Stay calm and await the election results

IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati during a Press briefing at the Bomas of Kenya

Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Chairman Wafula Chebukati during a Press briefing at the Bomas of Kenya on August 10, 2022.
 

Photo credit: Sila Kiplagat | Nation Media Group

What you need to know:

  • Politicians come and go but peace and stability are hard to regain once lost.
  • It’s just an election, after all. It’s not worth destroying the entire county for.
  • Kenyans should try to cope with whatever the outcome will be and do their utmost to control their frustration even if they see some sort of injustice here and there during the elections.

I’m anxiously following the 2022 General Election in Kenya. I’m grateful for what the Kenyans have done for us after our country, Somalia, collapsed and we had nowhere to go.

You get to know a real friend during your time of hardship.

We boarded a ship and sailed southwards from the southern city of Barawa, which was heavily attacked by the bandits. We landed in Mombasa not knowing what our fate would be.

Kenyan tycoon Taher Shaikh Said aka TSS (who has since died) personally came to the shore to welcome us—as if we were VIPs. He covered all the expenses and hosted us in one of his mansions. 

The Kenyan people were overwhelmingly welcoming. I’ve never seen kindness manifest in a human being as it did in those wonderful people.

Africa is Paradise on earth. Sadly, bad politics and egotistical politicians destroy the innocence and beauty of the continent.

The time of elections in Africa can mean death and destruction. Things can take an unexpected turn, where the poor people suffer the most as the rest, including the candidates, take the first flight out to their luxurious homes overseas.

I appeal to the Kenyan people to stay calm, try to cope with whatever the outcome will be and do their utmost to control their frustration even if they see some sort of injustice here and there during the elections.

It’s just an election, after all. It’s not worth destroying the entire county for. Politicians come and go but peace and stability are hard to regain once lost.

We can never repay the goodness of the Kenyans. I pray for peace, harmony, social justice and a strong and God-fearing leader who will not serve his own kin but empower the poor people, help to establish social justice and serve all Kenyans.

Abubakar N. Kasim, Ontario, Canada

* * *

Several days after the general election, the results from across the country are trickling in.

Despite supporting different politicians, let’s remember that we all are Kenyans and there is life after the elections and also when the results are released.

It is high time we maintained peace and avoid violence—like after the 2007 elections when many Kenyans were killed, injured or made homeless and their property destroyed. 

Let us be calm and wait for the results peacefully. Let’s maintain peace and support the victors, political affiliation notwithstanding.

Carol Maina, Embu

* * *

Kenyans promised to keep the peace as we voted, and we actually did.

Let us now promise that we shall accept the poll outcome. That way, we shall prove that we are a people of great promise.

Francis Njuguna, Kiambu