Candidates are preparing to unseat the current governor. Various protests have been held against the present governor of Laikipia, and his response has been rather interesting.

The governor and his deputy are like two kittens sitting on a train track, looking down at a train and thinking, “That train got a little bigger a few seconds ago, I’m sure it’ll stop.”

Hey, it grew a little bit, but there’s no way it’ll keep growing. Hey,…… then boom! There’s a thump! That train is the growing opposition by voters and candidates opposing him.

If something is growing bigger and bigger by the day, it will most likely continue to grow until it becomes unmanageable.

Since 2017, there has been a widening gap between the county government and the voters.

Laikipia is a large county with a variety of cultures and political viewpoints.

So you have folks who are delighted with former Governor Joshua Irungu’s performance and leadership.

You also have a few other factions forming to see if they can find a way to unite around something to replace Ndiritu and his shrewd deputy.

The Political Landscape Has Shifted

We can no longer assume that everything we’ve known over the past 50 years is still applicable or relevant today.

We can no longer tell because the public has changed. Politics has evolved.

You can’t go back in time now. Boring robotic leaders and candidates are no longer acceptable.

The growth of populism around the world, fueled in large part by individuals such as Trump, Uhuru, Raila Ruto, Mike Sonko, Putni, and others, has sparked a resistance to robotic politics.

Populists excel at persuading the masses because they provide simple answers to difficult questions.

We live in a time when globalization, technological change, and automation are all creating chaos.

Based on the foregoing and other encounters with locals across the 15 wards over the last three weeks, This Is Laikipia has concluded that the person(s) who will be able to remove Ndiritu and Mwaniki from office must make effective use of populism and the media.

Laikipians want someone who will go to fight for matters that are important to them. Joshua Irungu arrived as a humble servant who upheld the Kiunjuri status quo leadership style. Ndiritu appears to be corrupt and arrogant.

Laikipians have to choose between keeping that ground and ceding it. And to simply elect someone who will come in and act as a type of caretaker of the status quo? No way, no how, no one wants that.

What the voters were led to believe was that Joshua Irungu was Kiunjuri’s stooge. Kiunjuri effectively ran the county in the shadows as a result of this.

The only option to end the “godfather status quo” was for Joshua Irungu to be defeated in the polls.

Various forms of propaganda succeeded in convincing citizens to vote heavily against Joshua Irungu.

Ndiritu Muriithi was elected as an all-maths, no-poetry governor. People are tired of canned politicians who are overmanaged by 99 advisers who give bad advice.

Voters are fed up with being sold a polished product under the guise of a governor candidate in the 2022 elections.

They want something that feels like a real person, even if that person is really bizarre.

And perhaps this is how Ndiritu and his deputy will be defeated by an unintentional candidate in 2022.

Laikipia Is Headed To Hell

The county is going to hell in a handbasket, and a candidate who will run to win, not to be seen, is desperately needed.

Politics is built on allegations. Now, I say allegations because narratives lead voters to form opinions about different candidates that are far from accurate.

But it makes no difference. The truth is unimportant.

Its what are you selling, and can you sell it, and will people buy it?In every case, a politician needs to sell themselves and that is the best preparation possible for a politician.

Editor, This Is Laikipia

To defeat Ndiritu and his deputy, the unintentional governor will need a blaze of attention, similar to a hot new product on the market.

Ideologies and manifestos are irrelevant to the vast majority of voters.

You’ll realise that 2022 elections will not be about ideologies even at the national level.

It will be about who is the angriest. For example the hustler narrative making voters angry at Uhuru.

In laikipia, it will be  about who is the angriest at Ndiritu Murithi.

Specifically, the candidate who can embody that anger the most authentically. And so on all kinds of metrics, it doesn’t matter on which ticket the accidental governor will be vying on.

What the voter base is looking for is just, who can be the most opposed to Ndiritu & Mwaniki leadership miscalculations?

Cowards Don’t Lead, They Are Left As Followers

Cowards are not given the opportunity to lead; instead, they are relegated to the role of followers.

There’s no doubt that the 2022 Laikipia gubernatorial campaign will be interesting by the fact that there will be so many candidates.

This could be the most qualified collection of candidates in Laikipia political history, with a diverse set of leadership qualities.

Every single one of them has a chance to catch lightning in a bottle and win this thing.

Just by observation, you can see that they are all prepared and ready to lead.

However, it is evident that they are not willing to play lowest common denominator on a daily basis in order to maximize attention and popularity.

Looking at them, it appears that they are still caught in the old way of getting votes, which will prove costly and destructive in the coming days.

So along comes our unintentional governor, who realizes that Laikipians aren’t seeking for another overrated “World Bank” intern or whatever – they’re not looking for the brightest or most sophisticated candidate.

They are looking for a hands on, gut puncher, a street fighter. All he/she needs to do is seem different from the typical  candidate, and he /she would naturally draw the public’s interest.

Because he/she will be such a spectacle from the start, the distinctiveness will raise his/her name Identity.

Furthermore, the style of operation should not be denial of every flaw they possess as a candidate.

Its to own a little piece of the terrible thing.

This is one area that the current regime under Ndiritu has failed terribly.

Their strategy is to deny, deny, deny, and then issue an empty PR to heal the damage.

A leadership that is founded on ignorance always receives the memo after everyone else.

A Friend Of The Media

In the world of media, the villain is always the center of attention. I believe that the unintentional governor candidate should understand how to use the media.

Because most candidates will be scared into thinking they shouldn’t expose themselves too much, the unintentional governor will eat up all the airtime.

The fatal mix of these components of their personality, skill set, and experience will make the accidental governor the most unique.

Call this a talent stack, or in this specific case call it a persuasion stack.

It’s a collection of skills that, when combined, would make you think that each of these separate skills isn’t the best I’ve ever seen, but almost no one possesses this combination.

People do not follow social media accounts or media briefings in order to learn more about a candidate.

THIS IS A SHOW. PEOPLE WISH FOR SOMEONE WHO CAN INSPIRE AND RESONATE WITH THEIR DAILY LIFE.

Editor, This Is Laikipia

We had significant policy debates in the 1980s; 21 years later, you don’t have any meaningful policy debates because the phone altered everything, right?

Because what happened is that the phone shortened up everybody’s attention span.

The candidate should be aware that they are only in the spotlight for a brief period and will be forgotten about sooner or later. If those 30 seconds of exposure are skilfully used, they will appear in sound bites, news and blogs and they will defeat the other candidates (including Ndiritu) who are attempting to control the narrative.

Don’t forget.

IT’S NEVER BEEN ABOUT IDEAS. IT’S ALL ABOUT THE EMOTIONS. THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ACTUAL IDEOLOGY.ITS, OH, YOU KNOW, HE TALKS LIKE ME, THINKS LIKE ME, AND HATES LIKE ME IN SOME CASES.

Editor, This Is Laikipia

Laikipians believe that the present governor is no better than the last one; he has failed the majority of businesses and citizens in the most basic ways, and voters in Laikipia are no longer interested in hearing stories.

And they want to find someone who can represent their concerns about the future of Laikipia county. The next governor of Laikipia will be the individual who excels in this area.

Exploiting Leadership Gaps

The current dictatorship has refused to acknowledge the rising online and offline resistance to their bad leadership. And with a large number of inhabitants informed of what a county government needs to do.

We’ve seen a severe online assault, supplemented by demonstrations that were widely covered in the media for a week.

Ndiritu’s reputation was shattered as a result, and votes were lost.

That informs you, as the incumbent governor, that you have a major problem in Laikipia’s heartland.

The economic miracle that has occurred under the current government has left a vast section of the population feeling left out. Concerns have grown throughout the county as conferences and bush parties have been organized.

When the Laikipian middle and lower classes reflect on the manifestos that were presented to them in 2017, they feel betrayed.

Today, there is tremendous inequity in terms of income and wealth disparity in the county of Laikipia.

When a large number of individuals have no real income increase and no savings, and all of the economic gains are concentrated in one family, it becomes a major disadvantage for the incumbent’s re-election campaign.

Remember that 86% of Laikipians do not have a steady source of income. Almost two-thirds of Laikipians have never attended college. So, under the current government of Ndiritu, the vast majority of Laikipians have been denied the opportunity to advance economically.

These people are so angry. As a result, the ideal candidate must be able to connect with this specific set of people who feel marginalized.

THE THINGS HE/SHE WILL SAY SHOULD BE THE SAME THINGS LAIKIPIANS HAVE SAID FOR YEARS. AND EVENTUALLY LAIKIPIANS WILL SAY WE ALL WIN WHEN HE WINS.

Editor, This Is Laikipia

Our unexpected governor should have tapped into a vein of the Laikipian thinking that believes Laikipia is an oasis of opportunities, but Ndiritu has failed to manage.

Laikipians are fed up with Laikipia’s politicians. They are fed up with the way the county is run. And they want things to change in 2022.

They want somebody new.

Stand Up And Stand Between

To win as gubernatorial candidate, you’ll need to stand up and stand between the regular folks and the elite and say, “I’m with them – the common people.”

They should be someone who exudes confidence in their ability to eliminate some of the corruption in the county administration. And there is a lot of corruption in this county government right now.

Laikipians will vote for someone who can provide solutions to their concerns.

If a voter is concerned that their child may be absent from school owing to a lack of school fees, you must have a message for them.

If businesses are upset about the high taxes, you must have a message for them.

And if the majority of people are angry because the health-care system has failed, you, as a candidate, must have a message for the people.

His or her campaign’s spirit should be one of winning.

To win so much that supporters may even get tired of winning! And probably say, “Please, please, please! Its too much winning! We can’t take it any more! Mr. Governor, its too much!”

And he’ll say, No, it isn’t! We have to keep winning! We have to win more and send this corrupt regime home!

The ancient Romans said that the electorate is motivated by bread and circuses.

The surprise governor has to be good at it.

In every medium, he is skilled at agitating the public and eliciting a reaction from them.

Invest 100% In Social Media

Between a candidate and the media system, there are usually walls and walls of media handlers. This status quo was changed by Donald Trump.

Because of his grasp of Twitter and Facebook, he received huge exposure, and his popularity ratings skyrocketed. Back in Kenya, Ruto is a Trump aficionado.

He uses his Twitter account to stay authentically connected to actual people in real time. He makes statements that are heard by millions of people long before they are broadcast on television, which could be hours or days later.

What’s on the Facebook page? what’s on the twitter page? who’s he/she talking to when? These are questions voters will ask.

To beat Ndiritu, the unexpected governor only needs to increase his/her share of the media market.

They should be someone who commands the media’s attention and serves as its lifeline.

All of the media attention will eventually be drawn up and focused on them. Voters will have forgotten about the other candidates or what Ndiritu did.

The current candidates may fail to unseat Ndiritu because they underestimate the power of the media.

They’re playing an old game with an outdated playbook. To his or her credit, the unintentional governor must understand the world of new media.

And make the most of it. There is no doubt about that.

Great politicians, without a doubt, are masters of modern media. JFK made use of television. Obama made excellent use of the internet and emerging social networks.

Trump and Twitter were a particularly powerful and lethal combination.

Because it combines a social network with a broadcast network, social media is a unique network.

You are effectively a broadcaster because you have thousands of followers. And these two modes interact with one another.

Occasionally, a post becomes viral, resulting in thousands or millions of individuals seeing that one message.

Another Detailed Example

Ruto and Raila are using social media not just as a tool in and of itself, but also to disrupt main stream media.

A tweet from Ruto or a Facebook post from Raila will make headlines almost immediately.

And the speed and agility required to navigate a near-real-time medium, such as social media, gives them a strategic advantage.

People can sense the presence of spontaneity or genuine emotion in real-time posts when they see that.

The new currency that’s rare and needed in politics is no longer money. Its attention. Its name recognition. That’s the new currency.

And most aspirants have oodles of that. The difference is how they’ll use it.

In America, for example, Hillary Clinton tried to avoid the spotlight, avoid interviews, and rely solely on the fact that she possessed the most powerful brand in American politics..

Her publicity strategy consisted of simply ignoring the media. She felt like the front-runner and didn’t think she needed to chat to the swarms of media covering the campaigns.

The secret, I believe, is that Donald Trump’s stubborn authenticity resonated, and I believe that is something that all politicians can learn from.

That is be yourself and talk like a human being without putting up an act as a candidate.

Don’t run a wreck of a campaign. Nobody can remember anything about Hillary Clinton’s campaign to this day.

Trump’s slogan is still remembered.’ Make America great again.’

And her slogan was an empty “stronger to together”. Whatever that means.

On one point this being a plain slogan, made it hard for her campaign team to craft a narrative.

She didn’t really capture the energy of the people out there, so she couldn’t connect with them in the best manner.

You often get the impression that a candidate will fight for every inch, and she just didn’t radiate that. It was all a mess.

She missed the anger that had taken root in the electorate. Whether it was her speaking abilities or her track record, she was not an inspirational person.

How To Loose

Ndiritu is taking grassroots for granted. He assumes that he’ll win such places without having to do a lot, without implementing projects on the ground.

The candidate who invests resources and effort in grass-roots mobilization in each of the 15 wards will fare well in the elections.

It’s easy to be fooled by data dummy pollsters and 99 advisors telling you that you’ve got voters in the bag based on hearsay.

Pollsters and political advisors may mislead you into believing that your ground game is strong. When, in fact, it isn’t.

If you don’t catch the signal that you’ve got a big challenge in the grass roots and you can’t respond when people are calling for help, you are going to get beaten.

At the end of the day, its a ground operation that needs serious investment for a successful campaign.

A smart candidate will identify that vulnerability in Ndiritu’s plan, exploit it, and humiliate him at the ballot box.

I actually believe that what happened in the 2016 USA election was an example of this very new set of the media system.

The gatekeepers of the old media system are no longer the gate keepers.

Once upon a time, we had audience members who were each sitting in their own living rooms, watching a television broadcast, and maybe shouting back at the TV.

That landscape has completely changed, because now we have audience members who are all over on the internet, all on different social media platforms, connected with one another and talking with each other about new political possibilities.

Now we are connected to more of our friends, and we have the ability to self select and tune into networks of people who think like we do.

Thus influence each other online like we would have done on the ground.