How stupid are they?

Ms Wavinya Ndeti, the Member for Kathiani (Chama Cha Uzalendo) and the Assistant Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports, was visibly livid at 'the government' when she appeared before a joint Parliamentary committee investigating the on-going demolition of buildings constructed in land that belongs to the government, or other state agencies, or those constructed near sensitive installations, such as the Moi Air Base in Eastleigh. Hon Ndeti had come out earlier in the crisis, visiting with the victims of the demolitions on the gorund in her constituency when bulldozers broke the morning calm of Syokimau and laid hundreds of millions of shillings of investment to waste. She has been accompanied on her crusade to stop the demolitions by her counterpart from Embakasi, Ferdinand Waititu (PNU) who has expressed his interest in being elected the governor of Nairobi City County and, at the same sitting at which Hon Ndeti appeared, claimed that the Prime Minister and members of his family were behind the demolitions because they intended to cash in on the properties once the trespassers had been evicted.

Hon Ndeti's outrage would be touching if it were not for the insincerity with which it was expressed. Since her election to the Tenth Parliament, the MP has done precious little to ameliorate what is turning out to be one of the largest land scams in the history of the Mavoko County Council, not counting the storied history of how land belonging to the Kenya Meat Commission changed hands at the fag end of the Moi regime. The Land Question in and around Syokimau, Athi River and Kitengela townships was a volcano waiting to erupt and any elected representative of the residents of these towns knew it. Indeed, there are suspicions that Hon Ndeti or persons connected to her and her family have been beneficiaries of the lackadaisical approach to land administration in Mavoko County and that her tears of sorrow for the victims of the demolitions are nothing but crocodile tears.

Hon Ndeti has not proven to be an effective performer in Parliament. She seems not to have contributed significantk7y to debate in the National Assembly nor advanced public discourse in government regarding certain policies or objectives. Indeed, as a junior member of the Cabinet, when the Executive branch embarked on its idiotic campaign of demolitions, she should have been the first to voice her opposition. If her voice was still not heard, she should have resigned as an assistant minister and taken her agitation to the back-benches and the streets. Instead, just like the big boys on the Cabinet, she is hell-bent on having her cake and eating it too by laying into the government for what she claims to be unlawful and unconstitutional practices, but retaining her sweet seat in government. She may run with hares and hunt with the hounds only for so long; her constituents are bound to learn the truth about her positions and make her pay for her dishonesty. Or perhaps they are as stupid as she thinks they are.