In politics, there exists a thin line between facts and fiction, truth and lies, real and artificial, right and wrong. Infact the definitions of the aforementioned terms are extremely relative. It depends who is asking who. Politicians have mastered the art of verbal charm in wooing the electorate. In the run-up to any political duel, aspirants chiefly employ verbal tact. Indeed they say successful seduction depends on the effectiveness of the verbal allure.
For the Kenyan electorate, politicians always have a field day during the campaign trails. They freely stretch the truth-which of course erode their validity - and add more questionable statements in form of promises which the citizenry sieze as the gospel truth.
Apart from the intentional image obliteration of the opponents, the promise card is always at the center of political show downs. It's no coincidence that most successful politicians also happen to be excellent orators - a case in point is the current president.
Kenya's President, William Ruto during a past event.
Image: Africa Intelligence
Kenya Kwanza regime rose to power majorly because of the verbal craft their leader unleashed throughout the campaign period. The then Deputy President, William Ruto (armed with unrivaled eloquency) splashed a flurry of promises. Realistically most (if not all) of the promises were not practical but again in the eyes of the voters they were beyond reproach.
After the dust settles down following a gruesome contest, the victors are charged with the responsibility of turning the promises into reality as the losers keep them in check. Has the Ruto's Presidency lived up to its promises? One may argue that it's too early to judge but let's look at the short-term promises made so far.
The most important promise the president made was to lower the cost of living within the first 100 days. One year down the line, the situation is worse. The president is unapologetic, in fact in some instances he has bullishly claimed that the cost of living is lower. In his defense he's citing the seasonal drop of maize price. In other instances he and his stalwarts have claimed the huge debt burden left behind by retired President Uhuru Kenyatta as the reason the country is suffering economically. In the end the president has vehemently refused to be held accountable for deteriorating state of the economy despite the glaring reasons to take responsibility.
In March, the Head of State made another ambitious promise of lowering the price of gas cylinder from 2800 to between 300 and 500 by May but in May he backtracked on his statement citing budget restrictions. So the promise was to forwarded to June after passing of the budget. This was quickly followed by a clarification that the price which was dropping was not the whole package but only the the empty cylinder.
Essentially what Ruto was saying was that the promise made in March was misunderstood or it was just a white lie. Why should a Head of State lie in front of cameras on a matter of such magnitude? The backtracking is also a case of evading accountability. Instead owning up, he changes tune in the name of clarification.
There are many other case scenarios that have left Kenyans with more questions than answers. Questions which may never be answered because those at their center are unborthered.
It's always a uphill task to fulfill political promises but the failure has never been this glaring. The leaders have never been also this evasive when it comes to accountability. At the moment the level of accountability from this regime is at record low and this is worrying because without accountability nothing moves in a nation.
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