By Shazia Majale
NAIROBI, Kenya – While some Kenyans had a front-row seat from the television to the defiance that has muddled the political arena here in Kenya, for some, it was a spectacle that the world over has been awed about.
Our neighbors far and near have had sentiments to share about Kenyans and the GenZ protests.
One such neighbor wonders, in sarcasm, what campaign means here in Kenya in the midst of all the unkept campaign promises and disgruntled citizens demanding better.
By definition, a campaign is an organized course of action to achieve a goal.
Give a politician this context, and anything really goes. Any situation worth salvaging. Any platform available to toot one’s own horn.
Armed with lies about ‘facts’ the voters never verify to sully their opponents, politicians thrive on these.
If they aren’t lying, they’re misinterpreting their constituents’ beliefs about political events to gain an advantage and sympathy.
The more a political aspirant overpromises, the more followers they gain, and one is left to wonder how gullible your people can be.
Is it that we are unrealistic, or do we just believe that once a politician is elected, they become procurement officers for all matters related to promises?
With truth, nonetheless, it’s most likely your campaign isn’t selling to anyone. We adore propaganda and cherish white-labeled campaigns.
Maybe that’s why every election year the promises keep getting more ridiculous.
Now that a generation has awakened the sleeping parts of a country thought so gullible, what exactly will campaigns morph into? This presents a challenge to most of our clueless leaders and their campaign teams, as they’re all helter-skelter to find a cause to grip onto that is reason to an otherwise angered electorate not so keen on feeling appeased without action.
As a nation, nonetheless, putting on our big boy pants and being keen on all aspects of politics, we are intrigued by how the 2027 campaign trail will present itself.
