Rieko Mwenyewe’s personal take on Kenya Kwanza’s track record to date…

The leaders of the United Democratic Alliance which campaigned as Kenya Kwanza made voluminous promises to achieve victory in Kenya’s General Election on 9th August 2022. Have their promises been matched by delivery? Listed below are some of the salient promises for the voters to see if Kenya Kwanza is on the right track when it comes to delivery.

‘HUSTLER’ NARRATIVE

The ‘Hustler’ narrative was the first notion which President WilliamRuto started to use when he claimed that all the previous Presidents, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, President Daniel Arap Moi, President Mwai Kibaki and President Uhuru Kenyatta, were from Dynasties and he wanted to be the first President to come from a noble background.

It is noteworthy to state that President Jomo Kenyatta started off as Mau Mau detainee before he asscended to Presidency with the support of Jaramogi Oginga Odinga among other leaders. President Daniel Arap Moi was a Primary School Teacher and President Emeritus Mwai Kibaki was a Leader of Kenya African National Party before became President. It goes without saying that the idea of Hustler versus Dynasty was not true but President William Ruto used it to hoodwink the voters.

Recently President William Ruto clarified that Hustler is not just for the poor, even millionaires can be Hustlers. That drastically changes the original Hustler notion.

BOTTOM-UP NARRATIVE

The Kenya Kwanza Brigade talked a lot about the ‘Bottom Up’ economic tirade. All people in the range of Boda Boda, Mama Mboga, and Small and Medium Business operators were the ones who will first be considered for plumb Government positions, they claimd. But when it came to the nomination of Cabinet Secretaries and Principle Secretaries, all the nominees were millionaires, the highest worth Ksh1.4 billion and the lowest Ksh80 million.

HUSTLER FUND

The President vehemently contended that a ‘Hustler Fund’ would be set up with Ksh50 billion cash and among other good tidings will be given to Mama Bogas, Jua Kalis, and Small and Medium Enterprises at no interest nor collateral. This woud make it easier for needy people to access the Fund.

It now comes out that there will be a management team to handle the Fund just like in the Affirmative Action Fund for Women, PWDs and the Youth which has been so mismanaged. There will also be a Commitment Fee and an interest scheduled below 10% which is against the original promise. The defaulters will also be fined up to Ksh10 million if they default in repaying the loan. It was added that even Business Persons whose turn over is Ksh100 million can apply for the Hustler Loan.

REDUCE THE LIVING STANDARD

The Kenya Kwanza brigade also used the cost of living which has now escalated to a very high level. They blamed the previous government of President Uhuru Kenyatta for Handshake which was, by and large, the reason why there was peace from 2018 after the botched General Election of 2017. The team promised to control the grudge within the first 100 days. It has come out that the President asked for one year to realize this dream. Meanwhile, Kenyans are lavishing in hunger. The fuel issue is escalating to a figure which is definitely going to be phenomenal.

THE SUBSIDY OF FERTILISERS

Immediately after taking over the Government, President William Ruto introduced the subsidy of herbicides to support farmers to grow more food products to sustain food security, but he did not take into account climate change which now affects the agricultural products. It seems as if due to poor rain paterns this subsidy of herbicides may not be of much help. It was also not spread across Kenya.

CORRUPTION MENACE

Although Kenya Kwanza did not advocate for the control of corruption, the idea of pressing on the DCI Officers to disclaim the evidence they originally presented to the ODPP which necessitated the withdrawal of cases already in court did not auger well with Kenyans and may easily result in more corruption being witnessed in the country.

THE DROUGHT MENACE

This phenominal drought came ubruptly and has made the President ask for international support. This will also act as a predator to managing the economic high standard of living. About 31 Counties including, Marsabit, Narok, Isiolo, Nyeri, Turkana, Moyale, Kiambu, Tharaka Nithi, Kajiado, and Lamu, among others are the worst hit.

DIMINISHING OPPOSITION

United Democratic Alliance started off their campaign by saying that it covers the Face of Kenya and they did not want tribal small parties. They realised that they could not survive on their own and later they lured Ford Kenya and Amani National Congress Parties to form Kenya Kwanza.

Then after winning the General Elections they compromised other parties like MDG and UDM which were affiliated to the Asimiyo La Umoja One Kenya Coalition and even the independent parties, to reduce the power of the opposition to check the Government activities, which President William Ruto candidly supports.

CONCLUSION

The views expressed herein depicts the notion that Kenya Kwanza Government under President William Arap Ruto has not lived up to most of their manifesto promises, at least up to now.