I watched with dismay the conclusion of the party primaries this past weekend. If the behavior of party officials, members, and adherents is anything to go by, what happened this past weekend does not bode well for Kenya. I do not mean to be a damp squib but old habits die hard especially when it comes to the Kenyan political process. Sporadic violence, lack of candor on the part of party officials, total disarray and poor planning and logistics was the order of the day. The melee was even further compounded by contestants declaring themselves as winners!
The Swahili have a saying which goes like "Dalili ya mvua ni mawingu" or in English, "Thunderstorms are a sure sign of rain". As noted on the CFR website: http://www.cfr.org/kenya/electoral-violence-kenya/p29761, six factors make the prospects for electoral violence in the forthcoming election particularly high in Kenya. These factors include: Politicization of ethnicity, a close presidential race, a never-before-seen complex election, an ill-prepared Electoral commission, the ICC conundrum and finally, an overstretched and therefore inadequate police force.
The article goes further to suggest possible ways of avoiding or mitigating the violence such as pushing for adequate preparations, intervention of the African Union, expansion of police during the electoral process and having an international observer presence.While some of these recommendations are good, they are easier to imagine than they are to implement.There are many obstacles, lack of political will being the largest and most acute. If we are to have a transparent, credible, and fair election, preparations should have started immediately upon the conclusion of the last general election, not now. For starters, the Agenda 4 items of the Kenya National Dialogue and Reconciliation and the recommendations of Kriegler report should all have been fully implemented by now. Without those, the only analogy that fits us at the moment is that of a motorist attempting to slow down a speeding vehicle without brakes.
The party primaries are over.It appears the safeguards built into the the elections act and political parties act accomplished everything but failed to prevent the decadence in our political parties.It is anybody's guess as to whether the nominees were actually chosen by the electorate or selected somewhere in a serene,upmarket, leafy suburb.
Let us however not forget our last refuge, prayer.For those that believe in the supernatural, the divine, let us borrow some knee pads and begin to supplicate on behalf of our beloved motherland.
