By D S
In case you missed it, the “digital duo” that patented blaming “those foreigners for ‘interfering’ with Kenya’s sovereignty” has now contracted the services of a team of, you guessed it, the same foreigners who helped the xenophobic and bigoted Donald Trump win the US Elections.
Jubilee has hired the data mining company Cambridge Analytica to help with analytics in the upcoming August Elections. Concurrently, the US, yes, “those foreigners of choices have consequences” fame have also suspended KSh. 2.1bn in funding for activities carried out by several Ministry of Health departments.
US Agency for International Development (USAID) cited as reason for their actions “concerns about corruption and weak accounting procedures”.
For those with short memories, President Kenyatta’s sister Nyokabi Muthama and his cousin Kathleen Kihanya are both linked to Sundales International – the company embroiled in the KSh. 5bn Afya House scandal that prompted USAID’s action.
Let me see if I understand it:
On the one hand, we have a president who gladly embraces “those foreigners” to (a) lead his legal defense against the 2008 crimes-against-humanity charges at The Hague, (b) oversee data mining and analytics for the August 2017 Elections, (c) loan money for development projects and (d) donate food to his famine-stricken country only to turn around and castigate the same “foreigners” for “attempting to usurp the country’s sovereignty and independence” – this time by calling out and acting on corruption implicating his very own sister, cousin and indirectly, wife’s Beyond Zero Initiative.
Given the foregoing chain of events and President Uhuru Kenyatta’s past, I can already see Jubilee’s 2017 re-election campaign strategy:
Characterize the National Super Alliance Party (NASA) as a “stooge or tool of ‘those’ foreign powers” and use as his fig leaf, USAID’s decision to suspend funds for programs that include nutrition, family planning, maternal and child health, malaria, tuberculosis, HIV/Aids and strengthening health programs – all programs that unfortunately affect those unable to afford adequate medical treatment or fly abroad for medical treatment.
To paraphrase Barack Obama, another foreigner who also happens to be part-Kenyan:
If you don’t (i) pay attention to the pressing issues of the day, (ii)participate and worse yet, (iii) vote in elections, you get the leadership you deserve.
#dontbooVote
