Tanzanians are expected to vote in a General Election in October, five months hence. But you would not know it if you visited now. Next year will be Uganda’s turn, but you will not know it if you visit now.
Kenya’s next General Election will be in 2022. But a visitor will be forgiven for thinking Kenyans are headed to the polls this side of October. We make a fetish, and indeed an expensive and expansive racket, of the presidential succession in particular, and elections in general.
The Constitution, the democratic choice to seek the country’s top job and, above all, a free, fair and verifiable election, run by a credible umpire, should settle poll matters easily, swiftly and amicably.
That, I submit, should happen in four weeks flat of campaigning and within 72 hours of polling, counting, tallying and transmission of results. Then? Get back to earning a living, building livelihoods, creating wealth. But, alas, easily remains easier said than done.
A presidential succession only makes Kenya’s General Election more intense and elongated. So for the simple reason that the presidency is the ultimate diadem, a presidential poll should be the most diligently planned and meticulously executed operation to ensure a true and verifiable result.
To promote competition as a hallmark of our democracy, we must ensure the polls umpire is competent and equipped, intellectually, physically and infrastructurally, to deliver free, fair and verifiable elections. Only then will agency and process command faith and respectability.
With that, all is well. Without that, all ails. Goodwill and acceptance, which should accompany every poll, are not confined to polling, but apply also to the process, politics and practices involved in the build-up to polling.
If we hold that candidates for the presidency represent their communities; if we agree that communities see themselves as competitors in the polls; then, we must agree that change of the mind-set should lead the process of change. And the change we need is to stop seeing electioneering not as a full-time business, but as a five-week activity engaged in every five years.
If we agree that the clamour for the glamour of the presidency breeds conflict between competing communities; if we agree that losers are embittered because they suffer material and reputational losses; then, we must also agree that barring somebody from seeking the top job similarly fuels animosity.
If we do, then we will agree that a public declaration that the presidency is never decided at the ballot, but in the boardroom, serves to undermine the polls agency, and to deflate confidence in the process and result.
Put another way, it renders sterling efforts at democratising Kenya a kazi bure (non-rewarding) enterprise.
If we agree that it is hearts and minds that need changing, then we must agree that that demands talking to each other, and not at each other, at public fora. And that calls for telling and explaining, and argument, which is how founding President Julius Nyerere united Tanzanians.
That is about the message, and about turning the political rally into a classroom, courtroom, boardroom or debating chamber, as well as devising new fora for public discourse.
It is also about making change of the prevailing political mind-set, the aim of public or political discourse.
Changing mind-sets is far too important to be left to politicians. The buy-in of varied interests and, especially the people of Kenya, is critical.
That is why the Constitution lays a premium on public participation. But, more importantly, it is politicians who turn our lives into a lifelong campaign.
In 1976 they began the two-year-long debate about the unsuitability of Vice-President Daniel arap Moi to succeed President Jomo Kenyatta. They sought a change of the Constitution to bar him from becoming President.
In 1997 they demanded President Moi name a successor before his 2002 retirement date. Moi seized the chance and named Mr Uhuru Kenyatta his heir. Politics hit high octane and overdrive. Most did not like Moi’s choice.
From 2018, President Kenyatta has engineered and endured a rotten relationship with Deputy President William Ruto and spawned, nay, ensured, a thriving industry of hate, division and conflict.
So, because politicians are the culprits, we must detoxify them and the politics if we are to change the political mind-set. And the best way to change the politicians is to change the thinking of Kenyans.
Now, play this reggae and let’s all dance.
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