Eighteen Miserable
years in the life of a Labour supporter
For the last month or so I have been trying to finish
reading this book. I say trying because as the sub-heading suggests it’s all
politics which is a topic that I try to avoid whenever I can. The political
scene in Kenya right now is not exactly inspiring. What with the politicians in this
country crossing from one party to another on a whim, forming one poxy party
after another which goes on to prove that they really don’t care much about our
country or ideology but rather use these parties as mere vehicles to power. To
them every party alliance formed or liaison with another political aspirant is
merely a stopgap. Don’t even remind of when the MP’s wanted to award themselves 15millions each to recompense all the pain they had gone through serving us Kenyans
(yeah right)
This book has somehow given me the impetus to be involved or
at the very least follow the political scene in Kenya. I was dithering on
whether to vote or note but now am definitely on board again. John chronicles
the arduous journey of over 18 years he spent supporting the Labour party. He shows
his frustration of trying to win an election for those 18 years and surviving
the conservative government rule. He also doesn’t hide the fact that he did not like Margaret Thatcher.
John manages to show his frustration in a very thoughtful, touching and humorous way
that you actually sympathize with him. He involved himself in politics from a
very young age doing door-to-door campaigns then working for a labour Mp to even
standing as a council candidate himself. Eventually he settles for writing
jokes for some shadow cabinet minister.
Those who are actively involved in politics especially
campaign managers will find very valuable insights on how to win (or not win
elections) For instance he says that some of the reasons why a party may lose
elections include:
1. The party might have a leader that is not prime minister
material.
2. The party manifesto alienates many of the electorates.
3. The media may be too hostile.
4. They appear hopelessly divided as a political party.
5. The campaign is poorly organized and unfocused.
Bet you most political
parties in Kenya have suffered all of
the above at one time
He also talks about the different kinds of member in party that undermine the party from within and they include the following:
1.Agenda dyslexic- These are
members who are intelligent, can read and understand most things. However they don’tseem to understand the meaning of the word ‘agenda’. While the party members are
tackling an issue they bring up other unrelated topics and derail the whole
meeting. If you answer one of their questions, they bring up another.
2. Paranoid conspiracy
theorists- they are always coming up with ridiculous theories as to why one
thing or another is happening, most of which are imagined and outrageous.
3. The single
issue fanatic- they are only in the party for one reason and one reason only. They
do not care much about anything else that the party has to offer. They always
manage to find ways on how to shoe horn their agenda into every debate much to
the chagrin of the other members.
4. Honorary martyr- the one member who is always moaning
about one thing or another. They are bitter about doing everything within the
party and on the other hand they never delegate to others. When offered help
they turn it down which of course makes no sense at all.
5.The mute- Faithfully comes to all meeting but never contributes
to anything. They blend in with the wall and the rest of the furniture in the
party office.
6. Pedantic
member- the one who is too concerned
about unimportant details and manages to suck out all the fun out of the party
meetings. They are those people who nit-pick everything and pilfer all the
party meeting time explaining unimportant rules or details that of course bore
the rest to death. They are usually older in age and their being sticks in the
mud can be attributed to their many years of activism which turned them into
nitpicking arrogant bores.
John O’farrell
also gives a few reasons why most people don’t get involved in politics or
rather why they don’t vote. They are reasons he used to get when campaigning
over the years for the labour party, These reasons which of course infuriated
him include:
1.They are
too busy( to put a cross on a bit of paper- which is maybe once or twice a
year)
2. Bitterness-
the i –voted-last-year-and-nothing-good-happened kind of people. Most Kenyans I bet
can relate to this especially after the violence and bedlam that followed the
2007 elections.
3.Voting only
encourages them(political leaders) to stay in office- this is ridiculous
considering not
voting does
not remove them from office.
4.Some think
they are above it- Its sort of a
superiority complex.
5. Its
boring- This is especially common with the youth who consider not voting a
macho posture. They see voting as “not cool”.
6.Indifference-
which is common about the poor and all those who feel alienated and who don’t
see what the government can do for them if they vote.
7. Religious
reasons- God will choose for them a leader (never mind that he is not a
registered voter.lol)
8.They are
all the same- John says this is intellectually lazy because parties
differ in one way or another. He argues that you don’t have to wholly endorse a
candidate but you can just choose the one that is preferable over the other. If
all of them are completely unacceptable then stand for election yourself.lol
John’s devotion to the Labour party for all those years is
very admirable. I wish all citizens would be as patriotic. I would highly
recommend people to read this book even to those who have a visceral dislike
for everything political. I think... no... I know this is the only political
memoir that I have read and I must say I have thoroughly enjoyed it.
PS- I think me and John O’farrell are kindred spirits. He has
a book called 'may contain nuts' which is similar to the title of my blog.lol. I think I’m
in like Y’all.
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