Campaigns for the next general election have subtly started. Political affiliations are busy crafting winning formula. The ruling party Jubilee Alliance Party through the leadership of President His Excellency Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy are impressing upon Kenyan electorate that they carry their hopes and future aspiration in terms of development.
More often than not, the former and the latter have enumerated the achievements of their administration. These include Standard Gauge Railway, Lapset, and road network abolition of registration fees in primary and secondary for candidates destined to sit respective national exams, laptops in lower primary, electric connectivity, and the revival of collapsed factories.
On its part, the yet to be formulated opposition, that teeters between adopting the name NASA and any other name of affiliation, disputes that the government does not have anything to write home about except run-away corruption hence it stands a chance to offer an alternative to the problems facing Kenyans socio-economic and political aspect of it.
Next year’s completion is healthy and bound to increase the energy of the competitors seven months to election countdown thus August 2, 2017.
As saying goes, a horse can run in a race faster than it can run when it has non-rival to outstrip. In like manner, men and women competing with one another to NASA and JAP produce greater results than they could achieve without the stimulus of competition.
Right now, before the dissolution of parliament, there is no energy inspired by competition because the official campaign period as stipulated in our constitution is not yet declared; although each side is chest-thumping about its ability to carry the day. However, amidst the competition and chest thumping, the tone of hate mongering is discernible.
NCIC has been issuing warnings to politicians engaged in hate mongering out to cause chaos. Cyclic tribal animosity may be knocking going by politicians’ competition on both sides of political divide. It is sad that every time in Kenya’s political history that the incumbent President defends his seat there is the eruption of the tribal animosity.
Politicians compete but at the same time want to make political capital out of it. A good example in 2007 elections when former President Mwai Kibaki was defending his seat politicians whipped up tribal emotions that spawned subsequent tribal clashes almost in the whole country. In January 2008 after the election results release.
The net effect was the loss of about 1500 innocent lives and displacement of 300,000 families named ‘Internally Displaced Persons’. If the same replicates itself next year, then the political space we lost was no paradise hence people may waive the current space goodbye in advance because of the competitors not wanting to accept gracefully the time ‘honored concession’ in defeat.
May the tribal clashes not be the bony structure of the culture we created in the past political dispensation? The involvement from 2008 tribal clashes lent us a lesson, an experience that as a nation we should not dare try again
Duty is that what our leaders owe us, therefore in their positions of responsibility they are duty bound to be peaceful, disciplined, law abiding people of integrity and committed in order for us to emulate them. Conversely, if we emulate hate mongers, abusive violent, intolerant, corrupt and not law abiding then this country will go to the dogs.
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