Civic education has been sacrificed at the altar of campaigns

When the first elections under the new Constitution were held in 2013, there was palpable excitement especially because of the introduction of devolution in Kenya's governance and fiscal framework. I remember attending civic education sessions in Busia and Migori counties and interacting with citizens as they spoke excitedly about their incoming new governments and the calibre of leaders they were going to elect. It was clear that enough voter and civic education had been carried out in the period prior to the elections and the citizens were clear on the parameters to be considered for different offices in the county governments.

For the office of Governor for example, citizens knew they were looking for a chief executive, a person who could oversee the planning and implementation of programmes and manage resources. They knew they were not looking for the typical politician.