Duale’s reckless tricks sold Uhuru out in sham vote

National Assembly Leader of Majority Aden Duale

On Thursday, Adan Duale was trying to be clever. But if his parliamentary whipping skills were to be graded, he would score a strong D minus. The only reason he does not completely fail with a miserable ‘E’ is because the party position was upheld in the end. The ‘tricks’ Duale proudly claims to have employed in securing a ‘yes’ vote for the President’s memorandum were sloppy and lacked the finesse of an experienced whip. Politics, after all, is about appearance. If you intend to trick us, the public, do it smoothly. If you intend to blindside us, the voters, do it neatly. If you trick us properly, we will be disappointed, and will likely ‘accept and move on’. But if you trick us shoddily, as if we are brainless and gullible, we will be angry and bitter. To us, you are on the same level as the MPesa ‘tuma kwa hii number’ scammers, and ‘my paybill number is on your screen’ pastors.

Because I am not a preacher myself, I will not go down the morality road. I will confine the conversation to method, not intention.