Voters need civic education before August 2017 elections

We still want MPs and MCAs to tell us what projects they initiated, prompting them to push for CDF and ward development funds PHOTO: COURTESY

One of my earliest encounters with the five-yearly African political carnival we call elections was when I was a small boy.

Elections back then were a one-party affair; actually a formality to vote back the president (unopposed) and to largely endorse the ruling party’s choice of MP and councillor. To us small boys, the chanting, whistle-blowing and invectives hurled on humongous loudspeakers was an entertaining distraction.