The Musings of a Young Kenyan Voter.

Thomas Hobbes is considered the father of English political liberalism. I had great difficulty accepting part of his narrative on the ‘natural condition of mankind’ while studying law. He presented the social-contract man’s life as being solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short. Because of these characteristics and man’s egoistical nature, he was a strong believer that there is a necessity to obey strong governments or else life as we know it would be a war of all on all….

I am a happy young voter who has voted in two general elections and in the referendum that so the promulgation of a new Kenyan Constitution in 2010.I am also a proud female and an even prouder kikuyu for that matter. I acknowledge the fact that prior to the last election, I was very naïve and oblivious to several issues that evidently influence Kenyan Politics as we know it...having been born, raised and educated in Nairobi, I must say that I never looked at my classmates, friends or neighbours and first saw them as a tribe. Actually come to think of it; my friendship with others has never been influenced by ethnicity or what region in Kenya they regard as home. I honestly consider that there is nothing wrong with being proud of your heritage or ethnicity and as Kenyans we must all celebrate our diversity and culture and promote it. It is the negative ethnicity that is especially fueled by politics that we must shun as a people.

I was not particularly impressed by the school of thought that refused to answer what ethnicity they came from during the last conducted censors. I think it is a shame that we have allowed ourselves to be reduced to this and that we are scared or ashamed to be identified with our uniqueness. As the Kenyan electorate, I sometimes marvel at how strangely we act and/or allow ourselves to be dictated yet we are the ones with the power that most of our power hungry political class often greed for.

With our own constitution which we have all taken ownership of, with an independent judiciary which we have faith in, and, with hopefully a more aware electorate who vote based on issues and for progressive realization of vision 2030 goals, the last election conducted on March 4 2013 made me and hopefully millions of other Kenyans rekindled their hope and faith in this great Nation. We must however take ownership of our governance regardless of whether or not our candidates won. We must hold them accountable and ensure they fulfill most, if not all, of the promises they made during the campaign periods and if they do not deliver come 2017 we have other choices to make based on facts, figures and definitely not on tribal lines or strongholds….

Do we face several challenges ahead of us? Definitely and mostly yes; but we did ourselves proud and seemed to have learned a hard and painful lesson from the post-election violence that nearly brought our beautiful nation on its knees. It is my sincere hope that we will constantly keep our leaders on their toes and that we might alter Hobbes theory an interpret it to be true if strong governments translates to an equally strong electorate….

 

 

THE CAMPAIGN MANAGER!

Winning is always nice!

 And we all want to win or be part of the winning team.

The last few weeks have been a roller-coaster ride. You see for the first time ever, IU finally decided to have its first ever officially elected student-council. This has been a very long journey coming and we were all glad that the big ballot day was scheduled in a short span of three weeks!

Am not sure that politics, especially students’ politics is my forte. With that said, I was sure as hell not vying for any seat in this Government. How the tables changed when one of my very good friends animatedly informed me of his candidacy! And yes, He was going for the big seat-President of IUSA.

To cut a very long story short, I decided to take up the role as Jesse Mutua’s campaign manager! I might add that this is a job that I had zero experience in! When I said yes to the offer, I thought ‘How hard could this be? ‘I knew I would get readily available info especially in light of showdowns for Republicans in the US and the vigorous campaigns happening back home in regard to the forthcoming general elections. So there we were….with three weeks to do the nearly impossible…. 

Lucky for us, we had very loyal supporters who were willing to help in any way. From those, we formed a core-team. Strategy was our game and we hit the ground running! We ensured that our candidate was well visible. Posters, social media. The works! A buzz was already being felt within the campus corridors.

As all campaigns might have it, scandals begun to crop up here and there. The Presidential race had three candidates and so you can fathom how either team might want to set back another. Obviously when you take up a mantle in such a battle, you sign up for anything and everything sadly. There were moments when such horrid things were said or when we knew that it was not fair-play, but Jesse insisted on integrity and honesty all the way.

As Kenyans, we have a distasteful habit of asking for ‘Kitu Kidogo’ all the time. Even when our civic duty is called for, we still want ‘Chai’. At the political fore-front, this is the order of the day. We were horrified a replica of the same was happening in our schools and students expected us to ‘toa’ in exchange for a vote! I am almost sure that we were the only team that REFUSED to bribe anyone! We insisted that you vote because you believe in Leadership you can Trust (Campaign Slogan) not because we can and will pay your bus-fare, a couple of shots, or a game of pool!

A lot of haters out-there especially the crook business-men advised that no vote without finance!!!What a bunch of baloney! I was so ashamed when a student who might be my father’s age asked me for something small in exchange for a Jesse Vote…I have a feeling, he will never be able to look me in the eye ever again as I categorically told him NO.What crappy role-models are these and what mixed signals are they sending to the youth especially!!!

Debate-day was soon with us and all candidates for various offices presented their manifestos. This was followed by Q&A’s.Jesse is really very eloquent and answers questions quite meticulously. It was interesting to listen to his rivals and note their temperaments. The crowd went wild when some took the podium, but I could tell real cheers from sarcastic ones.

Two days later…and the grand elections were here!!!The polling booths were to be open at 0800 Hours with four polling stations. On the morning of Friday the 9^th March, disorganization and poor communication were the beginning of what was to be a historic day. Four Hours later, voting began. You can imagine my utter shock when I went to cast my vote and found my name missing from the register….more running up and down…finally able to cast my vote an hour later.

At 1800 hours, polls were closed and counting begun. This was a painfully slow process filled with anxiety and anticipation. At 2130 hours, we were invited for the results announcement…..

You can imagine what must have been going through anyone’s mind then. Did we win? Did we do enough? Will we achieve all what we set out to do?

As it was so late, thankfully the dean of students went right to the results saving the speeches for the swearing in ceremony to be held on the 13^th March. You could hear a pin drop in the hall when she began reading out the results. When she got to the President, I thought my heart literally stopped beating…..she read out a name not close to the one I had in mind……..

I couldn’t believe it; we had lost by six votes. I was mad, frustrated, and felt cheated especially by the people who failed to turn-up to vote. Getting out of there the fastest way possible was only what my mind could register. If I felt disappointed, I can only imagine what Jesse might have been feeling, couldn’t help but feel that I let him and the entire team down….

This weekend was our grieving period. Come next week, we intend to hold our head high. We refuse to throw stones and utter insults.Instead,we will walk up to the newly elected IUSA Government come Tuesday afternoon, shake their hands in congratulatory mood and wish them well from the bottoms of our hearts.

I know this will not be easy, but it is the RIGHT thing to do. You see, losing is just feedback. We might be down now, but we (especially Jesse) is not out. Losing is sometimes part of winning!!!