Ida begrudgingly Rejects Allowance

What ought to have been a matter of outright rejection at the first instance, stretched out to be a fortnight of apparent soul-searching process for Ida Odinga. She seems to have come to terms, albeit grudgingly, that the Ksh 400,000 allowance is at the moment an unwise political misstep that has elicited a fast and furious backlash from folks that would otherwise form her bedrock of support.

To pretend that she had only read of the offer in the press and therefore treated it as malicious rumor from her detractors is disingenuous crap pasted from an old script. Since keeping silent would have implied her complicity in the attempted skimming of public funds, it was perhaps necessary that she made her position clear. But her statement came out as a bitter retort to “people” when in fact a simple line or two rejecting the offer would have sufficed. Her rigmarole about “heavy responsibility on behalf of the Republic of Kenya” is menacing and it is probably just as well that she is not occupying a higher office on behalf of “people”.

The outrageous allowance offer did, however, find support from what seemed unlikely quarters. Former nominated MP Njoki Ndungu, who has over the years built a reputation as a brave defender for women and children rights came out with some fairly strange support for the allowances. Ms Ndungu thinks that the monies should be paid “in recognition for the evident work that spouses do in our political structures”. She adds that “We expect them to occasionally hold court, to preside over functions, to grace important State occasions, to be patrons of organizations, etc. We are essentially asking them to give up their private lives.” Madam Njoki, are we?

If such defense as Njoki’s came from the ‘ordinary’ citizenry, it might have carried some water and even looked progressive. But from you, Madam Njoki, it brings with it a little tinge of elitism prevalent in the leafy neighborhood you share with Ida and Pauline. It sounds like support for ‘one our own’. Otherwise, I am persuaded that “we” do not demand these vague services for which we are expected to pay for without even a little pretense to consultation. And “we” expect that perhaps spouses should consult before either of them plunges into public service of the political kind. Anyone who finds that politics is “drudgery”, as Njoki puts it, should steer clear of it and no one will begrudge them.

Now, Pauline. I expect that she will produce a back-dated letter to Muthaura showing that she had rejected the offer first!

Related article; Pauline Musyoka and Ida Odinga; Spouses or Escorts