One would think that at Kenya ’ s level of sophistication every Kenyan attaining the age of eighteen would automatically get an identification card but even better , have an identification card at birth after all a birth certificate is required to acquire an identification card , why the double work .
The impassioned appeal for Kenyans to register as voters that is done just before the periodic five year election cycle seems to be a well-orchestrated system to reduce the number of voters on purpose since registering as a voter should also be an ongoing exercise rather than a last minute blitz .
Out of the twenty two million that registered , only fourteen million voted . Eight million eligible voters did not vote . In this group are people who may have lost faith in democratic institutions but also includes a lot of people either incapacitated or logistically unable to cast their vote .
In every election we hear of people being ferried to go and vote because it is an inconvenient and tiresome exercise that requires patience and determination . Voting is simply not easy in Kenya and if you factor in the ever present looming threat of violence , it is easier to spend the time elsewhere .
Out of the fourteen million that got out to vote , braving the weather and the attendant inconvenience , seven million voted for the current president and the other seven million voted for the opponent . There was less than just a mere two hundred thousand votes between the victor and loser .
With this razor thin margin it means that
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Democracy is actually a minority rule and the political class has mastered how to play on the emotions of the gullible electorate and by a combination of manipulation , deceit and outright fraud they are able to make a living out of the sweat of the masses .
the current president got fifty percent of the cast votes , he had twenty three percent of the eligible votes and just fourteen percent of the population . How this translates into the will of the people is hard to fathom and understand .
The alacrity with which the winning side were proposing to change the constitution to lock out their main opponent in the future is testimony that the victors are alive to the fact that they do not represent the true will of the people and need other machinations to hold on to power .
It was again John Locke who stated that it is tyranny when a person exercises power beyond the right given unanimously by the people . When half of the people who voted are not for you and nearly seventy percent of eligible voters are not for you , your tenure is feeble at best .
It has been stated here in the past that democracy is a crazy system of governance purely because the ideal environment for it to flourish is to have a homogeneous society not tainted by tribal and clannish considerations ; unfortunately all available alternatives are worse .
Democracy is actually a minority rule and the political class has mastered how to play on the emotions of the gullible electorate and by a combination of manipulation , deceit and outright fraud they are able to make a living out of the sweat of the masses .
Democracy in Kenya , like everywhere else is not about serving the people for the betterment of the people but all about self-service for the betterment of themselves and their cronies as they share the national cake that they do not bake .
It was actually amusing to hear the Kenyan legislators threaten to go on strike if the infamous CDF fund , better known as the MPs slush fund was not reinstated , although it has already been declared unconstitutional by the judiciary .
Democracy has allowed a host of miscreants to be voted into public office by popular vote which as we have seen is not even popular . Our version of democracy needs to deal with this glaring anomaly before we populate our leadership with thugs .
The current deputy president captured that point poignantly when he mused that only three months ago he was the guest of the courts as a defendant and now he is a guest of the judiciary sharing a cup of tea with none other than the Chief Justice .
For a democracy to function the adoption of the rule of law is paramount . The system provided for the separation of powers to avoid selective justice . The safeguards to the system are already inbuilt ; it is the political will that is lacking due to pervasive corruption and unbridled greed for selfish power .