CORD’s narrative of ‘stolen elections’ killing their credibility

Motivation is a very important force, even in politics motivation plays a very important role. This is the force that will make a man stand in a queue for hours just to cast a vote. This is the force that will make Wamboi wake up from her cozy bed and bear the wrath of a chilly morning. All these to be the first person to check the box behind her favorite candidate, fold the ballot paper gently and slide it through the pigeon hole of a ballot box.

We’ve heard tales of sick men and women driven to the polling stations on wheelbarrows and wheelchairs gasping for air in their final breaths. 

We have learnt that polling stations aren’t always safe and sometimes chaos characterize this event claiming lives of innocent and beautiful people. Yet still, Wamboi will wake up and find her way to that polling station aware of risks but prepared for the sacrifice. You’ll have to agree that there has to be enough motivation to drive Wamboi to a polling station.

There is no doubt about the need for motivation to drive participation in the electoral process. Very few people participate in the electoral process without a motive. Different people might share the same motive, or find different motives. The motive might be to secure promised free education for one’s child, or to increase one’s chances of getting a job by picking the candidate that seems capable of creating jobs or even to get electricity to one’s neighborhood by voting for the guy who will deliver.

Sometimes the motives are not the best; one might be motivated by the desire to give power to the person who speaks the language they do. The motive that resonates with most people will drive the most people and the deeper that motive resonates, the further it will drive them. The most motivating politicians therefore drive the most people to the polls.

CORD has marketed the narrative of a stolen election to their members for a long time now. While it might be true that the election was stolen, this narrative kills motivation more than it creates it. CORD needs its supporters to wake up in the morning, stand on a long queue for hours and cast their vote.

On the other hand, CORD members have been made to believe that this doesn’t count, what counts is who will be announced the winner and whoever will be announced the winner might not necessarily be the one with the highest count. Why then would this member want to go to the polling station and vote?

To generate a strong enough motivation to drive CORD members to the polling station come Election Day, CORD needs to distance itself from the talks of stolen elections. That narrative creates motivation that is only strong enough to keep members energized within the opposition but it does not create enough motivation to make them want to participate in elections.

Maybe restructuring the IEBC might recreate this motivation but the government is very alive to this force and one wonders if they will at all allow the opposition to gain this advantage and enable them to energize their base.