Kenya Elections - 2017

Milridah's Blog...Evidence Confronted

We are nearing elections, just a few weeks away now. Much is happening across Kenya with many uncertainties facing the people. Comparing January with June this year, we see economical, political and social changes. The cost of living for example, has highly risen over the last few months and many Kenyans are suffering due to hunger.

Knowing that the highest percentage of the population are under 25 years, many politicians are making promises in favour of youths. This has been a trend for a very long time. They promise youths "heaven" but when they get into power, youths continue living in "hell".  Two-thirds of youth with post-secondary education remain jobless. They have papers but no jobs; and if they have any, they are low paying menial jobs. Those in power snap up the best for themselves. It is during election time that politicians befriend youths and use them in their rallies. Some are paid and others are made drunk to cause chaos in their opponents' rallies.  To summarise, youths in Kenya are misused and looked down upon. 

Politics in Kenya is based on tribalism. Here people mainly vote for tribes and parties not leaders or individuals. Currently we have two main political parties; these are NASA and Jubilee, the current ruling party. Jubilee is comprised of two major tribes while NASA is mainly for the rest of the tribes. Since 2007 politics in Kenya has never been free and fair as it should be. As we are praying for peace throughout this period, supporters of some parties/candidates claim that they must win whether it's by votes or guns. 

If I was a candidate I would urge Kenyans to vote for the best leader and not parties, tribes or clans. It is high time that we Kenyans should open our eyes and minds to do the right thing. I pray for peaceful elections that will be open and not corrupt. No more bloodshed, may God help us. 

The politics of today reminds me of those days after the 2014 Garissa University terror attack. We the survivors were promised a lot by the Kenyan government but none of the promises were fulfilled. In fact, the aid that other countries donated to the survivors was used by those same leaders. We just heard about those donations from the social media, but we never saw them. As if they didn't know what we went through, they wanted us to go back to Garissa University to continue with our studies.  Were it not for our lecturers, most of us would have stopped learning. 

It pains me to realize that some of us have had to defer our studies due to lack of fees and sustainable money.  The nations that donated money to pay fees for the less fortunate reconcile must have been angry at those in power who "ate" the funds. Some of my colleagues were given out country scholarships; yet, only 20% actually got the chance to study abroad. That was mainly due to the Dean of Students fighting for them. 

I thank God for CES Kenya and CES Canada who sponsored my studies and supported me from that point on. May God bless you and give you favour.  I am proud of my country but I will say that those in power have let us down.

Milridah Ominde

June, 2017