Lack of civic education blamed for low voter turnout

Lack of civic education is to blame for the low voter turn-out in the just concluded General elections, a Nakuru-based Human rights activist has said.

The Executive Director of MidRift Human Rights Network, Joseph Omondi observed that most citizens do not know the gravity of their power of the vote which is enshrined in the constitution.

He opined that this has led to absconding of the electoral process and the transactional relationship between voters and the elected leaders.

He said people only care about the hand-outs being dished out by politicians instead of vital issues such as integrity, development track records and manifestos.

Omondi said the constitution gave the sovereign power to the people including employing their leaders through the polls but most of them sell it like a cheap suit.

He added that the power to vote can not be delegated.

"Voting is delegating the peoples' power to politicians with clear expectations and the sovereign power can be alternatively exercised directly through legal channels if voters feel like their elected leaders are not working as expected," he said.

He blamed the government for the situation saying it wrote to donors and development partners discouraging them from funding civic education programs by Non-Government Organisations ahead of the August 9 polls.

"The government also refused to give the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) sufficient money to facilitate voter education," claimed Omondi who is also a political analyst.

He observed that voters, especially first-time voters, did not know why that power was granted to the people, why they should vote or how to pick leaders based on agendas.

"It is not just voting, people should do informed voting, the younger generation was born in the era when MPs control National Government Constituency Development Fund and most of them believe that NGCDF patronage is the only role of a parliamentarian," he observed.

He cited Nakuru where all the MPs do not have any legislation in the National Assembly's Hansard apart from Gilgil parliamentarian Martha Wangari yet the residents are content with the NGCDF projects and bursary distribution.

"The work of an MP is representation, oversight and legislation as provided for in the constitution but most of the voters believe that is okay so long as a parliamentarian issues bursary checks and several classes are constructed under the NGCDF," he said.

He wondered why the youths complain about the way the country was being governed yet they boycott voting. 

Omondi said Civic education should not be a one-off affair but a continuous process for five years.

He also suggested that civic education be included in the school curriculum noting that most teachers do not know civic matters or internalised the way county governments work.

Omondi gave an example of America where even visitors are gifted with the country's constitution and history at the entry points compared to high-school leavers in Kenya who do not know the Kenyan history.