Political Intolerance & Violence Should Not Define Our Electoral Process

The incidences of political intolerance witnessed in Baringo, Kisumu, Thika and Githurai should remind us that democracies, whether fledgling or established, are built on the basis of ideological competition and divergent views. Differences in political orientation and membership to different political formations should not take us back to our dark past. In any case, such differences ought to lay a strong foundation for our Republic’s democracy.

With lessons drawn from the past, it is vitally important that we maintain peace as we edge closer to the polls. Despite the fact that Kenya is a confederation of ethnic communities, a reality we cannot run away from, political maturity has to be exercised unless we have the intention of taking the path to the bottomless pit.

If we as Kenyans cannot be able to learn from the violence that rocked the country in 2007/2008, then we need to draw lessons from other African countries that have witnessed such intolerance escalating into civil war. I am not in any way trying to act as an angel of doom and gloom but the bitter truth is that as a people, if we choose to keep quiet then it implies in one way or another that we are condoning such atavistic acts.

The state of affairs in South Sudan should remind us that peace is a precious commodity. The political turmoil witnessed in Burundi last year should be a warning to us. The unending political conflicts in the Democratic Republic of Congo should warn us further that choosing the path of violence is too great a burden to bear.

Our national Constitution recognizes our ethnic diversity, our sovereignty as a nation and our responsibility as citizens to allow fellow countrymen and women to exercise the constitutionally recognized rights and freedom. Then how insensible and backward is it that some Kenyans have the courage to prevent others from exercising these constitutionally recognized rights and freedoms?

As a country, we have institutions that have the mandate of protecting Kenyans against acts of violence especially at this moment when the nation is gearing up for a high stakes general election. The National Intelligence Service has the basic infrastructure of detecting possible flare ups. The National Police Service and the Directorate of Criminal Investigation have the capacity of identifying the perpetrators of political violence. The National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) has a clear cut role when it comes to issues concerned with incitement and propagation of violence. The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has the systems to single out the politicians who organize goons to cause chaos in political rallies.

All the above institutions should be working in tandem to ensure that peace and tranquility prevails at this point in time. The IEBC and the NCIC in particular need to be ruthless with the inciters and perpetrators of violence. Efficiency in terms of conducting investigations should be fashioned by the aforementioned institutions. The kind of lame duck approach and strategy that characterizes the operations of these institutions at this time is akin to walking on quicksand with the imminent danger of being buried alive in the sand.

Politicians should not misuse the youths and the young people ought not to allow the politicians to hire them temporarily in order to jeopardize the future of this country. The value, price and importance of peace are known when there is violence. Political violence is an expensive political affair. At this time we need to bear in mind that peace is not a spectator sport and therefore the onus is on us as Kenyans to choose peace over acts of violence. We should not serve ourselves a cold dish while we have the opportunity of securing our Republic’s future.