Dear voter, step backward, retreat and rethink before casting

One crucial aspect of prescribing a remedy to a problem is to understand the leading cause, analogical to the doctor-patient situation.

Ingerson, a scholar in the year 2015 presented the perspective of "Practicing the healer's art," a common phrase in the field of health care when determining the link between the prescription and the cause of the ailment. In the healthcare space, the practitioners or the physicians train to engage the patient wholesomely, and meaningfully.

They work towards dealing with both the patients’ physical and emotional aspects of their health. In the same breath, the political leadership must accommodate the client's concerns: the electorate, in this case, the same way a healthcare practitioner deals with a patient's challenges. The political class should call for cooperation with the electorate, to tap into their deeply rooted pains, desires, and aspirations both on quantifiable elements and soft expectations.

Unfortunately, the political class has mastered how to whip the emotions of the voters, especially when they want their vote: A scenario not just in Kenya, but could be in a sizable part of the African continent.

I think it’s offensive when the leaders make the electorate imagine that their tribesmen are obliged to vote for a candidate that the “tribal chiefs” prefer. I am sure we have heard them say that “Our region or tribe is locked to vote for this and that candidate”.

Coleman, one of the modern writers on emotional intelligence notes that we are animals driven by emotional buttons that could evoke strong emotions when pressed. It would be unfortunate if the voters allowed such buttons to drive their country to the pit even as the citizens struggle to make ends meet. Can the Adebayo of Nigeria, Wanjiku, Akinyi, and Mutiso of Kenya decide once in the life of their beloved continent to go beyond the tribal card which has been the emotional button that the political class has mastered over time?

The big question is, will Kenya achieve the targeted indices regarding poverty eradication by the year 2030? Can the challenges of today, which includes the high prices of general consumables, become a thing of the past as Kenyans become more empowered economically?  

World Bank projects that Kenya’s poverty will fall to 33.4 per cent in 2022, below the pre-crisis level of 34.4 per cent in 2019. Is this a realizable target if the citizens don’t elect credible leadership? Where is the “physician”: the politician who should have examined genuinely where the shoe hurts most before prescribing the medicine for us to swallow?

Dear Citizens, let's take a few steps backwards, retreat and rethink the way forward. Let us engage the sixth sense especially when the “physician” proposes to deliver a prescription that they have not demonstrated the ability to deliver.

And those citizens who were thinking of not voting, I besiege you to rethink and engage your gears in the journey of making a prosperous nation.

Vote wisely!

Writer is a turnaround Strategist & the Chair of Global Institute of Strategic Governance.