There is no registered political party in Kenya called "wantam" but it is without a doubt one of the most popular slogans in the Kenyan political landscape today. In politics, slogans often serve as emotional shortcuts or a way to connect with the electorate far more effectively than a manifesto. The latest rallying cry - "Wantam" (a colloquial adaptation demanding a single, one-term presidency for the incumbent administration) - has gained momentum across digital platforms and political discourse. To its proponents, it represents a straightforward rejection of the status quo. However, a close examination of its origin and motives, reveals its roots, embedded on manipulation, entitlement and revenge. Furthermore, the "Wantam Movement" as it is currently presented to Kenyans suffers significant limitations. Rather than offering a coherent, transformational vision, it increasingly resembles a political project driven by grievance, demographic bargaining, and a desire for partisan retribution. The entire movement is predicated upon the desire to make one Dr. William Ruto a one-term president. Just like that. We aren't told why, we aren't told who will take his place and most damning of all, we aren't told what they will do differently from the man they desperately want to get rid of.
The "Wantam Movement" came to the fore immediately after Gen-Z movement of 2024. For all its shortcomings, at least the Gen-Z movement had an agenda, a grievance, a list of demands and a semblance of alternative way of doing things. The Wantam Movement doesn't. It is purely the product of one ethnic community imposing its will on 43 others. The Movement's close association with the Former President and the ousted former deputy president is the biggest indication yet that the two movements find their finances, ideology and ethnic backing from the same source. This reminds me of the movie Bastille Day (2016) where a group of rogue policemen stir up a nationwide uproar among the population using agitating hashtags and stage managed videos posted anonymously on the internet with the intention of using the ensuing chaos to pull off a heist. In the movie, the mastermind of the protests/ uprising remain faceless and anonymous throughout the ordeal. The premise? That it was a citizen-driven and spontaneous uprising. Doesn't that ring a bell? In the movie, the plan is ultimately thwarted and the good guys win (as they normally do in most movies), but the lesson is hard to miss.
The Political class behind the Gen-Z uprising of 2024 and the Wantam Movement today work hard to create the impression that both movements are citizen-driven, citizen-centered and spontaneous. But a movement of this magnitude require resources and influence that only a handful of Kenyans have. There is no way the Gen-Zs working alone, leaderless, party-less and faceless as they claimed to be, could have pulled off an uprising of that magnitude. By the same token, a first-term senator of Nairobi and a loosely affiliated group of mid-card politicians drawn mostly from Western Kenya cannot be responsible for what we see in the "Wantam Movement". We won't be shocked when it is finally revealed that the two movements draw from the Murima Region the forces, the finances and the brains behind them all. This is not a reason to reject the movement or its aims, but it gives us a glimpse into its motive and ideological standing.
Someone visiting Kenya today would think we're about to conduct a referendum on our president's term limit. The choice before Kenyans in the 2027 elections, however, will not be whether Ruto deserves a second term or not. It will be about who offers a better vision for Kenya between the incumbent and the united opposition. Even if the current administration is bad, the opposition still has to provide a better alternative to warrant being elected - something they have so far failed to do. Because painting someone as bad doesn't automatically make you good. This is why the focus on "one-term" alone misses the plot entirely. It reduces complex economic challenges, debt management issues, and institutional governance into a simplistic, binary choice: one-term or two-term. And, in that dilemma, a political outfit defined solely by what it opposes - rather than what it intends to build - is not an option. It cannot be an option. Its entirely possible that we could yet pick a worse alternative to what we currently have! And that would plunge the country into political, ideological and economic crisis like we've never seen before. And why should we vote "Wantam" really? Just to punish Ruto for Gachagua's impeachment and association with the late Raila Odinga? Till when will we allow one one ethnic group and a 57 year-old oath to define every political choice we make?
Kenya’s political history has been shaped by the cycle of ethnic alliances, betrayal, grievance and the desire for revenge. Political formations are frequently repurposed to express regional or ethnic frustration or to exact revenge. The "Wantam" narrative struggles to distance itself from this dynamic. The Wanatam Movement seem primarily to be a Mount Kenya movement to exact revenge upon Ruto for two things: the impeachment of Rigathi Gachagua and the handshake with the late Raila Odinga. When a movement’s primary engine appears to be fueled by a specific ethnic group's sense of displacement or appetite for political payback, it ceases to be a progressive national project. It becomes, by and large, an ethnic mobilization tool aimed at retaliation. The Wantam Movement is being fronted as an endeavor to save Kenya but it is not. It is revenge: Kikuyus retaliating against Kalenjins for Gachagu's impeachment and handshake with Raila, Kikuyus retaliating against Luos for supporting Ruto during and after the Gen-Z protests and Kambas retaliating against Luos for failing to honour their promise to back Kalonzo's presidential bid. This has in turn spawned Luos retaliation against Kikuyus for voting against Raila in 2022. Luhyas seem to be in just to benefit from the confusion of all the top five most populous tribes retaliating against each other. To mature into a modern liberal democratic society, we must break from this cycle of ethnic alliances, betrayal and the desire for revenge. In the 2027 election, even if we choose to vote "wantam", it must be for something above ethnic retaliation. It must be something we can all believe in.
Disclaimer
Comments
Post a Comment