Jubilee grand merger and ODM @10: Split TV screens and the role of media in political communication

Jubilee grand merger and ODM @10: Split TV screens and the role of media in political communication

photo credit:tuko.co.ke

By MUSYOKA NGUI

A big whale swallowed 11 fish at Kasarani in Nairobi. At the same time, the “largest constitutional party” in Kenya got its electricity transmission outage when its foremost principal was on the lectern. Welcome to Kenya 2017 Elections.

I must say that I spent the better day doing my thing as it were. The Idd Ul Adha Monday holiday break just extended my otherwise short weekend full of the green dot online omnipresence.

Journalists of repute flocked to Safaricom Stadium to “cover history” while others flew to the blue waters of Mombasa to witness either Raila declared de facto presidential flag bearer for Cord or shelving his fourth presidential dream.

Word went round that delegates at Kasarani were pocketing Sh.10000 per day translating to 30,000 for the three days of convention. The red party had logistical issues covered. From standby generators to mellow music to lots of space to dance and everything in between.

At one point, JP resorted to ushering in opposition party rebels and sitting politicians from the entire breadth of Kenyan ballot. Clearly, it was harvest season for JP that fashioned itself as the “national” and “unity” party while hurling epithets at the checker of government excesses that the latter were ethnic enclaves.

But on Friday night delegates threw a stinking egg on the face of DP Ruto when they claimed that they were not paid their allowances raising questions of cash flow. DP, with his charm straight from the land of Magufuli landed and went headlong to pander the whims of the party loyalists saying that “we are not just the JP but we are the government”.

But the straw that broke the proverbial Cord camel’s back was the eloquent UK’s speech that chose not to dwell on the Opposition but concentrate on the 2017 agenda and the perceived government “achievements”.

40 MPs, senators and governors crossed the floor and sat at the presidential dais. Yet they did not lose their seats and continue to draw salaries from their sponsor whom they have formerly filled the divorce papers. The season of political prostitution cannot be more scandalous.

But the self-acknowledged minorities in the Jubilee train chose to wax how they were lost and now they have been found and they have broken the shackles of Pharaoh and headed to Canaan. Ukambani artists namely Chipukisi and Vaati headlined the show that was filled with flamboyance and opulence. Have you asked yourself why the majority owners chose to watch rather than act? It’s PR. You got it.

Anyway, while JP was organized and calm, ODM was chaotic and restless. But the embarrassment of letting Baba terminate his speech prematurely will be the bane of KP who have now become the poster child of rude customer service and incompetent state company.

Without a doubt, the conspicuous absence of Cord co-principals Musyoka and Weta will only cement the JP’s propaganda rhetoric that there is discord in Cord. But the unnoted no show of the so called Third Force will remain the regret of prodigal sons who bit the hands that fed them. Over to you the voter.

Top Kitui Village Admins Speak On First Day in Office

Top Kitui Village Admins Speak On First Day in Office

I

 am told that they first call you an MCA before borrowing bad loans from you. If you don’t comply they call you their Governor now that the Senate is officially an empty shell.

By MUSYOKA NGUI

For me, writing is both therapeutic and liberating. There is some form of freedom that comes from passing a message across. Regardless. Not media freedom nor the freedom of speech. Something else out of this world.

It is emptying a heart out, venting thoughts and freeing up memory. For another space to occupy. 

Today I write about my day out with a newly appointed village administrator. You see when the County Government came up people started angling for opportunities. Devolution fruits, as it were. Turns out that it wasn’t what we had bargained for.

In media circles we got talking. Therefore I set out on a mission to understand what these niggers will be doing. Are their positions constitutional? Are they going to assist the now new sheriffs in the villages the so called Ward Administrators? Are they going to be the gubernatorial campaigners at the grassroots? How many are they?

On this first day I called a cousin who was appointed. She was collecting her appointment letter at the County Public Service Board HQ, the otherwise famed bastion of sleaze, they say.

After giggling for some seconds, she went on to wax lyrical that actually that job pays. Confirming the scandalizing rumors that the so called governor’s right hand spanner spinners will be well remunerated.

So when are you beginning your gig siz? This month ending. Have you resigned yet from your current post? Nope. I want to take my last pay first then quit.

Okay.

Next Village Admin was my typical boy in the village. By all inner village standards, he is an influencer. A serving community leader by his own right and a successful business man, with a young family, the appointment gives him the buttress roots he wants for stability and raising his young family.

But I pity the Village Admins because the public are conditioned to beg from their leaders by the political class of this Kenya. Their little earnings will be depleted by wananchi requesting for tea at the local Mama.

School committees, wedding planners and funeral mourners will find a convenient target to milk county cash. After all, he is our leader. The last man standing of the “able H.E. Gov.”

I am told that they first call you an MCA before borrowing bad loans from you. If you don’t comply they call you their Governor now that the Senate is officially an empty shell.

My third interaction was with a Village Admin candidate.  As you can guess he was all sweaty and anxious that the proverbial axe could fall on him that the front runners in the village job were wives of assistant chiefs and serving veteran chiefs. The only thing that is between me and that job, is prayers, says he. I am hoping that God will answer my prayers. The rest is Chemistry. I am told by his close friends that he quietly penned that resignation letter and he is in the tail end of his exit strategy. I will miss that buddy. God help you.

What still baffles your former colleagues is that you chose to leave so unceremoniously. You must have gotten a better deal bro.

So to you the voter. Go slow on the Village Admin. Don’t entangle him with village politics and shenanigans.  He needs to deliver. Leave the chief campaigner alone to trumpet the credentials of the sitting king. You must be an enemy of development to point out that the king is naked. See no evil, hear no evil. Eat. Stupid.