Today l turn 34 years old and in 29 days’ time I stand to be elected as the next Member of Parliament for Starehe. Running for office has opened my eyes to the inequalities in this country.
Yes, I grew up in the hood, but the level of poverty and hopelessness is worse than it was when l was young. I stumbled on three childhood friends, Fei (Faith), Sam and Edu. We grew up together and today they live in an alley, called District 13 on Chai Road. District 13 lacks all amenities; housing, electricity, proper drainage, toilets and security. We reminisced about the good old days; when we could swim in Nairobi river, fish for tadpoles and run around city park. They are now representative of the great divide between the haves and the have-nots.
I have witnessed how tribalism continues to hoodwink the poor from uniting and fighting for a better Kenya. I got news for you, Kenya has only two tribes, the poor and the rich. The good news is, the tide is changing.
Kenyans are pulling together through the support of my candidacy to ensure that my childhood friends’ lives will change. Since the day I made the decision to run for the Starehe parliamentary seat, I knew the path I had chosen was an unpopular one and it was going to be incredibly difficult, but never did I imagine that I would experience the kind of love I have received from people I have never met before in my life.
Beyond the mental push to keep up with a demanding schedule, raising campaign funds has proved to the greatest hurdle. Kenyan politics is awash with dirty money. Drug dealers, looters and anyone who wants to protect ill-gotten wealth runs for public office. The first qualification to vie for public office is money and competence is an afterthought. When we did our draft campaign budget, I was shocked at the total cost. I shared the problem with a very close friend of mine and he told me that, even before independence, Kenyans have always supported their leaders.
They contributed to educating them and even sent them abroad to represent our grievances when fighting for independence. After years of being shafted by politicians, Kenyans only financially support funerals, higher education, hospital bills and the occasional wedding but never politicians.
On this day, I declare my faith, belief and love for the Kenyan people. To date, thousands of Kenyans have contributed 5,278,844 shillings out of our Sh 10 million goal. During the past week, a good friend managed to organise a fundraising dinner where, together with his friends, a total of 1.6 million shillings was raised.
Another couple emptied their savings and contributed an additional 1 million shillings. This shows a great belief in our transformative agenda for Starehe. We are now a movement. A movement that seeks change and promises to represent the people of Starehe with the loudest voice possible. No longer shall we be silent when they raise their salaries.
No longer shall we be silent when the city council harass us, as we go about our work in the city. No longer shall we be silent when they grab our childrens’ school land. No longer shall we be silent when they take away our homes without compensating us. No longer shall our leadership lack accountability.
I believe in accountability. I have shared a graph of how much we have spent so far and what it has been spent on. Our audited accounts will be posted after the election. We will continue to work towards the kind of leadership we want in this country and the one that the people of Starehe will vote for come August 8th. Running for elective office should be carried out in the most transparent manner and I urge those who are doing so to make public their campaign expenditure.
I will continue to spread our manifesto, knocking on every door in Starehe and speaking to every man, woman and child. I am doing this for Fei, Sam and Edu. I am running for all those who have suffered all these years wishing for a better life. Together we are changing Kenyan politics and together we are changing Starehe. #StareheNiBonnie
~Press Release~