In a democratic republic such as ours, where Kenyans elect leaders to govern on their behalf, the ballot box is the primary check on an unresponsive, incompetent, and corrupt ruling class — or, as Kenya Kwanza Alliance and its affiliate parties may be learning, a ruling class that has no idea on how to run a country.
If those in power believe they are the only logical options, the people can always prove them wrong. For a frustrated populace, a new set of leadership able to dismantle the status quo is an incredible feature rather than a bug.
Less than three years after the last polls, Kenyans yearn for highly credentialed leaders across government, law, media, business, academia, and so on. We have intensely grown intolerant of poor governance. As a country, we believe we can do better than today’s Ruto government quandary.
Voters are demanding it from all over the country and Eugene Wamalwa’s Democratic Action Party (DAP) of Kenya is stepping up to the plate, pushing a people’s centric agenda in Western Kenya and beyond its traditional bases, as the country heads toward 2027.
Launched in December 2021 at the Bomas of Kenya in Nairobi, DAP-Kenya’s performance in the 2022 polls was spectacular.
In under nine months, the new party mobilized Kenyans across the five Western Kenya counties, going toe to toe with UDA, ODM, and Ford Kenya Parties, to win a Gubernatorial position (Trans Nzoia) plus five slots in the National Assembly, including Mumias East, Bumula, Cheranganyi, Luanda and Kiminini.
Not a mean fete, given Ford-Kenya – a 30-year-old political establishment and one of DAP-Kenya’s opponents in Western Kenya has five MPs in Parliament.
Earlier this year in April, Bungoma Governor Kenneth Lusaka convened a meeting with Ford Kenya party youths from all nine subcounties of Bungoma County to devise strategies aimed at countering the growing DAP-Kenya’s Tawe movement’s influence in Western Kenya, pointing to the Wamalwa led party’s popularity with the people.
Tawe (Luhya for ‘No’ or reject), is a slogan by DAP- Kenya leaders and is seen by those in Ford Kenya as a strategy that is successfully decampaigning Ford Kenya Party and its leader, National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang’ula in Western Kenya.
