Kenyans roasted former Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale on Thursday, September 12, over a post he made on social media.
The former senator had insinuated that renowned football star McDonald Mariga has been unfairly denied a chance to vie for the Kibra parliamentary seat.
This, according to Khalwale, was because he was a hustler, yet prominent people like ODM leader Raila Odinga and Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka's kins were appointed to the government.
“I come from a most unequal country where Kennedy Kalonzo and Oburu Odinga are gifted free parliamentary seats in East Africa Legislative Assembly (EALA), but Mariga (a hustler's son) is being denied a chance to compete for a seat in Kibra. The hustler nation will speak," Boni tweeted.
The over 1,000 replies he got on Twitter, however, showed Kenyans' displeasure with Khalwale's tweet.
This comes after Mariga's candidature was invalidated by IEBC, on the basis that he was not a registered voter.
Most of the social media users quoted IEBC's reason for blocking the footballer as purely constitutional and that Raila had nothing to do with it.
Other netizens who agreed with Khalwale's observation, that Kenya indeed had various instances of unequal opportunities, differed with the lawyer that this particular situation had nothing to do with Mariga's background nor Raila.
Ougo Mandela posed, "Who has denied Mariga a chance to run for the Kibra seat,the man did not register as a voter as required! Let the hustler's son follow the rule of law, as he tries to make a name for himself. The truth is incontrovertible."
Duke Korir posted, "While I agree with you on the inequalities in Kenya, our friend Mariga technically was unfair to himself and there can't be no way anyone would hatch a plan to stop his candidature. Kibra and ODM have nothing to lose. Time to focus on 2022 and beyond."
"Get it right mheshimiwa (honourable). This is a battle between Mariga and IEBC and not Raila," Paul Wekesa clarified.
In 2013, IEBC's tribunal revoked lawyer Kethi Kilonzo's nomination certificate on the grounds that she was not a registered voter anywhere in the country.
Despite wanting to vie in Makueni, Kethi claimed to be a registered voter in Lang'áta Constituency, producing a voter slip which according to her, was obtained by registering as a voter.
Early in the year, Deputy President William Ruto's daughter, June, landed an ambassadorial job in Poland. Netizens therefore cited this fact to explain that nepotism was not only in the opposition.
"What about DP Ruto's daughter who is the ambassador of Poland (Kenya's ambassador to Poland)?" Charles, another Twitter questioned.
"There are no shortcuts, just follow the law. Remember Kethi Kilonzo? Does it also mean that Kalonzo's son and Oburu Odinga work with IEBC?" Bob Ikunda wondered.
