No one loses polls in Africa; their victory is stolen!

Supporters of the National Super Alliance (NASA) coalition clashed with police officers in Nairobi after the 2017 General Election. [File, Standard]

Today, the political heavens are signing up for 'Vawulence'! Our politicians must attend classes on how to lose elections! Let me begin with a syllogism: In Africa, no one loses elections; the winner steals. Kenya is in Africa, and therefore, in Kenya, nobody loses elections; they are stolen. It has been adduced that we strengthen our legal superstructures by disputing elections. My political knighthood fears that this scapegoating helps fatten our democracy for slaughter.

Although I'm not talking about Raila Odinga, the question would be, did William Ruto steal the August 9, 2022, presidential poll? Isn't that why there is an ongoing petition at the Supreme Court? Isn't the script unchanged? Allow me to use a social fact we are all familiar with.

In a typical African society, villagers always had an explanation for death. Even when it's clear that a man or woman died of sicknesses such as diagnosed HIV/Aids, accidents, malaria, or even eating poisonous wild fruits, there was always that witch or wizard; or mother-in-law, stepmother or jealous neighbour with who they quarrel because of livestock. That person is always the killer! In Africa, everyone is supposed to live Infinitum if not interfered with.

Likewise, political scapegoating is a strategy and way of life in Africa. No one loses. Ask everyone who was defeated in an election-they can't go down just like that. In particular, accepting defeat in Africa and Kenya is cowardly, juvenile, and unbecoming. All our politicians have mastered the chorus from Claude McKay's poem thus "if we must die, let it not be like hogs...If we must die, O let us nobly die." That begs the question, do ordinary people care about who becomes their leader?

Amilcar Cabral, a Pan-African revolutionary from Guinea-Bissau, argued, "People...are fighting to win material benefits, to live better and in peace, to see their lives go forward, to guarantee the future of their children." In this context, civilians are obligated to submit their sovereignty to a few elites with the potential to tyrannize them.

But their interest is what can better their lives. Nicollo Machiavelli believed that what people do not want is to be oppressed. What we call electoral democracy is the process of transferring sovereignty from the people to the political elites. Pseudo-political science demands that this process must be free, fair and verifiable. It should be so that the voter can see the fading shadow of self-determination. Unfortunately, the fragility of this democratic project makes the people's choice a mirage. As such, elections are never transparent-they are opaque depending on who is winning and who is losing. That's how they are stolen!

Since the multiparty system, our electoral democracy has gone through some stages, like many other African states. African states were, and still to a more considerable extent are, known to interdict moderate, bangle and rig elections. Such culture was normalized into our electoral system, and it gained shape into a narrative of scapegoating. Not long afterwards, most of our leaders at all levels use the narrative of 'stolen' election as a distraction as they come to terms with reality. But should anyone accept elections they consider opaque?!

According to Nic Cheeseman, a Professor of Democracy at the University of Birmingham, even stealing has some nutrients for democracy. He has elaborately theorized in his sundry writings that status quo, elections and electoral processes and outcomes are suitable for the voters and force the Government to walk the path of transformation of all forms and manifestations.

The conclusion is this, apart from justifying the need for free, fair and justifiable elections, we must ask ourselves whether, apart from the exorbitant court system, there is a way we can entrench a culture of concession after politics. It will save us money and the reputation spoilt when a disgruntled loser seeks sympathy and justice through pedestrian propaganda. For the project of democracy to be complete, we must start seeing politicians losing polls.

Dr Ndonye is a senior lecturer in the School of Music and Media at Kabarak University