For the last month, during Ramadhan, my neighbors and I have suffered
sleepless nights, thanks to Ali Hassan Joho (MP aspirant for the
Kisauni constituency) and Kushe (Mombasa town council aspirant).
Every night, late into the night, over loudspeakers, Joho and Kushe would campaign for hours reminding us to vote. Last night their fans insolently made the most powerful racket playing loud music, dancing and hooting through the small hours and into the morning.
For once, the police answered swiftly to my 999 call and tried to restore order. However, knowing these two politicians, famous for their rogue behavior, the din would be sure to restart as soon as the police left. As I write this, there's somebody outside Joho's gate with a stentorian voice inciting everybody who comes around to join him in shouting Joho's praises.
I decided to boycott this year's elections. All the candidates running for both parliament and the president's office have been promising the world to the electorate when they know very well that they will not be able deliver nor will they make an effort to do so once assuming public office. Kibaki was the only one silent about the constitutional review and it's adaptation.
I decided not to give any of these questionable characters my vote. I never got to know the other candidates as they only campaigned in Kisauni proper and did not vernture into my neighborhood.
Considering that both these candidates are my neighbours and I know them quite well, they used every means to get votes, most of them underhand. According to the Kenya Election's Malpractice booklet (download here ) most of what Joho and Kushe have been practicing is akin to rigging. The last straw for me was a procession of vans and a bus yesterday that blocked access into the estate and left no parking spaces for the neighborhood.
As far as I am concerned, the majority of Kenyans are easily manipulated by these kind of questionable politicians. For the most part, I think the Kenyan electorate is not educated on what their obligations are, not before and not even after an election.
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In fact, that was the 3rd time that an attempt was made to cut it off. While the previous 2 times, I was successful in saving it, the third time round, even the local NEMA office paid no attention to my pleas for stopping them.
About Joho, the less said the better. The guy has built a palatial house within the Council's estate and always has at least 2 or more brand new cars usually 4WDs or others equally fancy ones without number plates sitting in his yard which I can see from my balcony on the 2nd floor. He and his brother Abu have been reservists at one point. Which is probably why they drive around town with impunity and intimidate the cops who stop them for driving unregistered cars. I have an account of one such incidence too, that I've written about a couple of years ago.
One of his younger brothers with 2 others and the guy (Ahmed), downstairs are suspects in my car being smashed up on the night of 13th of July. All because, I objected to Ahmed keeping goats and selling charcoal (still is doing this, last), and the Ministry of Livestock & Fisheries vet confiscated them and had him charged before a magistrate for breaking Municipal by-laws. I have pics and a write up about this, too. The same night, somebody smashed my two windshields and a rear window with two cabro bricks which were found in the back of the two front seats while nothing inside the car was touched or disturbed. The cops translated this as malicious damage and the suspects were warned.
I'm so fed up of these people and what they have made of a once lovely and quiet neighbourhood. I'm one of the oldest residents of this estate and have been living here for nearly 50 years! Yes, I just turned 53 earlier this month.
In fact, the plot that Joho has built on was 'allocated' to him by the Council. In other words, it's public land that the Council for reasons best known to them, sold to private developers in the mid 1990s. His is just one such house. There are many others including a mosque and a butchery which are not just grabbed but also on a road reserve and nobody seems to be able to do anything about all of these issues, unfortunately.