By Dorcas S
I have been toying around with the word “schadenfreude” since Jubilee took office in 2013. The word took on added urgency when Donald wuod Trump took office in January of this year. For those who don’t know; “schadenfreude” is the “pleasure derived by someone from another person’s misfortune.”
Yes, I know. I should not be happy at the misfortune of others and frankly I am not.
I am, however, extremely pissed that seemingly rationale and smart people could elect into office, people accused of the most heinous of crimes. Okay so Ms. Bensouda could not sustain charges against the digital duo. But we all know that the Chief Prosecutor couldn’t convict Mr. Kenyatta and Mr. Ruto because of blatant and repeated obstruction of justice – perpetrated by the accused no less!
Okay, so that’s the “way the cookie crumbles”. I will not dwell on the ICC cases, as much as it hurts that thousands lost their lives and hundreds of thousands of others had theirs completely turned upside down.
Which brings me to the current state – on matters of food on the table – not in the “serikali saidia” sense, but in the poor planning/hoarding/market manipulation what-the-hell-happened-to-the-price-of-unga-if-I-can-find-it sense.
One Gabriel Oguda wrote a masterpiece on how Kenyans run out of maize, a staple that any government with half a brain would ensure never runs out. The warning signs (frankly Kenya’s history with food shortages and land skirmishes during run-ups to elections) were there for all to see so I will not rehash Mr. Oguda’s words nor will I repeat the history of elections in Kenya.
Similarly, Hillary Clinton warned Americans about the incompetence that is DJT not to mention the possibility that he is beholden to Vladimir Putin (Putin’s puppet is how she characterized him in one of their debates.) She repeatedly cautioned Americans to look back to Mr. Trump’s past utterances and actions as a window into what his administration will look like.
One hundred-plus days later and the verdict is in.
Hillary DID warn Americans!
Similarly, Kenyans knew that Uhuru Kenyatta had a history of corruption – his bon homie and ability to “dab” notwithstanding. KSh. 9bn (“…typo or whatever…”) mysteriously disappeared during his time as Minister of Finance. They knew that he learnt from the best – his dad Jomo and his mentor Moi – both land-grabbers and kleptocrats of global reputation (Kroll Report, Ndungu Report etc.).
They knew that the DP was a key figure in the YK92 movement that printed money (“jirongos”) to fund then-President Moi’s re-election. Like his boss, WSR learnt politics from his boss’s mentor Moi. The two – UK and WSR – are peas-in-a-pod, the “Nyayo Opharns”. This dirt was/is in the public domain – for all to see; in 2012/2013. But as usual, the country circled the wagons around their tribal “sons” and accused “those foreign powers” of trying to usurp “our hard-won independence” and the rest is history.
The two – UK and WSR – have been at the helm for the past four years and like the monkey that helped the snake across the river only to have the asp bite and kill the Good Samaritan, starving Kenyans who elected UK/WSR are poised to do the same thing Americans in the “Red States” did on November 8, 2016:
Elect a ticket with a demonstrably selfish and self-entered record on bread-n-butter issues.
Some of us warned fellow Kenyans that they will rue voting for the two crimes-against-humanity suspects with a history of grabbing land and other national resources; this unlike Donald Trump who grabs other stuff.
Now people are hungry and angry because the leaders they entrusted with creating an environment where families could work hard and put food on the table are “eating meat” while others, unable to find unga, are “mezaring mate” or simply dying:-(
That’s why I have been toying around with the word “schadenfreude”.
Si some of us warned you that “watoto wa nyoka ni nyoka”?
It never fails: Those Who Refuse to Learn From History…..oh and Shauri Yenu!
Leave a Reply