00:00We've been seeing some by-elections happening in different parts, in different words, within the country.
00:07And, yeah, we've seen Kitale protests happening, which, of course, were due to the by-elections.
00:14And, among other, a few other places where there have been by-elections happening.
00:19And, unfortunately, they've gotten into protests and even some politicians beaten up, their bodyguards' guns stolen.
00:27It's been pretty chaotic.
00:28And we've seen Octofizo being one of the people who's gone online to give his two cents about the matter.
00:33And I will quote from his Twitter, aka X.
00:36He said this,
00:36Today, by-elections have revealed how far we still have to go as a democratic nation.
00:44Watching seasoned leaders resort to conflict instead of principles shows that while growing older is inevitable, growing up is not.
00:55When elections involving fewer than a million participants cannot be conducted credibly and peacefully, we must pause and reflect on what this says about our political culture.
01:08This is a call to all politicians and parties and leaders in government and in opposition.
01:13The responsibility is collective.
01:14And in this moment, you have fallen short of the standards our country deserves.
01:20As Syria has mentioned at the beginning of the show, a lot of these by-elections are happening.
01:27And we're seeing a lot of opposition coming to extreme measures just so that they can get the votes working out the way that they want them to work out.
01:37You have one party who is diligent.
01:40They're not really intervening in the counting of these votes.
01:42None of that.
01:43And then on the other side, we have someone who's very keen on making sure that it is their party that wins, their party leader that wins, the opposition that wins.
01:52And of course, nobody, nobody who has lived in Africa, has been in an African election, will be okay with that.
01:59Will be okay with the opposition leader standing there waiting for the counts to be done.
02:04Like, that is quite literally intimidation.
02:07That's voter intimidation because not only are people who come in and vote uncomfortable with voting because I'm not too sure my vote will count anyway.
02:18There is also the fact that this person who is then now having to sit down and count these votes is not going to be the most comfortable to announce that, oh, yeah, you guys have lost.
02:25Like, anything could happen to them.
02:27I feel like it's very uncomfortable for you to be.
02:29It's like sitting down doing your job and then your boss literally standing over you, looking at what you're doing, your every move.
02:35It is quite uncomfortable.
02:37And of course, the rallying of people to, to, to cause chaos, to disrupt things, to disrupt the system is quite unsightly.
02:51Unfortunately, it looks like both us and the politicians have a long way to go because even us as, as regular monanichis, as we're going to vote, if your mind is clear that you are just going in there to vote and go home, it can't just be that easy.
03:05But if you decide that you can be, you're not only incited, but intimidated quickly, that will also go a different way.
03:12Our job is to make our voices be heard.
03:15Why are we then echoing what the politicians are saying?
03:18Where is your voice in all of this?
03:20You know, if you're voting, you're voting for you.
03:23This is your choice.
03:24Why would you let someone be in your ear telling you what to do?
03:27You, you've seen what has happened.
03:29You've seen what your political, the person you want to vote for has done for you.
03:33The policies they've made, the changes they've made, or the ones they're promising to make.
03:36And you decide, yeah, this is the guy that I want to.
03:38Why then do you, you know, PRCC Kenyans, so I think it's a collective issue here where we need to be smarter and politicians will just immediately fall in line.
03:50Because politicians pretty much are the mirror.
03:53What we want is what we often see.
03:55Yeah.
03:55If someone can lie to you about a Wilbur, which you for sure have never seen any politician giving anywhere.
04:00In fact, in their whole political history, they are not known for giving anyone to anything, for giving anything to anyone.
04:08But then this one time he tells you, yeah, I'm going to give you a Wilbur, and you're very quick to say it, but you're a Wilbur.
04:12For what?
04:13For why?
04:14Where is your every?
04:16Do better, Kenyans.
04:17Do not be deceived.
04:18And for the politicians who are trying to rally masses to work against each other and to disrupt these elections, by elections, we're not even in the main elections.
04:26We all need to do better too.
04:27I think the thing that really stood out for me was how low voter participation was.
04:36Because if you're counting the votes, you would see like an MP has won by all of 16,000 votes or 9,000 votes.
04:44So, before we start talking about things, before we start, you know, being angry and, you know, putting out think pieces on Twitter and seeing how the systems are not working, can we all go register to vote?
05:02If you have not registered to vote, go and register to vote.
05:05Because it's one thing for us to be very upset about what is going on, but what are we doing about it?
05:12You know, we just can't be all the time online, you know, trying to protest online.
05:20Our voice just can't be online.
05:22We have to do the talking and do the action.
05:25We have to be out there in the street so that you know, so that you are accountable to yourself.
05:29In 2027, when you vote for Wamudende, you know, you voted for him for a reason.
05:36When you vote for Karish, you voted for him for a reason.
05:40That way, you're able to hold him accountable.
05:42But I feel like sometimes Kenyans have this mob mentality and only like opinion leaders shape your opinion.
05:50Why don't you become involved?
05:52You know, don't be that person who says, oh, no, politics is just too much for me.
05:56I don't want to be involved.
05:57You are part of the problem.
05:59And anyone trying to take advantage of the system is counting on your ignorance, is counting on your, I don't want to be involved.
06:09You know, that is what they are counting on.
06:11So don't be cool.
06:11It's not cool to not know what is going on.
06:15Please be involved.
06:16Watch the news.
06:17Kidogo kidogo to pass by.
06:19Know what is happening.
06:21And then shape your own opinions.
06:24Okay.
06:25We good.
06:27Those elections are crazy.
06:29It is.
06:30Some were funny, especially the, the, the, the interviews.
06:33Yeah.
06:34Eh, it was a little cause animaliza.
06:36But apart from that, it was just sad how everything was playing out.
06:39Like when you look, when you take a step back, you just realize how much ignorance and arrogance there is combined.
06:47People are so ignorantly arrogant.
06:49You know, you know, keep wanting to say what?
06:52Nothing.
06:52Nothing.
06:53Nothing.
06:54Ebu, let's go and register to vote.
06:56Register to vote.
06:57Right now.
06:58Okay.
06:58Yeah.
06:58Okay.
06:58Okay.
06:59Yeah.
06:59Okay.
