Opinion: Warning on elections violence ominous

EU Chief Observer Marietje Schaake photo:courtesy

European Union Elections Observer Mission leader Maretje Schaake's warning on the possibility of the August elections turning chaotic simply reaffirms warnings given earlier by the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC).

Early this year, NCIC gave a list of 19 counties identified as trouble spots, but it seems the warning did not register with our political leaders given their utterances during this campaign period.

And while there is no paucity of dark history to act as a deterrent, the latest ignominy being the 2007/2008 post-election violence in which many Kenyans were displaced as 1,300 lost their lives, many leaders appear set to put Kenyans on a collision path.

The country cannot simply afford going that way again, for, to date, it has not fully recovered from the setback of that period.

Reacting to calls for peaceful elections, the two main protagonists in the upcoming elections have pledged to keep the peace whichever way the vote goes. That needs to be followed by action.

They should temper their rancorous campaigns with messages of restraint and tolerance. So far, that seems like a far cry because, the trajectory that the campaigns have taken, cantering more on personality attacks than issues core to the well-being of a majority of Kenyans, has the potential to polarise communities.

 Kenyans identify with their ethnic leaders and communities more and any slight on these leaders is usually taken personally.

The emergence of independent candidates and calls by parties to adopt a six-piece voting pattern threatens the fragile peace we have even more as we have seen in parts of Central and Nyanza, the very backyards of Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila Odinga.

The people should be allowed to exercise their democratic right of choosing their representatives without being coerced.

In order to break the cycle of complaints over non-performing legislators, the people should, after thorough scrutiny, elect only those leaders that espouse the ideals of good leadership and accountability.

The umpire, IEBC, on whose shoulders the success of the elections rests, must ensure, through its own conduct that the electoral process is beyond reproach.