Although I’m not talking about Raila Odinga, the question would be, did William Ruto steal the August 9, 2022, presidential poll? Isn’t that why there is an ongoing petition at the Supreme Court? Isn’t the script unchanged? Allow me to use a social fact we are all familiar with.
In a typical African society, villagers always had an explanation for death. Even when it’s clear that a man or woman died of sicknesses such as diagnosed HIV/Aids, accidents, malaria, or even eating poisonous wild fruits, there was always that witch or wizard; or mother-in-law, stepmother or jealous neighbour with who they quarrel because of livestock. That person is always the killer! In Africa, everyone is supposed to live Infinitum if not interfered with.
Likewise, political scapegoating is a strategy and way of life in Africa. No one loses. Ask everyone who was defeated in an election—they can’t go down just like that. In particular, accepting defeat in Africa and Kenya is cowardly, juvenile, and unbecoming. All our politicians have mastered the chorus from Claude McKay’s poem thus “if we must die, let it not be like hogs…If we must die, O let us nobly die.” That begs the question, do ordinary people care about who becomes their leader?
Amílcar Cabral, a Pan-African revolutionary from Guinea-Bissau, argued, “People…are fighting to win material benefits, to live better and in peace, to see their lives go forward, to guarantee the future of their children.” In this context, civilians are obligated to submit their sovereignty to a few elites with the potential to tyrannize them.
