On the 8th of August 2017 Kenyans will be voting for their next crop of leaders in the General Elections. As politicians are busy on the campaign trail a few Kenyans came up with the ‘Fagia Wote’ Campaign. ‘Fagia wote’ means sweep them all. What the campaign advocates for is voting out everyone who currently occupies a political office or once held a political seat and elect fresh new leaders.
The premise of the campaign is to give Kenya a clean slate from where it can rebuild the country.
The campaign is fueled by a prevailing state of impunity and corruption in the country. Some of the complaints which can be found on their twitter page @FagiaWoteKE include the 100 day Doctor’s strike which was closely followed by the Lecturer’s strike. Then the inflation rate increased to 6.99% in January mainly affecting food especially maize which is a staple in many Kenyan homes. The Members of Parliament also decided to award themselves a severance package of Kshs. 6.5 Billion. The biggest issue, however, seems to be corruption. From the NYS Scandal where Kshs. 791 Million was stolen from the National Youth Service to the Kshs. 5 billion fraud at the Ministry of Health. The fact that nothing has been done about this and other cases of corruption has led to frustration.
Many Kenyans assume that there are only two viable candidates for the presidency; Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila Odinga. A lot of them will tell you that they are voting for the lesser evil. However, there are a few new people who have expressed their interest in becoming President of Kenya. They include Nairobi lawyer Philip Murgor under the United Democratic Movement and Dr. Ekuru Okot. Activist Boniface Mwangi is also running for Member of Parliament for Starehe on the ticket of newly formed Ukweli Party and Journalist Mohammed Ali is running for Member of Parliament for Nyali.
The Fagia wote campaign has remained rather faceless. Despite that, the campaign has gained some traction. Kenyans are basically fed up and are ready for something new even though it is not better. Even some celebrities such as Muthoni the Drummer and Caroline Mutoko have come out in strong support of the campaign.
It is important to remember the case of Peter Kenneth. In 2013, during the last General Elections, Peter Kenneth had basically won the Presidential seat on social media. The fresh-faced Member of Parliament for Gatanga with a great track record had impressed the millennials on social media. However, when the time came to vote he finished a very distant fourth in the race. At the end of the day, a lot of people cast their vote where they thought it mattered and they thought he did not stand a chance.
However, we should not settle for less just because we think that our vote does not count. As Kenyans, we deserve better in terms of security, roads, disaster management, health care and all the other things we pay taxes for every month. We also deserve better leaders of integrity and leaders who are here to serve us and not steal from us. This is where the Fagia Wote campaign comes in to get rid of all those leaders who have made promises that they could not keep.
The fact is that something in Kenya has to change. For a very long time, Kenya has been on a downward spiral and Kenyans are tired. However, for things to change something drastic would have to happen and perhaps that drastic thing is that we #FagiaWote and start afresh.
