It’s amazing how political alliances influence our social interactions on a daily basis.
Right now, we have two sides of the political divide — the hustlers and the azimios — and one could easily get some favour or be denied an opportunity purely on account of what side one subscribes to.
Interestingly, what is more surprising is how people go to an extent of getting married to one another along tribal alliances based on existing political waves.
I have noted, for example, lots of marriages between the Kikuyus and the Kalenjins in the last 10 years and the same seems to apply between the the Kamba and the Luo. Interesting isn’t it? For example, Felix Odhiambo, who died last week after getting electrocuted shock as he disconnected electricity from a house in Mwihoko in Ruiru, was married to Annett Mbete.
Not much action has been taken against Kenya Power to help the family get justice, I digress.
It’s not commonplace to find many marriages between the Kikuyus and Luos largely due to the persistent political rivalry between them independence. Nevertheless, there are many successful marriages of a similar nature.
These shifting political allegiances introduce an element of unpredictability that affects the country’s macro-economic environment. The big bump is usually the general elections after every five years and the fact that there is always some form of pre- or post-election violence as people get displaced due to their voting patterns, the most recent hotspots being Tiaty constituency.
Ethnic mobilisation, it appears, is inherent since time immemorial and only peaks during elections as people try to get a ticket to the centre of power.
It’s abundantly clear that a stable political stability is absolutely necessary for long term economic development and institutional resilience.
In our case, we have the challenge of creating new parties with the same political players and this makes them only as vehicles to transact the business of elections then discard them thereafter.
The best example is the Jubilee Party that is now a pale shadow of its former self. This aspect really makes it difficult to institutionalise political parties, a process that will not only provide room for internal introspection and improvement, but also to ensure effective accountability mechanism.
This shift in policies affect the long-term visioning and planning of the country, since there is always a new agenda introduced every five years leading to incomplete projects and disjointed national collective effort.
The phenomenon has led to the procurement of goods and services in government, not because there is a need, but because some people have to siphon money from the public purse, in spite of existing legal codes by dint of legislation.
This is the reason the Constitution has given a predictable timeline on when elections are to be held — the second Tuesday of August in every fifth year after a general election (Article 136 a).
Parliament can now manage its own calendar and only ceases to be on the eve of the date of the next general election. The impartiality of agencies manning elections is critical to procure free and fair elections.
The question of the quorum of the IEBC and therefore the legality of its decisions remains germane as well. Of particular concern is the fact that the new commissioners appointed so close to elections will need a lot of orientation for them to measure up to the standards.
It’s, however, good to note that three other commissioners have been in office and an attempt to have chairman Wafula Chebukati to resign by ODM MPs didn’t yield as much. A multi-sectorial elections management committee didn’t take off, as well as it was compromising the independence of the IEBC.
Such matters are before the Supreme Court on BBI appeal, and as Isaac Aluochier, a senior citizen who came from retirement to defend the Constitution aptly put it, “ Everyone has to abide by the law, whether you are a private citizen, a judge or the president. We are all equal before the law”.
It thus behooves upon us Kenyans to ensure to ourselves a stable, peaceful country, devoid of incitement as witnessed by politicians such as Junet Mohammed: or the spin provided by the mainstream media concerning what Mithika Linturi said in Eldoret.
These two elements of communication are critical in this era of social media being even more powerful than mainstream media.
Messages of peace, unity and reconciliation are thus critical as we move towards the intense phase of political competition.