THE VICIOUS CYCLE OF KENYAN POLITICS THAT KEEPS CITIZENS POOR.

By Sebastian Karani, DMCP 

Kenyan politics is a well-choreographed circus, with the same actors switching roles every election season. Today’s government is tomorrow’s opposition, and the policies they once championed become the very ones they fight against. The irony? When the dust settles, it is the ordinary mwananchi left to suffer, struggling under broken promises, bad policies, and economic hardship.

Take the sugar industry, for example. Before the 2022 elections, the Uhuru Kenyatta government commissioned a task force to investigate the failures of state-owned sugar factories. The findings were simple: government is terrible at business. 

The only way to revive struggling factories like Nzoia, Mumias, Chemelil, and Sony was to lease them out or privatize them. At the time, Western Kenya leaders allied with Raila Odinga, who was in the Handshake government, agreed with the plan but warned against its timing. They feared that if leasing was done before elections, the Hustler team, Ruto’s camp, would twist the narrative and convince sugarcane farmers that their factories were being “sold.”

Photo: Former CS Eugene Wamalwa

It happened exactly as they feared. The Hustler team ran with the message, using it to attack Azimio and sway voters. Ruto, sensing an opportunity, promised to buy new machinery for Nzoia Sugar if elected. Farmers, desperate for a lifeline, believed him.

Fast forward to 2025, and the very leaders who opposed leasing in 2022 are now in power. What have they done? Copy-pasted and agreed to use the then government’s plan. Suddenly, leasing is no longer a bad idea. Meanwhile, the same Azimio leaders who were in government then and supported leasing, like DAP-K leader Eugene Wamalwa, are now in the opposition, leading protests against the very policy they once defended. Most unfortunately, a plan he appended his signature to mean YES.

This is the Kenyan political script: hypocrisy, deception, and betrayal. Leaders don’t fight for what is right; they fight for what is convenient and keeps them in power. Policies are not judged on their impact but on who proposes them. If leasing was a good idea in 2020, why is it bad in 2025? If it was a bad idea then, why is it suddenly the best solution now?

The people of Western Kenya should be furious. They have been taken for fools, tossed around like pawns in a political chess game. Their economic struggles remain the same, their factories continue to collapse, but their leaders are busy trading places, opposing what they once supported and supporting what they once opposed. This is pure political conmanship at the expense of innocent citizens who only want to see their millers working.

And this is not just about sugar. It happens in every sector, education, healthcare, infrastructure. The same leaders who fight against certain policies today will embrace them once they get into power. The cycle repeats, and the suffering continues.

Kenyans must wake up. We must stop voting based on tribal affiliations and empty promises. We must start holding leaders accountable for their words and actions. If we do not, we will remain stuck in this cycle, watching the same faces make the same false promises every five years, while our children inherit the same struggles.

It’s time to stop being spectators in a game rigged against us. We must demand better.

Governor Lusaka’s Statement on Sulwe FM demonstrating to confirm Wamalwa as one of the signatories of the task force report...

“DAP-K Party Leader Eugene Wamalwa was among the signatories of the Sugar Task Force report that recommended leasing Nzoia Sugar Factory. He should stop going around lying to our people and playing what we call 'Chobochi' in Bukusu. We all now know the problem with Nzoia; we need to reach a solution, but everyone wants to use a different route. We need to focus on how our farmers can benefit from the factory.”

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Related References:

1. https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2022-02-21-sugar-taskforce-report-recommends-leasing/

2. https://www.nation.africa/kenya/news/politics/wamalwa-backs-sugar-reforms-2022-3712608

3. https://www.businessdailyafrica.com/bd/economy/nzoia-sugar-factory-leasing-plan--4214560

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Sebastian Karani Asava is a Digital Media Communications Practitioner & Editor-in-Chief, Edit One Kenya