lot of madness and mental disease going on in Afrika that needs healing. For instance, when we compel our people to take the Covid-19 vaccine, that is not a cure nor even a preventive solution, for a virus that is 99.9 percent recoverable, just so that we can have our share of the global Covid-19 cake, is that not madness and the actual definition of political foolery?