Dear Kenyans,
Greetings! The 2017 campaign
season has concluded, and aren’t we glad.
I am. Glad that from today the fallacious rhetoric that we have had to endure
this year will at least be less prominent. Here’s three of the most abused
fallacies thrown around from the camps of the statistically leading candidates,
Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila Odinga;
1. Ad hominems: There has been many of these this year, but the most prominent use of this fallacy
has been from Jubilee Party. Throughout the campaigns, JP has consistently been attacking Rao, but not on
logically sound grounds. They labeled him
the “mjamaa wa vitendawili,” and then
proceeded to claim that this is a flaw, and reason enough not to vote for NASA.
Also, JP has argued that Rao has been in government before, forgetting that the
two leaders of JP have also been in government for not less than ten years
before JP was formed. One was a deputy to Rao when he was Prime Minister, and
the other was once a Minister for Agriculture under the endorsement of ‘baba’.
Despite this, and the fact that JP has governed this country for the last four
years, Kenya is still fucked up.
2.
Hasty generalizations: NASA has done a
better job than JP in incorporating this fallacy in their rhetoric. Almost
every action, whether necessary or precautionary, State organs have undertaken in preparation for the elections has
elicited cries of “foul play” from NASA, who see these actions as moves by JP to
compromise the elections. To them, everyone who works for GoK, from the prestigious
CSs to the unknown janitors, is somehow pushing, directly or indirectly, the JP
agenda. Only civil servants and state officials can better explain the frustration
of having their apolitical duties
interpreted as political maneuvers.
3.
Slippery Slopes: When tongues are wagging the way
they have been, spewing saliva the way they do, expect the ground to be pretty wet. NASA
and JP have both played an equal part in throwing around this fallacy.
However, distinguishing this fallacy from the aforementioned
one in [2] above is hard,
especially when dealing with NASA rhetoric. This camp, under the unenviable leadership
of Rao, has been attacking State organs
and accusing them of pushing the Jubilee agenda. Consequently, they perceive every
small action by said agencies as somehow
leading to rigging, justifying such conclusions with ambiguous and positively
biased evidence. JP has also incessantly
used this fallacy against NASA. In instances when NASA has raised legitimate concerns about the electoral process, JP has
been quick to accuse the former of trying to jeopardize the elections.
According to JP’s logic, all actions by NASA will somehow lead to a “mkate nusu”
government. Just when Kenya and Kenyans became boflo,
I don’t know.
The above three
fallacies have been thrown down to the
masses from podiums across the country, amid the cheers of supporters. There
have been many of these fallacies, but the above have topped the list due to
their frequent usage. By pointing them out, I hope I have helped you see the two
leading “horses” in a better light. I hope you’ll
make an informed decision on August 8th.
Sincerely Yours,
Local
Observer
PS: In this year’s election, we are not faced with an avoidance-avoidance
conflict. Despite what you hear and see in the media, we are not confronted with the dilemma of choosing
the lesser of two evils. This year, we have the chance to change this country's politics altogether. I hope you jump at it.
