JAMILA’S MEMO: Empowerment or national handouts?

Once upon a time, empowerment meant creating sustainable systems for people to lift themselves out of poverty. These days, it’s starting to look more like a reality show — complete with helicopters, staged crowds, and envelopes that appear like manna from political heaven. So, we ask: is this an empowerment programme or a national handout programme?

Lately, there have been many questions — and rightly so. For starters, where is the money coming from? Which vault is being unlocked for these surprise handouts? Is it the Presidency, a Ministry, or perhaps a mystery donor with a golden wallet? The Deputy President seems to be the leading this nationwide roadshow, but what budget line is footing the bill?

And about those helicopters — because empowerment apparently can’t happen unless you descend from the skies like a savior — who is paying for them? Members of Parliament are also riding these choppers. At approximately Ksh.250,000 an hour, and with multiple landings a day, we are talking millions. Are our MPs really reaching into their own pockets? Or are we witnessing a creative reimagining of the National Emergency Fund?

Then there’s the bigger question — if it’s not public funds, then who are the private funders of this very public campaign? And why haven’t they channeled that generosity through the structured, legally mandated avenues that already exist?

Let’s refresh our memories: Youth Fund, Women Fund, Uwezo Fund, NGAAF, the Ministry of Gender, the Ministry of Youth, the Ministry of Cooperatives and MSMEs — all backed by policy, legislation, and billions of shillings over the years. Do these institutions now bow in reverence before the new “Empowerment Brigade”?

And the pattern of these donations… oh, we know it well. They take almost the exact shape of the harambees of yesteryears — the same ones President Ruto declared illegal following the Gen Z protests of 2024. So what changed? Or is this what we now call "harambee with helicopters"?

At the end of the day, the people of Kenya deserve transparency. If this is empowerment, then let it be clear, accountable, and within the law. If it's a political campaign dressed up as charity, then let's just call it what it is.

After all, even handout programs in harambee garments masquerading as empowerment projects need receipts. In other news, it turns out that we can no longer afford to pay for free primary and secondary education.