When most Kenyans talk about post-election reconciliation, they will most probably be thinking about ethnic harmony. This is because the most important political battles have largely been ethnic based.

It seems like we cannot quite get out of this curse; at least not in the foreseeable future. This over emphasis on the national stage has clouded us from many post-election conflicts that take place at constituencies, and now counties. 

Sometimes hatred at this level can be more intense than the ethnic one. Imagine in this day and age, there are constituencies in Kenya where voting is clan based. I therefore salute the newly elected MP for Emurua Dikir, Johana Ngeno for calling on his constituents to learn to live together after the animosities of the election period.

At the constituency level most conflicts emanate from the contestants themselves. Some winners and losers can never get to terms with mending fences with those they competed with for political office. Part of the problem is the style of campaigning which is often abusive, gender-insensitive, violent, too expensive (even bankrupting), clan based and failure to appreciate that democracy is about winners and losers. Some candidates will never forget the insults hurled at them by their opponents or their heavy campaign-related debts. There are also those who provoke losers by their elaborate and abusive victory celebrations. 

Supporters of the different candidates are sometimes more trouble. Some extremists will not accept a candidate they did not vote for as long as he/she is in office. Others are even more worried of the prospect of their candidate losing than the candidates themselves, for fear of punishment and ridicule from the wining team. 

Their fears are not completely unfounded going by the behaviour of some incoming MPs and County Representatives; some will  go to the point of dismantling or not supporting projects of their predecessors not concerned about the suffering this would bring to innocent citizens. Even good projects that require long-term investments are abandoned to ensure that those defeated do not get any credit, just in case they are planning a comeback. 

Others decide to punish the clans and regions that did not support their candidacy to just prove that they are now the ones in power. Some get even more personal by denying children of parents who did not support them any form of educational and employment support.

Some elected leaders demand to know who parents of children requiring assistance are before recommending them for any support. Such leaders have personal assistants whose job is to identify family origins of all children who come to them for help. Yet, children are never part of the political choices of their parents, whose right it is anyway, to vote whichever way they choose.

This is why the new CDF law that limits the powers of the MP to influence which projects are to be funded is laudable. Beyond this, there is need for a national authority to conduct civic education on why democracy is about choice, to manage public resources, speak for victims, and to bring winners and losers together as a way of safeguarding the interest of citizens who have nothing to do with the wars of outgoing and incoming leaders. However, reconciliation of competing candidates does not mean that aggrieved parties should not seek justice for it is in itself part of healing.

 

The writer is former MP for Tigania West and Assistant Minister Higher Education, Science and Technology