The product boycott call by NASA/NRM is one step towards effecting their protest and disobeyance against the state and is perfectly legal as long as they don’t interfere with those who want to continue consuming those “blacklisted” goods and services. Raila has one major obstacle though in his quest to democratize and create national equality: That in his camp, HE IS THE ONLY one self-insured against a collapsed economy.
The rest can’t survive a day in economic wilderness; just ask Namwamba who once swore allegiance to Raila in parliament how all that went. You see, having a Range Rover and access to Capital Club just shows you have some money and probably rich. Riches diminish, wealth multiplies. Raila is not rich, he is wealthy. And thus he can afford the stamina he has against the state. He is self-insured, you are not.
The others quickly realize 100 million bob bust in an election campaign quickly go cold in the balls and run back to “neutrality” before they are bought off the street like mandazi by the real titans with money.
Ruto gets it. That’s why he has moved on up from the Rich class to the wealthy class. His money now does the work for him. He can now confuse your convictions with one cheque and you’ll forget your party manifesto and colors and suddenly your new chorus shall be ‘Raila will never be president’ complete with a matching accent and arrogance. I digress.
However, the whole boycott thing is limp and won’t be successful for two main reasons.
1) Almost every goods and service sector in Kenya is intertwined and codependent with one another. The human resource database of these companies exhibit a very national and inclusive fabric whereby collapse of these companies would mean direct unemployment of many including NRM supporters who eke a livelihood either by being directly employed by these companies or by being suppliers to these companies. In a difficult economic environment, only a mad person would risk poverty and starvation in the face of political convictions.
2) Jubilee oriented businesses owned by the “two bad tribes” have thrived majorly because , these guys did not spend 55 years growing ngwace in Karatina and herding cows in Chepkoilel. They have spent more than half a century perfecting the art of corporate oligarchy and it would take a huge act of God to dethrone them. I recall when Moi left power, Kiraitu Murungi famously said, it was now time for Narc to come in and show Moi how an economy was run. Only for Narc to come in to power to realize Moi owned a stake in almost a third of every listed company in the NSE and another equal number through proxies. Narc quickly fell into line and they continued with the same modus operandi with the status quo.
Let’s break it down this way. I shall only address businesses owned that have a national ripple effect, and not the private profit entities. The oligarchs, including Raila Odinga’s family, own a huge section of our economy. I’ve mentioned him here to exhibit how intertwined this small economy of ours is. I’m sure Ndindi Nyoro, Jamleck Kamau, Kimani Icung’wa, Alice Ng’ang’a and a host of all other “raira wiro nefa mbe plesident brigade use clean cooking gas in their houses packaged by spectre international. The Odinga’s are a near monopoly in that sector. The Odinga’s also have a controlling stake in the extraction, sale and packaging of ethanol used by our local distillers to make local brandy and whisky drunk in gallons by those who sing songs like “hakuna mkate nusu”.
The late Nicholas Biwott owned the largest stake at Kenol Kobil and though in his last years he sold the controlling stake of that business, he still controlled 17% of the national petroleum industry. Kenol Kobil once refined and resold all oil products to all other retailers such as Shell, Total, OilLibya etc. Many a times did his detractors and political opponents fuel from one of his stations on their way to litigate against him, politic against him and call him a murderer. If by enriching him you enabled him, then you are an accomplice, no?
The media in Kenya, meaning everything you read, hear, watch or share online is controlled by these Jubilee Friendly fellows. The only way today you receive news is through:
36 bloggers paid for by Jubilee. –
Nation newspaper, Nation Online, NTV, Nation FM. – Aga Khan (Board of directors Chairman Wilfred Kiboro)
Citizen Tv, Citizen Radio, Ramogi Fm, Inooro Fm, Chamgee Fm, Musyi Fm, Hot 96, Mulembe Fm, Muuga Fm etc. – S.K.Macharia
K24, People Daily, Milele Fm, Kameme Fm- Kenyatta Family
Capital FM, Capital online. – Chris Kirubi
Kiss 100, Classic 105, XFM, East FM, The Star, Mpasho.co.ke etc- Kiprono kittony, Zippy Kittony, Patrick Quarcoo and others
KTN, Standard Newspaper, Radio Maisha, SDE, KTN News – Gideon Moi, Daniel Moi, Joshua Kulei and others
When Safaricom did its IPO, we had a 5% undisclosed ownership stake which to date the ownership has not been revealed. It’s owned by limited companies registered in Guernsey. Well, don’t look far from Moi, CK Joshua and other few connected individuals.
Jamii Telkom, owned by CK Joshua of Kass FM/TV literally obliterated phone booths in Kenya with their Adtel Adondo Simu ya Jamii mobile street phones which revolutionized mobile vending. Their monopoly went on for almost 5 years before Mobile phones became our mainstay. As well, CK Joshua wasn’t left out, he coughed up Ksh1B of his own money to contribute into the Fibre Optic undersea cables and has been a major internet supplier to safaricom and lately, his own internet retail enterprise, Faiba.
Braeburn Schools. We all love the high end academic experience for our kids, right? Well, the owners are from Kericho, my home town. So you should know.
Your life at a glance. Live in Runda, buy yoghurt in Nakumatt, watch Nairobi Diaries as bae uses safaricom bundles to browse mpasho.co.ke as you save to take your kids to Braeburn School….
BIDCO- I hope you don’t believe the proxy story of how it was a small business started by a small Asian family etc…. BIwottDanielCO. That’s the part of the story you may never know just the way, Nakumatt has a nice family story to it. What you’ll never be told is how, to mitigate an expansion and national reach and stability, the Shah’s needed some real float and protection and it came in the way of Harun Mwau, The Boss. That’s why in almost every serious branch of Nakumatt, there was the defunct Charter House Bank within it, Mwau’s personal bank which was used as a collection point for its business. One of the reasons Nakumatt had a sudden halt to its operations was because The Boss made a huge withdrawal of his shares, to concentrate on other ventures.
The suppliers, employees, the taxes collected by these entities, the ecosystem around it all service a wider spectrum of Kenya that, boycotting any of the above is a zero-sum game. Brookside, a milk processing company, has employed thousands of Kenyans regardless of ethnicity. So has all the businesses that I have adversely mentioned above.
The matatus you use every day, the houses you live, the food you eat, the hotels you frequent- If you found out the back story of it all and the alignment of the owners, you’d boycott your own life. Evans Kidero is a Nasa member, he owns a stake at The Star, he owns half of Runda Estate, he is a magnate and together with Chris Kirubi, own major shares in Coca Cola Kenya franchise with Kirubi being big in the bottling department. Where do we draw the lines?
We can’t undo 55 years of business and power. NASA/NRM need to change tact. If they render their supporters hungry, uninformed and disillusioned based on emotive and blanket condemnation of businesses that have served the nation well and employed beyond the enclaves of ethnic perimeters, then we shall be staring at an economic shut down. However, due to the 55 years of a combination of good business, corruption and kleptocracy, the Jubilee friendly business owners are self-insured against an economic upheaval. NASA/NRM need to redefine their economies first through devolution, commencement of industries and robust employment and empowerment before embarking on this economic boycott.
It wont hold.
