By Caroline Boyani
In the words of Nobel Prize winner John Steinbeck, "Power does not corrupt. Fear
corrupts, perhaps the fear of a loss of power." Power sharing amongst the ruling and
opposition parties for the past two decades has proved an arbitrary card. This time it's to
no avail.
President William's move to nominate members of the Orange Democratic Movement
(ODM), among them Wycliffe Oparanya and John Mbadi, as cabinet secretaries spiked
anger among netizens and citizens on his motive- a part of them blaming the proposed
members for their betrayal by accepting to side with the government instead of joining
GenZs in holding the President accountable.
On the other hand, some have associated the move with the President coming up with a
tactic to weaken and finally get rid of the opposition party that was instrumental in
holding the government accountable over the years.
This move puts the opposition in a tricky position where they are untrustworthy to
perform their watchdog role. The GenZ protesters are not buying into the legitimacy of
the act and feel it's just a distraction which is satisfying a few individuals and not for the
greater good of the country.
“As a country, we have a lot of qualified, educated individuals who are not in politics
who could've been appointed for the positions, but this move to appoint people who
have previously and are currently working for the government is cat and rat play." A
disappointed youth said. “To make it worse, they didn't appoint any youth." Another
reiterated.
Recycling of leaders and politicians is what placed us in a situation of corruption and
unaccountability by those leaders as they feel they are greater than the rest of the
people who chose them. Giving opportunities to different new faces with new visions
and perspectives might curb the problem of redundancy and unaccountability, killing two
birds with one stone.
The people of Kenya continue to be betrayed as recycling of civil servants and
government officials. Through exorbitant taxes and violation of human and democratic
rights, Kenyans have been betrayed. There is no better time for change than now. The
fight for a better nation continues regardless of schemes by incompetent leaders to
betray our country.
