By Lillian Onyango, DevReporter, Nairobi county
When I met Jackeline Achien’g, she was on her way back home from Lang’ata where she washes clothes to earn a living. Just down the road, there was an aspirant asking for votes in the forthcoming general elections. I could see people singing praises of his name, assuring him that he would be their next MP.
The aspirant then started dishing out money and that was when Jackeline ran past me holding a 50 shillings note. Happiness was written on her face and when I said hi, she too said hi with a smile.
I started by asking if I could get a share of the money. Of course, I was pulling her leg. I asked whether she will be voting for the aspirant who had just given her the money and she gave me a firm NO.
“An aspirant who dishes out money is just taking advantage because they know we don’t have money. They lure us with money so that we can vote for them. But I can’t give someone my vote just because he or she gave me money.” Jackeline said.
I asked her whether aspirants dishing out money to get votes are likely to fulfill on their manifestos.
“Not likely, because once he dishes out money and then gets into power, his first priority will be to recover the money he used to campaign. This means that as a citizen, I will be the one who will suffer. There will be no medicine in hospitals and there will be no development.” She added and headed her way.
Politics of handout is something that has become a tradition during campaigns. Those who know best say “no handouts no crowd”. Running for a political office in Kenya means candidates have to dig deep into their pockets because without dishing out money, candidates will have no followers, it doesn’t matter how good one is.
According to Terry Akinyi, a resident of Kibera, it is high food prices, especially the rising cost of unga (maize flour), coupled with unemployment among the youth that are leading voters to accept handouts.
These aspirants are well versed with the situation on the ground. They know how difficult it is to put food on the table and are hence, only taking advantage of people’s helplessness.
Unfortunately, some voters end up being lured by the handouts to vote for bad leaders.
