Poor Linda, she has become associated with all things dysfunctional in Kenya. If a name were to become extinct in the country, I think Linda would be very soon.
Here she is again, bang in the middle of Kenya’s politics as if she did not cause enough confusion and heartache in Linda Mama, where she failed to protect the women under her watch.
I don’t think it is all Linda’s fault. Her name keeps being dragged around by politicians who lack creativity and are out to deceive again. Linda, for those unfamiliar with Kiswahili, is not just a name for females; it means to protect. It is a verb laden with and burdened with impossibilities.
As a verb, it ought to make one feel safe and secure in the knowledge that someone in charge is truly out there to protect Kenyans, and that someone is a Kenyan politician. However, there is nothing further from the truth. Linda is a trap, and Linda is also a harness for politicians.
The latest version of Linda is at many political rallies, choking the lives of Kenyans. This time, Linda is spreading herself too thin. She is out to protect the Lake, Mount Kenya and the ground. She now sounds like a goddess. Her elasticity is being stretched even further as early campaigns for 2027 start to justify the chaos that reigns in Kenya’s politics.
Linda is the noise echoing across the country as politicians traverse the land, preaching to the unconverted but hungry and desperate voters. Linda is the harbinger of the mental health-inducing tragedy that is Kenyan politics and egos. She has single-handedly produced mad men and women with microphones in hand, torturing Kenyans with their screams and hollow agendas.
The noises and chaos ensuing at Linda inspired political rallies is of concern. Politicians have taken to the microphone as if it were going out of fashion. With it in their hands, noise pollution has hit higher political decibels. Some are loud and angry enough to lead to violence. Reports of goons at some political rallies is a curtain raiser for what is to come. With the actual elections a year away, political tension is already palpable, but politicians are too self-centred, blind to see or deaf to hear the concerns of the citizens.
Politicians taking to the road and turning every market town from Nairobi to Namanga and Mombasa to Mumias into platforms of matching screams are becoming a breach to the peace. They are causing a nuisance wherever they go with their noise and insults. If an ordinary Kenyan had hurled one bad word at the other, he or she would face the full wrath of the law. Why are politicians getting away with being a nuisance?
There should be better ways to campaign without bringing markets and towns to a standstill. Kenyan politicians have become thieves of time, too, not just public funds. Gathering thousands of people just to hear self-absorbed individuals campaign this early shows lack of consideration.
Even unemployed Kenyans need their time to think and strategise how to get out of their situations. It would have been nice to gather Kenyans at various industries that ought to have been initiated by politicians who are now back after years of underperformance, to irritate the poor they neglected all this time with their noise.
It is quite shameful to have so many Kenyans show up at every rally. Whether they turn up after the inducement of a few shillings or are just bored with poverty and using the rallies to fill the empty hours is neither here nor there. How is it that large numbers of Kenyans have that much free time to listen to shouting and screaming politicians saying nothing? It is, in fact, an indictment of politicians to have so many Kenyans unemployed and unengaged in any sort of economic activities.
The idea of big daily political rallies is a phenomenon to Kenya and indeed Africa. Politicians in thriving economies would be hard-pressed to gather a handful of people at roadsides for their campaigns at the drop of a hat. It takes all hands on deck to build a wealthy and industrious country. Singapore style Kenya won’t be built by layabouts at the mercy of noise makers in the name of politicians.
There should be a rethink on how politicians engage with Kenyans. All these political rallies are unnecessary and, in fact, a nuisance. These ugly roadshows must be brought to an end. Silencing the political microphones now would lay the ground for a peaceful and orderly path to the elections. Goons thrive at political rallies. Their growth is anathema for Kenya’s peace post 2027. It is time to call a time on the nuisance that is political rallies.
