Octopizzo: Politicians are farming the poor and weaponising hunger for votes
Kenyan artiste and activist Henry Ohanga, alias Octopizzo, has called out politicians for exploiting the poor rather than helping them.
Taking to his official X account on the night of Monday, June 16, 2025, the Kibera-born rapper argued that poverty in Kenya is not just a condition — it has become a political tool.
According to Octopizzo, political leaders weaponise hunger to harvest votes, offer handouts in place of dignity, and build empires on broken promises.
“In Kenya, poverty is no longer a crisis; it is a currency. Politicians don’t just ignore the poor; they farm them. They weaponise hunger to harvest votes, offer handouts in place of dignity, and build empires on broken promises,” Octopizzo stated.
Political control
Drawing from his own experience growing up in Kibera, he painted a vivid picture of the realities many Kenyans face daily — a lack of clean water, unsafe shelter, limited access to education, and systemic neglect.
“Growing up in Kibera taught me this: When you can’t afford basic dignity like clean water, secure shelter, and education. You begin to trade your values for survival without even realising it,” he stated.
According to Octopizzo, the electoral process in Kenya has become a vicious cycle where poverty is sustained deliberately to ensure political control.
“It’s not that the poor lack morals, NO, it’s that the system robs them of the space to practise them. Poverty has become the leash; elections, the collar. It’s traumatic!” the artiste wrote on X.
Octopizzo slams Murkomen
Earlier on, Octopizzo had taken aim at Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen over newly announced police reforms, accusing him of offering cosmetic changes in the face of deep-rooted brutality within the police service.
In a strongly worded post on X on Monday, June 16, 2025, Octopizzo described the reforms as an attempt to apply polish over bloodstains, citing the killing of Homa Bay-based teacher and blogger Albert Ojwang as a glaring example of impunity within the system.
Murkomen’s plan, unveiled during a State of the Nation address, includes the installation of CCTV cameras in all 1,209 police stations, digitisation of the Occurrence Book (OB), and enhanced officer training. But for Octopizzo, these measures fall far short of delivering justice.
“Cameras inside walls while young men like Albert Ojwang are dragged out and executed in the streets where there’s no CCTV? Don’t insult our intelligence,” the rapper posted, calling for body cameras and public accountability for officers involved in human rights abuses.
