The much-hyped 2018 handshake between President Uhuru Kenyatta and ODM Party Leader Raila Odinga seems to be coming to a crumbling end after all the promises pillaring the famous handshake failed to see the day.
There is a golden lesson that Kenyans have refused to learn from pre-colonial ethnic warlords: When an ethnic warlord collaborates with the oppressor, they are exposing their people to all the treacheries of the enemy. The people who are going to be affected the most by this betrayal is said to be the people from Western Kenya.
Raila Odinga is Western Kenya’s ethnic warlord. Odinga carries their dreams, hopes, and ambitions. In Odinga they trust! The tragedy with loyalty to Odinga is that every time he fails, Western Kenya fails and not him.
Kisumu and its environs are about to receive the biggest blow after Kenyatta betrays Odinga. Among the many things that Kenyatta (on behalf of the Establishment, Deep State, and the ruling elites) promised Odinga were:
- Extending the railway line to cover the Western Kenya region;
- Making Kisumu a thriving business hub; and
- Upgrading the Kisumu port into a state-of-the-art facility.
All those promises are now mere dreams. The government of Kenya is broke and China refused to give Odinga and Kenyatta another loan. It seems the Chinese cannot condone embezzlement of its Belt & Road Initiative funds. Now all the promises Odinga gave to his faithful followers from Kisumu are about to get broken.
No one should blame Odinga though. He did what he saw was good for the country. The people of Western Kenya should blame is themselves. There is a reason God warned Israelites through Jeremiah against trusting a man. A mortal man makes mistakes, some of which are costly to the entire society.
Western Kenya is about to learn God’s warning the hard way; by lurking behind in development forever, especially now that Uhuru is leaving the office. There will be no other loan between now and 2022 and there is nothing else President Kenyatta will do. Tighten your belts, it is going to be a rough ride!
