The worst

Merely because William Ruto was President Kenyatta's running mate three times over and held the office of Deputy President twice over does not give him an automatic right to the presidency, never mind his incessant reminder that they had a deal. And merely because rails Odinga has sacrificed so much for Kenya does not automatically mean that he is entitled to be elected the fifth president of the Republic - or, for that matter, he would make the best candidate.

We are being manipulated by politicians and their mouthpieces - Makau Mutua and Eric Ng'eno spring to mind - to cast our ballots for their preferred candidates. Part of the manipulation is the heavily motivated negative statements about the rival candidates. In none of the campaigns so far have we been given a compelling reason to cast our ballots in August.

In 2002, the sky was rend by chants of "Yote Yawezekana Bila MOI!" In 2013, CORD made a compelling case against TNA. In 2022, the impression one gets is that we are being fed a steady diet of cat puke and told that it is the best risotto ever. Not even the announcements of Martha Karua and Rigathi Gachagua have inspired us to think of the 2022 general election as a do-or-die affair. Many see it as a cynical ploy to lock down the votes of "the Mountain" as if the mountain is the only factor to affect the outcome of the general election.

Not even the spirited also-rans inspire a groundswell of support. There is a misguided pair that believes Kenya is ripe for legalise marijuana revolution. These kinds of stupidities inspire nothing but despair. It is like the pro-bhang campaign has refused to acknowledge that despite the fact that thousands upon thousands of Kenyans partake of the herb, they do so in the knowledge that it is wrong, that it should not be legalised, that it causes real harm. Kenya is not ready for a conversation on the decriminalisation of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances.

The way that Kithure Kindiki and Tim Wanyonyi have been shafted by their coalition principals is a testament to the backroom backstabbing going on in 2022. The desire to secure ultimate political power has blinded the campaigns to the unseemly betrayals they are engaging in, the dodgy compromises they are making, the hypocrisy of their pronouncements and announcements. All this is supercharged by the naked anti-national sentiments expressed by their mouthpieces, designed, however inadvertently, to undermine our faith in political institutions, and promote the cults of personality they pretend to eschew.

No, 2022 is not the inspired general election we need. It is not even the best of a bad deal. It is the worst of a very bad deal. Maybe a dark horse will come out of the wilderness and inspire the dispirited masses. And no, it won't be Kilonzo Musyoka. His ambition is as naked as the dye colouring his thinning hair.