By Anthony Kamau
Today, most Kenyan citizens over the age of 18 years are entitled to vote in the general elections. Voting is not just a right but it is also a civic duty. An obligation. A calling. It is a freedom for electorates to express their sovereign autonomy in the governance of their country. Like any other freedom, this freedom to decide on who to be your leader comes with consequences. The resultant denouement of the choices made by the electorates could either be good or bad. This reality that there will be either positive or negative ramifications on whatever choice voters make ought to instruct the choices of electorates as they cast their ballots. It should serve as a wake up call to responsible voting.
Voting is a privilege accorded to citizens to give them the power to participate in the democratic governance of their country. It is a means of ensuring that the individuals in political positions are accountable to their constituents. This tells of how critical voting is to the overall wellbeing of a country at whatever level of political jurisdiction. It also defines the importance of voting right. This is a shocking inevitability that should be embraced by every voter whenever they are casting their ballots to elect political leaders. It is a fact that elucidates the irredeemable cost that accompanies wrong and poor voting habits.
In a country like Kenya that has seen over five decades since she attained her independence, one would be right to expect mature politics. But it prickles and pains me excruciatingly to realize that most Kenyan voters are just naive and mere rubes. Our politics are very far from what I would regard as mature politics. This I say informed by our poor voting criteria. Whereas our voting need to be based on the policies, development records, the capability and ability of individual candidates, we Kenyan voters instead vote on tribal basis and selfishness. Most voters will elect a person if only he belongs to their ethnic battery no matter how corrupt and inept that fellow might be. Some will even vote in an individual just because he/she gave them a hundred shillings. Auch! Until when till our politics attain maturity?
Who bewitched the Kenyan electorates? Is it that most Kenyan voters are of deranged minds? Is it that they lost the capacity to intrinsic reasoning and sound judgement evaded them? Take the instance of the recent by-elections in Kiambaa constituency and you will understand why my heart is bleeding and why it pains me to remain silent. The resident constituents, instead of taking the opportunity to earn themselves a visionary and purposeful governance at the constituency level, (by this I do not intend to adjudicate that they made a wrong decision) the electorates took the exercise as a podium for them to express their aversion against the ruling party for their perceived ‘betrayal’ by the president Uhuru Kenyatta. It harrows me unbearably to imagine that the Kiambaa electorates took the opportunity of exercising their democratic right as a race between the president Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy Dr. William Ruto. It hurts me to even think that the exercise that was supposed to implant transformational leadership turned out to be a protest vote against the president.
Is there no learning curve to enlighten our electorates? I thought that one should learn from their mistakes! Electorates should always brace the fact that they are the one to bear the harsh consequences of their irresponsible and poor voting habits. They are the ones to be entirely blamed for poor governance. If we feel that we elected the wrong person, then, when accorded another chance to vote, let us vote to rectify our past mistake by voting in a qualified, vetted and approved leader and not vote to punish someone who betrayed the trust we reposed on them. Kiambaa people and all Kenyans, especially from Mont Kenya, should not be deluded by the twitter hashtag #Congratulationskikuyus. What matters after the Kiambaa by elections or any other elections is the kind of the leadership you endorsed. Your decision nowise affects the president nor his family at all. I saw the trend and just marveled at the folly around the Kenyan politics. How deranged should one be to think that the decision made by the Kiambaa people will impoverish the president? Is not that crackbrained thinking?
Time has come for ours to change the discourse. Voting is meant to provide us good governance. It should never be a means to punish an individual or a certain political affiliation. It should neither be a way of endorsing an individual from our tribe. NO. Let us debunk this folly and eschew the sham that so easily entangles and blindfolds the Kenyan electorates. As we near the general elections, let us endeavor for mature politics. Let us have campaigns and civil education to enlighten voters on the importance of responsible voting. It is important for voters to elect the right leader who can bring about transformation and development. Remember the words of Mark Skousen, “We shall never change our political leaders until we change the people who elect them.”
THE INSIGHT FOCUS 