Wacha watangetange

"Kenya is in permanent campaign mode!" is a common complaint these days. Barely days after a contested election is finished and every elected representative and his rivals are back on the trail to ensure the next election is in their favour. 'Twas so for the 2017 general election as it was for the 2013 one and the 2007 one and so on and so forth. The campaign for the 2022 general elections began even before the results of the 2017 one were announced, with this camp, that camp, the other camp already formed with an eye to political power - and all that comes with it - when Uhuru Kenyatta's government is replaced with another one. We haven't really considered whether or not permanent campaigning is good or bad - we instinctively believe that it is bad.

It seems strange to say - strange to me anyway - that permanent campaign mode is neither bad not good. It is what it is. It does, though, give us an opportunity to constantly review our relationship with our government; what it means to be Kenyan in the midst of dwindling, pilfered resources; whether or not the country is on the right path; and whether we all come out alive in the end.

The 2022 presidential election campaign started even before the 2017 presidential election campaign and it has not stopped even for a second. It is easy to see why: the presidency is the holy grail of Kenyan politics. With it not only comes great power, but great power to aggrandize oneself and family, cronies and - in rare moments of strategic thinking - rivals. And has become custom since 2002, where Raila Odinga stands determines where everyone else sits. Some are in the hot seat. Some are out in the cold. Some have fire ants in their pants. But none can deny that regardless of the hat one wears - Kitaeleweka, Tangatanga and the rest of it - like Apostle Ng'ang'a would put it in inimitable style, when Raila Odinga coughs, the rest wanaitika.

And so it pays to ask: have the presidential election campaigns of the past two years been beneficial? Or have they just drained public resources, enervated the voting public, deepened disillusionment in the political process, and robbed the people of any hope in the future? In my opinion, the campaigns have been immensely illuminating and, yes, beneficial. Many Kenyans would have remained in the dark about the competence or otherwise of senior members of their government if it weren't for the allegations and counter-allegations being traded by members of rival campaign teams. So too the secrets of the SGR, Lamu Coal Plant, and a host of other dodgy schemes by members of our Government, senior and not. And for the discerning, the campaigning also reveals a rarely-considered attribute for political leadership: character.

For the most part, politicians, whether in office or out, are not to be trusted as far as you can throw them. Their dissembling has risen to a level where they themselves aren't sure that the words coming out of their mouths have any meaning. But even in their world, their are those who have generally been forces for good more than they have been forces for ill. They haven't had to bribe their way into office - well, not to the extent that the first thing Kenyans thought off when demonetization commenced was "Sasa atatoa thao za kanisa wapi?" Their constituents generally think of them as "clean". But there is a hardcore cohort that is despised outside a very narrow constituency. They are seen as the epitomy of mendaciousness, theft, graft and dishonorable conduct. In my opinion, a prolonged presidential campaign, one which reveals the extent of their loathsomeness is a boon for the people. So I say, let them tangatanga. In the end, their story may not end the way they pictured.