Sunday, January 20, 2013

Sonko, Waititu win Should not Shock Us


There was widespread disquiet and even self-righteous expressions of horror yesterday as it emerged that two populist City politicians, Gideon Mbuvi AKA Mike Sonko, the immediate former Makadara MP and his former Embakasi counterpart Ferdinand Waititu, also known as Clifford were leading in the race for nomination to be Nairobi senator and governor respectively on TNA ticket.
Social media platforms and net-works were bombarded with campaigns and warnings of dire consequences if the city residents should be daft enough to elect the two as their top corporate and political voices respectively.
The elitist- inspired analysts might want to be brought to speed and be reminded of few home truths. The first one is simply one of demo- graphics and demographic dynamics in what is political parlance is called numbers.
The County of Nairobi is estimated to have four million residents. Of the four million, about 1.8 million registered as voters.
Roughly 60 percent of registered voters in what reflects voting pat- terns constitute the underclass who do not access the internet nor have shared values, ethos and concerns with those who are stridently and vehemently expressing apprehen- sion at the prospects of Sonko and Waititu’s electoral victories.
The struggle to intervene to check the flight from rural poverty to ur- ban areas gave rise to the stark real- ity of unplanned settlements, oth- erwise called slums.
In the case of Nairobi, 60 percent of the people are slum dwellers— Philip Ochien’g insists it’s a misnomer to call them residents! The settlements are heavily polluted and contaminated by human refuse, garbage, soot, dust and every other conceivable waste.
In some places, they are constructed on unyielding topography, on riparian land, on road power, railway and other utility reserves and of course private land.
These people are daily faced with the threat of eviction. Losing battle for the slums would condemn these people to absolute destitution. So you wonder why Ferdinand Waititu and Mike Sonko appear to strike the right chord with the slum dwellers? Well, the answer is that they have repeatedly put their lives on the line to identify with these people.
Of course it is all a calculated risk. But Sonko and Waititu have done their costs and benefits analysis and know what they reap politically from what to the rest appear insane antics. Hauled in jail and put in the dock? Well Mike does not mind. Beaten up and dragged on the road by police? Fine with Waititu!
The burgeoning numbers of people who have been ostracised or elbowed out from the eco- nomic mainstream have fewer false notions for upward mobility and seemingly feel lower level of responsibility and obligation to political stability and all the fancy democratic notions of accountable governance, leadership and integrity and the lofty things which the new Constitution holds up primarily because their world is fashioned to seek immediate fulfillment and short term gains.
Unfortunately by virtue of numbers, they are also the wielders of the voting card and thus the decision makers! This is the trick, if at all, why Sonko could very well be Nairobi County’s first senator and Waititu, its first governor!
There is no rocket science in what we are witnessing. Love them or hate them, these two have their finger on the pulse of the disadvantaged.
Sonko has transformed himself into something of a political deity for swathes of people in Nairobi’s well popu- lated Eastlands and more so the huge army of unemployed youth and coupled with his deep pockets and ready disposition to dip his hand into the same for the sake of his constit- uents, like it or not, he remains king.

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