Audio By Vocalize
UDA candidate in the Ol Kalou by-election Muchina Nyaga, Jubilee Party's Eng Wilson Kigwa and Kamau Ngotho of DCP.[File, Standard]
A thousand shillings can buy a packet of unga, a few tomatoes and perhaps enough vegetables for a day's meal. But somewhere along the way, we allowed it to buy something far more expensive, our voice. As Ol Kalou prepares for a by-election, familiar drums are beginning to beat. Not the drums of ideas. Not the drums of development. Not even the drums of accountability.
The drums we hear are those of carefully choreographed generosity. Women gather under tents. Youths are summoned in the name of empowerment. The elderly are invited in the name of support. Then envelopes appear. Smiles broaden. Names are recorded. Identification card numbers are shared. In some instances, fingerprints are taken as if citizenship itself has become a receipt of purchase. The tragedy is not that people accept the money. Hunger has a way of negotiating with dignity. Empty pockets often silence principles.
The real tragedy is that those distributing the money understand this too well. They know that desperation is fertile ground for manipulation. They know that when a mother worries about supper, democracy becomes a luxury she can scarcely afford. What we are witnessing is not empowerment. Empowerment does not arrive carrying a camera crew and disappear immediately after applause. Empowerment builds skills. It creates jobs. It leaves people stronger than it found them.
