Kenyans in a celebratory mood during the 62nd Madaraka Day celebrations at Raila Odinga stadium on June 1, 2025. /FAITH MATETEKenya has the most enlightened voter in
Africa, maybe even world over. We have proof. We have screenshots. We have 2 am
spaces where someone explains devolution using a matatu analogy and everyone
claps in the chat.
Stop any boda rider and ask about Article 174. You will get a full lecture, with citations. Ask him who the last CEC for health in that county was and what they delivered, and you will get "ni yetu" and a shrug.
Our WhatsApp groups are full of budget PDFs at midnight. We are sure to be in a queue to vote for "our son" because "at least when he eats, he will remember us." This applies fully to 2027.
We are going to collect the Sh500, take the T-shirt, take the photo and we will have tweeted that "The Kenyan voter cannot be bought." That is not hypocrisy. That is just portfolio diversification.
We are not sophisticated. We are strategic beggars with good grammar. We are impatient not because we are smart, but because we want results before the next fundraiser. Why read the County Governments Act when a 40-second clip will tell you who to be angry at this week? The last county promised a market in 90 days and gave us a banner in 30. We clapped. That is not oversight. That is us negotiating with our own disappointment.
Our parties have no ideology. They have colours. We know the colours like we are sitting KCSE. We do not know the manifesto. We know the slogan. And then we repeat what the media tells us: "Kenya has the most politically aware electorate in Africa." It must be true. We heard it on TV. And people on TV do not lie. They are also on TikTok, so they have been fact-checked.
It is time we stopped the pretence.
Take Rigathi Gachagua.
He speaks like a tribalist. He organises like a tribalist. He calls it "community interest" and "shareholding." You have heard the clips.
And ‘his people’ defend him. "He is just saying what we are all thinking." "He is protecting his people." When it is our tribalist, it is honesty. When it is their tribalist, it is hate speech.
This is the same Gachagua who was the chief government defender yesterday and is its chief critic today. And we cheer both times. Not because we read a policy paper. Because he is ours now. He has all the answers where Ruto appears to have failed!
That is us. We installed the man, we clapped for the speech, and now we clap for the criticism of the speech.
In Things Fall Apart, Eneke the bird said: "Since men have learnt to shoot without missing, I have learnt to fly without perching." The hunter is us. We made politics zero-sum, ethnic, cash-based. So, the politician adapted. He learnt to speak tribe at the rally and development at the fundraiser. He learnt that if you cannot win on issues, you win on identity. He did not invent this. We taught him. And we keep paying school fees.
Let’s be honest about what happens every election cycle. Governors don’t hide in offices. They hide in waves. And we are the water.
First comes identity. "They are
targeting our community." Suddenly every audit query is an attack on us.
Every stalled project is a conspiracy against our region. The governor
disappears behind the flag and we carry the flag for him.
Then comes small money. Bursaries in
January. Medical camps in March. Empowerment in June. Gravel in August. None of
it was planned. All of it is filmed. We call it "development." It is
distribution. But it photographs well, so we repost it with fire emojis
Then comes noise. A fight with an MCA. A new slogan. A presser. We spend three weeks arguing about it online. Meanwhile we forget to ask about pending bills, ghost projects and salaries that haven’t come. If we are angry at him, we are still talking about him. That is the whole strategy.
Finally comes the last 60 days. T-shirts. Caps. Chairs. Groundbreakings. "Projects launched" that will be completed "next term." We see it, we call it out on X, then we go and collect the cap. Because "at least I am benefiting."
This is how they get reelected. Not by work. By waves. And we are the ones clapping when the wave comes.
So, let’s stop pretending we are shocked.
We love to ask questions. Just not the ones that matter.
Who funded Sifuna in 2017 running for senator: We don’t know. We don’t want to know. We know his tweets. We know his comebacks. We don’t know his financiers.
Who funded this MCA: Who paid for the 20 buses: Who owns the company that keeps getting county tenders: Who bankrolled the governor’s campaign, and what did they get in return:
We don’t ask. Because asking means we might have to admit that our person is also dirty. And we are not ready for that conversation.
The true background of politicians should be questioned by the voter. Their money. Their networks. Their businesses. Their court cases. Their tax records.
But we skip that. We go straight to tribe. We go straight to "ni yetu." Then we act surprised when the person performs exactly like the deal we made.
The Kenyan voter needs to stop the pretence. You are not an issue-based voter. You are a tribalist and a wave rider. Own it.
Inside this system, our choices make perfect sense.
Poverty is real. When school fees are due, that 500 bob in December is not corruption. It is survival.
History is real. When resources move through personalities, being "outside" feels like punishment. So, we vote for our person even when we know he will steal. That is insurance.
Weak parties are real. When there is no institution, the only thing you can trust is a face and a surname. So, we vote for the face.
All of that is rational. And all of that is why we are stuck.
We are tactical geniuses. We can mobilise a ward in 48 hours. We know which church to visit, which elder to greet, which WhatsApp admin to pay. But we cannot build. Building takes time. Building means losing one election to win the next ten. Building means funding ideas instead of individuals.
We don’t do that. So, we get what we order.
For 10 years we have been told we are the most politically aware voters. We wore that like a badge.
Now it is an excuse. When things go wrong, we say: "We voted well, but..." But nothing. We voted for the wave. We voted for the cap. We voted for the tribalist because he was our tribalist.
We reward noise. The MCA who trends for three days wins. The one who reads the budget loses.
We reward distribution. The leader at every
burial with an envelope is "development minded." The one in the
budget office is "missing."
We reward ethnic math. Then we complain that counties are run like clans.
That is not the system’s fault. That is us.
So, stop the pretence.
If you are a tribalist, be a tribalist. Don’t hide behind "issue-based" tweets.
If you are a wave rider, ride the wave. Don’t pretend you are waiting for the manifesto.
If 500 bob decides your vote, say so. Don’t write threads about sovereignty.
If "ni yetu" is your policy, own it. Don’t quote the constitution at midnight and abandon it at the ballot.
An actually honest voter would follow the money. Who funded Sifuna in 2017: Who is funding him 2027: Show me. If you can’t, I won’t vote.
He would reject his own tribalist first. Especially then. Because copying Gachagua’s formula just means more copies will come.
He would ignore the last 60 days. He would ask in January for the CIDP. In June for reports. In September because the project is late. He would treat launch season as evidence of failure, not success.
He would stay in one party and fight there. Party-hopping is not strategy. It is tourism.
He would know that posting is not power. A space is not a caucus.
But we are not there. And we won’t get there by lying to ourselves.
The Kenyan politician is not a mystery. He is a mirror.
He reflects the questions we don’t ask.
He reflects the money we don’t trace.
He reflects the tribe we protect and the county we keep postponing.
He reflects that we want an accountant for four years and a Messiah in election year, but we only show up in election year.
Gachagua is what we made. The governor riding the waves is what we made. The next one will also be what we make.
Eneke the bird learnt to fly without perching because the hunter never missed. The politician learnt to campaign without a manifesto because we never asked for one. We learnt to be "enlightened" without being effective because we never punished ineffectiveness.
So here is the truth, Kenyan voter:
Stop the pretence. You are not above tribe. You are not above 500 bob. You are not above the wave.
Until you admit that, you will keep producing the same leaders and writing the same angry threads after.
The problem is not that we don’t know. The problem is that we know, and we still choose the wave.
Your move.
