Kenyan voters should be masters of political ideologies

Bryan Caplan in his book ‘The Myth of a Rational Voter’ alludes to the influences that make it difficult, almost impossible to qualify anyone as a rational voter. Personal biases and beliefs will always determine how individuals vote. And even though we ultimately like referring to ourselves as democratic nations, it may be worth noting that no country in the world can attest to being absolutely democratic. However, that does not in any way mean that we stop trying.

A few days ago, I posted an update on my Facebook platform that read: The current @IEBCKenya Commissioners will leave before 2017; however, @RailaOdinga may not win the elections. A statement like this is more hypothetical than factual. One intended to stimulate intellectual conversation rather than emotional reaction. And indeed, as a few friends subsequently stated, the 2017 election outcome is not cast on stone. Any of the presidential hopefuls could very well marshal the numbers to tilt the outcome of the elections to their favor.

The bone of contention however, as I will seek to substantiate, is with the voters themselves. Indeed, there exists so much intolerance and almost utter disgust for anyone with a contrary political opinion. We believe in parties and individuals without questioning the ideology behind their respective political stands. Why should it always be this way?

Whereas as a country, we all know the perils that come with negative ethnicity, we almost too happily fight anyone who tries to see beyond tribe in shaping a political opinion! Of course I expected the opposition supporters to disagree with my biased projections while the Jubilee supporters would profess utmost respect and recognition for my ‘wisdom’. What was more surprising was the complete absence of restraint in the use of abusive and out rightly derogative language by those who disagreed. Sadly, this is the nature of Kenyan politics today.

As a country, we have gotten used to treating the opposing political faction as the enemy. The politicians on the other hand, milk this enmity for all it is worth, while at the slightest possible opportunity, they invite each other for cocktail parties and exchange hugs and laughter. What the political class knows that we do not know is just how easy it is for the politicians to switch sides. We are all too happy to severe ties with the other communities while forgetting that in the political game, you cannot afford to do away with all bridges. We are merely voting machines that are powered by ethnic loyalty and no ideology at all.

More troubling however is that youth accept to act as instruments of propagating this political intolerance. Fellow youth stick to the old brand of politics that is based on ethnic hatred while still claiming to be champions of true democracy. Profiling each other as “these people” or “we” only serves to advance the interests of the political class. Subsequently, the notion that it is only democracy if your side wins is misplaced. It should be okay and acceptable for a Luo to disagree with Raila Odinga, a Kikuyu to disagree with Uhuru Kenyatta and a Kalenjin to disagree with William Ruto. These are national leaders, not gods and like us, they make mistakes. At the same time, the Kenyan constitution offers every citizen the right to express themselves without curtailing the rights of others. No ethnic allegiance attempt should strip that away from you.

We owe our politicians nothing. On the other hand, they owe us everything. It is time that voters became masters of their own votes and not just instruments of another person’s pursuit of political power. Caplan argues that the larger the misconceptions we hold, the larger the cost of error. We don’t have to live through another 2007/08 because of political misconceptions to know how devastating the outcome could be. Unfortunately, mine is an unpopular view that has already transformed others into unpopular personalities. Yet, as a wise man once put it, sometimes it is more important to be right than to be liked.