We just want a Kenya we can survive in

Happy new month.

Unfortunately for August, or for Kenya, this is not always the best month of the year, regardless of the auspicious things that happen in it.

But that can also be said for all other months as well, no? People die every month, children are born every month, and life goes on.

But there is something particularly sinister about August for election years.

It’s never a good feeling. And that feeling is always exacerbated by the fact that people in power seem incapable of just letting Kenyans be.

Chris Msando’s body was found last Monday. For those who don’t know, Chris Msando was the acting Director of ICT at the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission.

He had only held the position for a s weeks, and suddenly he is dead, leaving behind a wife and children, and a nation on the brink of a volatile election.

EXTREMELY BLUNT

I have heard many people say we should not politicise this death, but the glaring facts of the case make it hard not to do so.

Then there was the aspiring MCA whose children were murdered in cold blood.

Then the farces continue – the incumbent President mocking the republic by not showing up for the debate, for example. Sure, it isn’t the law, but isn’t that just rude?

You can’t say you’re talking to Kenyans at rallies, Mr President, but rather that you are talking at Kenyans at rallies. Rallies, in the words of the extremely blunt Miguna Miguna, are for dancing.

We all see the posters dirtying any free wall surface they can find. It is irritating, but will continue, regardless. We are plagued by loud campaign vehicles constantly, almost mercenaries in their agenda to spread their brand of gospel to a tired, unresponsive public.

SELF-PRESERVATION

We just want to live. We just want a Kenya we can survive in. Which candidate is promising that? On top of that, news is just a political update, or a debate, or a new conspiracy theory, or a new death.

There are several conversations I see happening online and in person, in which people are talking about leaving Kenya while they still can, before anything breaks out.

This is not a cowardly move, in my opinion – on the contrary, it seems to be a move of self-preservation.

Hopefully, we will have a smooth election and a concession by whichever side loses. We shouldn’t have to die because men in a boardroom, irrespective of the side, have decided that this country belongs to them, and they must keep it at any cost.

Who is supposed to be able to stand for anything, in such a scenario? And what are we going to do next, to prevent this from happening again to our country? Because the typical Kenyan is not the problem. The people pulling the strings that make women widows and children fatherless are.

Twitter: @AbigilArunga