Former Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) Party deputy director of communications Seth Odongo aka Dikembe Disembe has told Kenyans what the handshake can and cannot do.
Kenyans are now exposed to the real culprits of economic collapse as bad government policies and not Raila Odinga.
Let me not destroy the sweetness of the words. Read them for yourself below:
HANDSHAKE DEMYSTIFIED
By Dikembe Disembe aka Seth Odongo
In some places in Mt. Kenya even if President Uhuru were to pour in Ksh100 billion they still will dismiss him. Their problem isn’t that Uhuru is not working. Their problem is…he is working with Raila. Some 50yrs of anti-Luo propaganda just can’t be erased by a handshake.
So you see this bitterness. This hate. This pretentious claims to Uhuru not developing Central. No. The issue isn’t development. The issue is that somehow some of these people think Luos or Raila is benefiting, and to them, that’s anathema.
You wonder, what has changed? The economy was straining as early as 2015/2016. Massive theft of state resources happened around that time. These people were content by that. Raila himself kept telling them things were bad…that the country was headed in the wrong direction…
Then Eurobond came and Raila told them if that money was truly released to the economy “wangeinusa”. It should have been felt. Same folks shouted him down. Called him all manner of names, the one which is stuck in my mind being “economic saboteur”.
Today they don’t like Waiguru but when we were prosecuting her here…when we were holding her accountable; it’s these same characters who were armed with machetes. Didn’t they match in support of Waiguru? Didn’t they pick a war with our foreskins? Led by Moses Kuria?
So today they are finding out – albeit late – that the so-called Luo violence…Luo demonstrations…that it can stop…that Luos can leave the streets…and their lives won’t change. That the problem wasn’t the demonstrations. The problem wasn’t Luos!
Just as a reminder, the handshake was not meant to solve your problems. The handshake created a peaceful environment in which you can solve your problems. In higher parlance, the handshake was a chance to make whatever adjustments/change you wanted.
The handshake allows you to sell your mitumba in peace. Or your fruit salad. Or utensils. Or electronics. Or your mayai. Or your nail polish and human hair. It doesn’t however promise you that a customer will show up to buy…
When the matatu guy is overcharging you, or the gas guy, or the rent fellow, or you get stuck in traffic for ages, the handshake can’t resolve that…
The handshake allows you to open your shop, kiosk, salon, Kinyozi, hardware, supermarket, etc; it doesn’t however guarantee that 90% of your Maize flour stock isn’t full of aflatoxins…or that your business will succeed…
The handshake allows you to attend classes, it doesn’t stop your lecturers from striking for poor pay…and yes it allows you to graduate but it doesn’t assure you of any jobs…
Your children can sit KCPE & KCSE but the handshake doesn’t guarantee the promise of free education or laptop-per-kid or seven new stadium or 94 new referral hospitals….
The handshake has a very simple role. It removes Raila/ODM/Luos out of your basket of excuses and straightens you to see this political economy for what it is…
The handshake places in the arena, so that you must shout like we did for the last seven years…so that you can no longer be a bystander!
The handshake gives you an equal voice to picket, to insult, to curse, to threaten, to shout, to take the high road. It doesn’t allow you to remain passive!
The #handshake# makes you reckon with your vote and your political choices and those of your parents and grandparents. The handshake takes you to the very beginning of time!
The handshake makes a revolutionary out of a soulless robot…ha ha ha
The handshake opens your eyes to see things hitherto forbidden…like the fact that when you fuck up it isn’t Raila who goes to Bondo…it’s you who gets retrenched and tossed down the jobless corner.
The handshake was an end of one struggle. It should be the beginning of another. So if you were not part of the earlier struggle, you were part of the problem and now you must take over and fight…you got no way out. Did you watch that “no retreat no surrender” movie?
THE HANDSHAKE MAKES YOU TO THINK DEEPLY.
***Dikembe Disembe aka Seth Odongo**
