Today I will take time to post on
my blog, a personal column like writing out of the structured pieces I do for
the Star newspaper from Migori county.
Morning rain clouds have been
flirting with Migori town, and knowing my home town for being wet it’s now raining
with the horizon clouded in white rain sheet as I write this.
The long rains have arrived along with
the quickly rising political temperature as Migori is quickly shaping up ahead
of national elections slotted for next year.
Aspirants have tentatively tried to
test the ground by having spontaneous harambee, meet the people tour or strategizing
as they pick their teams ahead of official campaign kick-off.
Since the campaigns are yet to
fully take shape, politicians have hired henchmen and little political spanner
boys to test the ground on social media. Facebook, through popular groups have
turned up as a favorite spot with WhatsApp coming second.
A few savvy politicians and aspirants
have launched websites and hired bloggers to propagate their agenda to shape
their national image.
The 2017 political jumbo has fallen
and like hounds political spanner boys are already picking the carcass first,
if constant Facebook and WhatsApp posts celebrating their paymasters are anything
to go by.
Some have taken up multiple aspirants
through all five posts of Governor, Senator, Women Representative, Legislators
and MCAs.
The only unifying post is
presidency where Raila Odinga from the most populous Orange Democratic Movement
party brings together disparate views.
This overzealous social media posturing
will be the down fall of many aspirants as their spanner boys’ multiple ‘endorsement’
and jumping across aspirants will be their main undoing.
Let me explain: spanner boy X, for
example, has vowed support for Governor Okoth Obado, Women Representative
Dennitah Ghati and Suna West MP Joseph Ndiege. This is just an example.
Mr. X will constantly attack
everybody against Obado including spanner boy Y who supports, let us says,
governor aspirant Anne Omodho Anyanga. Already there is bad blood between the
two at governor position.
Later Mr. X and Mr. Y find themselves
supporting Ghati at Women Representative position. The two guys end up differing
again sharply at constituency level as Mr. Y supports, let us presume former Migori
mayor Peter Masara.
As the two continue asserting their
power through exchange of abuses and counter-attacks through multiple Facebook
and WhatsApp groups posts it is politicians who suffer the most.
To avert this Migori politicians
should pick up their social media ‘gurus’ selectively, reservedly and ensure
they stick to a single level and post in elections campaign. This will create
uniformity and avoid scuttling other voters.
A governor aspirant will seek votes
from supporters of politicians (aspirants and elected) in other posts, this
should never be compromised by an overzealous social media spanner boys.
Above all they should never bank on
these antics as there is no polling station called social media. If social
media was that powerful then Martha Karua and Peter Kenneth could’ve been
presidents by now.
(Follow me on Twitter @ManuelOdeny)
(Follow me on Twitter @ManuelOdeny)
