Where Am I Giving by Kelsey Timmerman

Author:Kelsey Timmerman
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781119454410
Publisher: Wiley
Published: 2018-08-07T00:00:00+00:00

The seventh legend entered. George had a grin on his face and it takes only a half second to like him. He introduced himself as “George Bush” and passed out handshakes and hugs before showing us a video of him standing at the head of the Raila Odinga rally that had just taken place.

“Politicians have money. They use us,” George said. “They pay you [$50] to beat someone.”

“This election is dealing with issues of fairness,” Rozy said.

Democracy is a story we tell each other, and it functions only if we believe the story. After the election of 2007, more and more Kenyans started to view their democracy as a fiction. The structures that led to the disbelief date back further.

Under British rule, officials created divisions among ethnic groups to prevent them from uniting against the government. These divisions have been exploited by politicians. Daniel arap Moi, who was the president from 1972 to 2002, fanned the ethnic divisions, hiring groups of armed men to protect his party's interests.3

I talked with several people throughout Kenya who had received payments for their votes through the years. Some voters can earn $25 on election day “voting” for various candidates.

A 2014 report found that 50% of Kenya's wealth was in the hands of political families, including the Kenyatta and the Odinga families.4 Incumbent president Uhuru Kenyatta, the son of Kenya's first president, was listed by Forbes as the 26th wealthiest person in Africa. He has “at least” 500,000 acres of land across the country, and owns the nation's largest dairy, a commercial bank, and part of a popular TV station.5

So there's all that, plus the fact that a few weeks before the election, an election official was killed. There were rumors that the ruling party did it so they could tamper with the election results. Others thought the opposing party killed him so they could claim the election had been rigged.

So, in this void of trust and truth and opportunity, where the unheard speak through violence, the Legend of Kenya meet in the back of a church each day. They organize debates between local candidates on all sides.

We left the secret hideout, escaped the music, and walked down the street (see Figure 13.1).

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