The 2013 Kenyan Elections have passed and Uhuru Kenyatta was named the 4th President of the Republic of Kenya on March 2013.
I am not one who is involved with politics at all but in reading on this year’s elections, I gained an opinion on the situation. Uhuru Kenyatta is the son of the 1st President of Kenya, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta. Growing up in Kenya, I remember having so much pride and looking up to Jomo Kenyatta. He was our fearless leader, a man that lead us into freedom and wanted nothing but the prosperity of all Kenyans.
Knowing how I felt about Jomo Kenyatta, I want to feel the same for his son. He has put some programs in place that are helping to curb and hopefully get rid of the rampant corruption in the Kenyan government and seems to be following the footsteps of Obama in using social networking to reach the Kenyan people directly. He also has policies that would enable Kenyans to have free healthcare, which I feel would be amazing for the Kenyan people. From personal experiences, it’s quite expensive to get treatment in Kenya, the lab costs, hospital stay and other expenses are very costly and very difficult for the average family in to afford.
‘All Twitter’ reported,[24] “In a move that might be the most social media friendly we’ve seen from a politician, Kenya’s Finance Minister has asked his Twitter followers for their input on the country’s budget – and promises to take their comments into consideration in the next draft….but this request from Kenya’s Finance Minister goes above and beyond political representation to hear directly from the people…. This is a fantastic example of using social media to empower democracy…. Kenyatta has shown that any politician interested in actually hearing from the people can do so.” Uhuru Kenyatta’s use of social media has endeared him to the tech savvy community in Kenya who know that to reach him, he is just a tweet away.
So here’s the catch, Kenyatta he was indicted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity in relation to the violence after the 2007 election. The violence left more than 1.000 people dead and thousands displaced. He is steady on his innocence from these allegations and hopes to clear his and William Ruto (the Vice President elect who has also been indicted under the same charges) names. The accusation is that Uhuru Kenyatta organized a Kikuyu politico-religious group, the Mungiki, in the post-election violence.
So the question is, knowing his policies and plans for the future of Kenya, do you believe in his innocence? Does it even matter to you?
Below is a video of Uhuru Kenyatta speaking on his future plans for Kenya and the ICC indictment.
~ Jambo
