Kenya on right path to mature democracy

The 2022 General Election has been different from the previous elections we have had as a country.

Our country has never been the same since the onset of multipartyism in the early 1990s.

Towards the end of the Kanu regime in the early 2000s, Kenyans had made a big step in shunning state interference after a sitting president’s choice was rejected at the ballot.

The new Narc government was largely considered a government ‘of the people, by the people and for the people’, a slogan that could not be applied in the 2007 elections.

The 2008 post-election violence made us realise that poor use of our rights can lead to self-destruction.

Measures to avert such happening in future were incorporated in the 2010 Constitution.

There are those who believe that the 2008 Mwai Kibaki swearing-in was unprocedural.

Consequently, the new Constitution required one to attain at least 25 per cent of the total cast votes in (at least 24 counties) in order to be declared president-elect.

A swearing-in ceremony should be conducted during the daytime and in a public gathering in Nairobi. These measures ensure nobody creates a shortcut to power.

Nevertheless, we have not attained the status of a mature democracy.

Tribal alliances

Each election is marred with a lack of trust in the IEBC and tension. This is because our elections have been reduced to tribal competitions between tribal alliances.

The 50 per cent plus one vote rule gives an advantage to only those from the top five tribes.

To stop or avoid this, we should think of an expanded Executive that has a Head of State and a head of government as two different individuals. 

Our election process is still a race of life and death, which explains why it is always tense and prone to violence.

This is because we have not fully incorporated all actors into the process.

Actors like opinion polls, use of social media, campaign sloganeering, pre-election deals and campaign costs have been ignored yet they play a crucial role in the process. 

Another crucial part of the election process that should be amended for credibility is the mode of result transmission.

Delayed result transmission is a recipe for violence. However, all results must be thoroughly verified before they are sent out since wrong figures spark violence.

Democracy is not only about representation and election. Justice, fairness and transparency are also key tenets of democracy. 

As a global south nation we are facing challenges that are acting as hindrances to the growth of democracy. Whereas there is no perfect democracy in the world, we must always learn from the leaders.

There is a high chance of us becoming a mature democracy only if we shun the behaviour of electing corrupt and unintelligent leaders.

Election should not be a race between the rich but a competition of ideas. 

Arasa Makori, Kisii