There’s no doubt that the NASA manifesto has caught many Kenyans off guard. With the manifesto launched a day after Jubilee’s, it seems that many Kenyans, including in mainstream media, expected a literal replica of the Jubilee manifesto, except with a sprinkling of some characteristic NASA spice. The expectation that Jubilee would set the trend was comforted by the fact that the Jubilee manifesto launch party was more flamboyant than NASA’s.
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But we were in for a rude or pleasant surprise, depending on one’s political affiliation. 

Sequel to  Cruel scalpel as the sick man’s money fuels health crisis 

2017 will be a tense year for Kenya. It begins with wananchi suffering from lack of health services in the country's public hospitals due to the doctors' strike, and huge dissatisfaction with the runaway corruption that has plagued the Jubilee government. And yet, it appears that the Jubilee government is sabotaging the ability of voters to express that dissatisfaction through the ballot, especially after bulldozing amendments to the electoral act. But when it comes to healthcare, all sides of the political divide are amazingly united in shunning the public healthcare facilities they are supposed to build, and in seeking treatment in private hospitals or abroad. They then console us with philanthropy for services our taxes are supposed to provide, as our taxes disappear through corruption. Meanwhile, the journalists reporting the stories miss the ironies of the politicians' treatment choices.

 So this weekend, Kenyans are being treated to the carnival of the newly formed Jubilee Party. By God's grace, I have been overwhelmed this week by other matters, and so I didn't have the presence of mind to follow the news and share in the lethargy with which Kenyans are processing the splash of power and money. Many Kenyans feel that the 2017 elections are a done deal, and I think that that is partly the point of the Kasarani carnival - to overwhelm us into thinking that we really don't have a choice. 

So this morning, I remembered that I felt the same way during the TNA carnival four years ago when I wrote this post. If you didn't know that I wrote it in 2012, you would think I wrote it yesterday. But the only difference is, this time, is that I'm not that excited about voting. Since the IEBC demonstrations by CORD, my sense is that politicians decide how to share power and resources, and the citizens are simply there to give the charade some numbers. Our voice does not really count.

My gratitude goes to Chifu wa Malindi for preserving the post. Thank you for being a griot. A historian.

Posted May 21st, 2012 

I don't want to vote in the upcoming Kenya general elections. And I'm angry because I think that it's hardly a coincidence that I don't want to vote.

,Almost exactly a year ago, my husband and I were a newly married couple heading out to Kenya’s south coast for our honeymoon. We were on an emotional high; first, we couldn’t believe that we had met, let alone gotten married, and even then, we were amazed at how our friends and family were so excited for us, that they helped us celebrate our wedding. Initially, we hadn’t thought that anyone would care, especially for an older couple like us.  That’s why we had initially fantasized that we would say our vows in a 10-minute window offered by our church during the Sunday morning service.  And life would go on as usual.

But evidently, that didn’t happen, since now we were headed to Diani.

My goodness, the last week for me has been a whirlwind.

Those who follow me on social media know that the story of my husband and I and our recent wedding has now gotten onto national media. The response has been overwhelming. we’ve gotten calls, emails and inbox messages from men and women, some saying that our story has moved them to tears, others saying that our story has encouraged them and given them hope. Not hope to get married in particular, but just hope that miracles happen, that love prevails, and that we can do things differently.

But there’s been another story that has just been as moving for me, and which I don’t know if I’ll tell as compellingly – that of music.

For months, I’ve debated here whether I should reveal who received my presidential vote during the 2013 elections.

But today, I’ve decided to go ahead and just do it, because I felt I need to respond to this passionate plea by Boniface Mwangi, certainly one of my heroes.

Boni’s argument is based on this premise, which many well-meaning progressive Kenyans make: there are only two reasons to vote in Kenya – tribe and development. The argument therefore goes that tribe is the most important consideration for Kenyan voters, and that its antidote is to think of development.