The country is gearing up for elections and with less than seven weeks to go, politicians are busy traversing the country to sell their party agendas to lure voters.
A few days ago, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission released a preliminary report on the number of registered voters in the country.
According to the report done by the audit firm, KPMG, the number of polling stations in the country rose to 46,232 stations.
This is a 13 per cent rise from 2017 when 40,883 polling stations were featured.
According to the report, the number of registered voters rose to 22,120,458 from 19,611,423 recorded in 2017. This represents a 12.7 per cent increase.
Just like any other contest, the electoral process is bound to get confrontational at some point.
The process is composed of different players, with diverse ideas who are competing to outdo each other for various elective positions.
Hence, security is a vital component of the whole process. For the security to be effective, it should unbiased and on high alert to nip any threat to security in the bud before it happens.
The recent turmoil witnessed at the Jacaranda grounds is very unfortunate and uncalled for.
The skirmishes saw two rival groups from two political coalitions engage each other in a brawl.
This left in its wake, injuries and destruction to property.
There were accusations and counteraccusations from each side of the political divide on the real perpetrators.
The incident brought to the fore, a major point of concern during the electioneering period, which is security.
As earlier mentioned, this is an integral part of the whole process and should never be underestimated.
In the past, the country has experienced skirmishes before, during and after elections that have resulted in disastrous outcomes. We don’t intend to go down that road again.
The unfortunate incidents would never have occurred only if the government acted with urgency to avert the chaos before they happened. Intelligent reports would have come in handy.
The most horrendous skirmishes witnessed during elections have mostly pitted one community against the other.
As we head to the polls, we need to re-evaluate the whole process. Find out what has been the major cause of the past conflicts and how we can prevent them from recurring.
One of the major factors fanning violence in the country during elections is the issue of marginalisation.
Some communities feel that they have been sidelined in the sharing of resources.
Sadly, the polarising rhetoric is shared by the politicians out to capitalise on the ignorance of the voters to gain political mileage.
Related to the above are the historical land injustices that have remained unresolved for years. Rogue leaders use the issue as a ticket to ride on to power.
They incite communities that support them against those that allegedly oppose them. Ultimately, displace the perceived unfriendly communities through ethnic clashes.
Another issue greatly contributing to violence during the period is the high number of unemployed youth in the country.
According to the 2019 National Census, 5,341,182 out of the total number of 13,777,600 youth in the country are jobless.
This represents 38.9 per cent of the youth.
Kenya has the highest number of unemployed youth in East Africa, standing at 17 per cent.
This is according to the report released by the World Bank in 2015. Tanzania had 5.5 per cent while Uganda had 6.8 per cent.
These are worrying statistics, hence susceptible to be used by selfish politicians to advance their agenda.
Technological advancement and more specifically, the use of social media, has also greatly contributed to conflicts in some parts of the country.
The unregulated social media users hiding under pseudo names have previously been notorious for fanning violence.
The recurrent violence during elections can be contained only if everyone becomes accountable.
Both the government and the public should come out and help contain this menace.
The National Cohesion and Integration Commission should be more proactive.
The commission should work in collaboration with the National Security Intelligence Service to detect any impending threat to national security before it occurs.
NCIC should also sensitise communities on the importance of national cohesion and clamp down on the perpetrators of hate speech and violence in the country and ensure that they are arraigned.
IEBC should conduct free fair and credible elections to enhance trust in the process. Politicians found to be engaging in the election malpractices should be barred from contesting and arraigned.
The public can also help avert any conflicts by reporting to the authorities any suspicious activities or individuals likely to fan conflicts.
Security should be beefed up in the identified hot spot areas in the country.
Security organs should be non-partisan when carrying out their duties, to guarantee free and fair elections.
Given that the youth are the most vulnerable and likely to be used by politicians, the government should strive to ensure many of the youth are employed.
This is by creating many employment opportunities in the country and making the cost of doing business affordable to attract more investors.
Together we will overcome the menace of violence during elections.
Via email
Edited by Kiilu Damaris
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