Election cycles are the best times to bring out our fears

We are at the crossroads of the best of times and the worst of times. Hope and despair beckon us concurrently. In this age of comically compulsive individuals in Kenya’s political arena, we are reminded of Charles Dickens’ opening lines in the seminal work, A Tale of Two Cities.

Dickens cast his work in Europe in the age of the French Revolution (1789 – 1792). This fascinating story was set in London and Paris, the two cities. Yet you would think that Dickens had looked into the seeds of time and seen an African town, over two hundred years later.

Allow me to tinker with the text slightly: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. It was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness. It was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity. It was the season of light, it was the season of darkness. It was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair. We had everything before us. We had nothing before us. We were all going direct to heaven. We were all going direct the other way. In short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.”

We have our own “noisy authorities.” We seem ready to receive whatever good or evil they give us. Accordingly, there is hope in the air and there is fear. There is hope for a free, fair and credible election and there is fear of a stolen and violent election.

From the County Assembly to State House, it is the best time to affirm our faith in the incumbents or, conversely, the best time to throw them out. Election cycles are the best times to bring into light our abiding fears and worries, in the hope that the next government will address them. Yet, we have also heard that some of our foremost grievances must remain in the dark. Where there should be hope that they could be addressed as campaign issues and agenda, we have heard fears that they could make us fight instead.

It is the age of wisdom and the age of foolishness. The wise voice says, “Let us uncover historical lies. Let us know the truth and let the truth set us free. The alternative voice tells us, “We cannot live with the truth. It will destroy us. Let us, therefore, leave it in darkness, for the season of light is a dangerous season. We must not talk about wicked historical happenings.

They will destroy our peace.” In effect, our spring of hope is at once our winter of despair. We choose to be peaceful zombies, tiptoeing around issues. We are hostages of fear in our own country. We fear ourselves.

We have gone through these cycles before. Elections should place the world before us. They instead make us see darkness. When we should be going straight to heaven, we see hell instead. Election time, therefore, becomes the time to sneak stealthy past the great questions of the day, our eyes closed. We unsteadily open one eye to confirm that the issues are no longer in sight.

This is where Kenya’s land question, for instance, is resting. At the heart of historical injustices are the land issues. They date as far back as 1903. Then, Charles Eliot, the British Consul, came here to make the Kenya-Uganda Railway pay for itself.

The atrocities of land stealing remain. To their credit, the British left us ample funds to buy a million acres of land to resettle the displaced. Consider that the population was only 8.5 million. Consider, further, that the disinherited were just a few tens of thousands. Ask what a million acres could have done for them. Where did the one million acres go? This is a question we are supposed to close our eyes to. The reason people go into government is to solve problems. But how will you solve problems when you fear talking about them?

To be also tiptoed around is the question of why peace breaks down at election time. The impression is given that there exist people who just love violence. If it is not this, then it is that some wicked angel of doom just sends a violent spirit into people.

The bad spirit then causes them to fight. The first solution, it would seem, is to pray for peace. The second one is to make noisy public pleas for peace. And the third one is to issue stern warnings about “dealing with those threatening peace.” Even university intellectuals echo well-known fake scholars and throw up these appalling words.

The scholar ought to know that peace and violence are not independent variables. They depend on external triggers and drivers. Regarding elections, the most critical predicate is that elections must be perceived as just, free and fair – regardless that they are County Assembly or Presidential elections. Any perception that the elections are not free and fair is a curtain raiser to havoc. Hence those charged with conducting the elections, as well as the government in power, must ensure that all credibility gaps are plugged.

The opposition has raised several red flags on the August 8 elections. Jubilee officials and politicians have dismissed them, with a level of snootiness. You would think the Deputy President is the IEBC’s chief spokesman, followed by Raphael Tuju, the Jubilee head of campaign.

IEBC must learn to create confidence. When Jubilee hugs them it may be the best of times for them, yet this can only raise the curtain to the worst of times. Let us not be afraid of talking about these things. But let us talk about them with reciprocal respect.

- Mr Muluka is a publishing editor, special consultant and advisor on public and media relations [email protected]