The Jubilee Government with hardly one year to the next General election continues to misread the political expectations of the people of the Counties of the former Western Province and Trans Nzoia County (read Luhyia Nation).
With the Cord Coalition that harvested the overwhelming majority of the votes of the region lacking credibility and gravitas in the region for its inconsistent rhetoric more so when it’s party leader and the co-principals could not stand up to have the looters and plunderers of Mumias Sugar Company within its ranks to be prosecuted for economic crimes against the Luhyia Nation Western is waiting for a credible political alternative that won’t take it for a ride.
The Jubilee Government and more so it’s pointsman to seduce Western Kenya to look favourably, come 2017 and Jubilee Deputy President William Ruto has made hundreds of trips to the region in the last one year dangling the mantra of Jubilee’s development initiatives to the region.
But wait a minute are Deputy President William Ruto and his boss President Uhuru Kenyatta not engaged in an endeavor of tokenism to Western Kenya? Reviving Mumias Sugar Company that was plundered under the watch of now Cord Coalition leaders is not a new investment of the Jubilee Government in the region.
They (Jubilee) can’t prosecute the thieves? Equally selling PanPaper under a dubious and suspect transaction to the Rai family who are well known business associates of the Kenyatta family is not a new development by the Jubilee Government in Western Kenya.
It is at worst an insult and playing with the intelligence of the region if the Rai’s are picking the heritage of the region for a pittance and with the blessing of the Jubilee Government.
The Jubilee Government is indeed taking up the economic carcasses of the region that former Prime Minister Raila Odinga bequeathed on the region during the Grand Coalition Government and thinking they (Jubilee) can use their revival in dodgy, non-transparent fashion as trump cards to get votes in the region.
The Jubilee Government will only endear itself to the voters of Western Kenya if it can initiate its own brand new repeat brand new mega infrastructure projects in the region. This is the third year and Jubilee cannot point to one single brand new mega infrastructure project it has initiated in the region.
The Jubilee Government cannot claim credit for the Kitale-Webuye- Kakamega- Kisumu Road rehabilitation as that was a Grand Coalition Government project. Equally the Eldoret –Webuye- Malaba road rehabilitation project was a Coalition Government Project.
The worst insult of the Jubilee Government to the people of Western Province and more so of Kakamega, Bungoma and Busia Counties was to steal the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) from their mouth having been granted to them by the Grand Coalition to pass through Turbo, Webuye, Bungoma and Malaba and then reroute it to Narok, Bomet, Kisumu and with a residual hope to Busia.
The disaster of this travesty of Western’s vested the economic rights to the SGR is that the re-routing of the SGR was calculated to benefit a relative of the Kenyatta family who owns vast contested Maasai land on the way to Narok.
The Jubilee Government grant of a Charter to Kibabii University remains a photo, public relations gimmick unless they can demonstrate an allocation of at least Ksh. 10 billion in the new financial year to ratchet up the development of the University.
Look at the Jubilee Government lavishing of grand projects to the County of Nairobi that is contagious to Central Province in all manner of mega projects.
The deputy President during the Jubilee reign has steered the commencement of the construction of a fertilizer factory in Eldoret projected to cost Ksh. 100 billion and the same is set to start operations by end of this year. Can the Jubilee Government point to one brand new mega billion investment in Western?
The Jubilee Government must come to woo the people of Western Province to vote for it come 2017 by unveiling, initiating brand new Mega billions infrastructure projects and not by showcasing how they are struggling to revive industries whose economic viability may belong past the sale by debt.
The Jubilee Governments patching up of tattered, limping factories, industries is no way to read the political economy of the region. Tokenism, paternalism of the people of Western is an obvious misreading of the pride of the Luhya Nation.
Jubilee despite Cords disjointed and discordant resonance with people of Western is on the road to political nowhere so long as it continues to misread the aspiration of the people of the region.
