Elections 2022: May peace prevail and the best candidates win

Finally, Kenyans are trooping to the polls today August 9, 2022 to elect their next leader. Whether that man will be Raila Odinga or William Ruto remains, for the moment, a matter for the gods. Barring a few jarring incidents, the two protagonists have behaved remarkably well and the country is not on the sort of war footing that Kenyans have been accustomed to in the run-up to elections.

Kisumu, Mombasa and Nairobi are calm. So is Rift Valley. For once, since 1992, we approach an election with only one incident of idiotic, hate-filled pamphlets targeting certain communities emerging in Uasin Gishu.

No one has been killed in campaign skirmishes, the riot squad has not ventured out of the barracks and the so-called online warriors have been rather meek. These are gains to be celebrated because they are a pointer to our growth as a democracy and our growing maturity as a people.

It, however, behoves us to carry this momentum to Election Day and beyond, so that we can cultivate a culture where elections and the exchange of political power from one leader to the other need not be a matter of life and death.

Whether this comes to pass depends on the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), the State security organs and the integrity of candidates, right from the wards to the presidency.

We say this because it is an open secret that election fraud, like exam cheating and corruption, are deeply ingrained in our culture, with State security organs and political parties and their candidates playing key roles in the vice. Peace will, therefore, only prevail if the election is conducted by the book and the process seen to be free and fair.

The challenges we face as a nation in this day are difficult and complex. We can only surmount them if we are unified, focused and not derailed and distracted by divisive political and ethnic tensions. May this election herald the rebirth of a new nation. May the better man win, and may God bless Kenya.