The 2017 August General Election is promising to be a game changer for Kenyans, if the happenings of this year’s political party primaries are anything to go by.
The ongoing exercise has seen many sitting leaders and established political bigwigs shown the door, despite their perceived ‘incumbent advantage’.
Using the hash tag #FagiaWote, a section of Kenyans took to social media to express their delight at this trend – with others urging voters to kick out infective leaders in the ongoing nominations exercise.
On 25 April, provisional results for Baringo County’s Jubilee Party nominations indicated that all sitting MCAs had been voted out.
Though this ‘clean sweep’ has not been replicated in all counties, party primary results already show that several political Goliaths have been floored by seemingly less experienced Davids.
Among the notable veterans to be ousted included 2-term Gem MP Jakoyo Midiwo, nominated MP Oburu Odinga, longest-serving Tindiret Lawmaker Henry Kosgei.
Sitting governors Benjamin Cheboi (Baringo), Cleophas Lagat (Nandi), Joseph Ndathi (Kirinyaga) , John Mruttu (Taita Taveta) and Kiambu’s William Kabogo have also been edged out in the exercise.
Politicians who got direct tickets from their parties, are not exempt from ‘Operation #FagiaWote’, Tweeter@Lazooj warns.
Though some pundits could dismiss this as inconsequential social media cacophony, others have opined that the trend highlights that Kenyans are fed up with the current crop of leaders.
One tweeter told Kenyans to recognise that power ultimately lies with the citizenry – not politicians
