Lessons to learn from the just concluded elections.
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| A woman casting her vote in a previous party primary. |
The just concluded polls brought to fore familiar recurrent themes
as well as new trends. It
certainly came as a surprise to many people. Kenya witnessed a kind of transformation that
has never existed in her political history after popular and veteran
politicians were voted out and a new crop of young and much unknown people were
voted in.
However, the
poll results ended on the note that it is the citizens’ choice that is supreme.
Here are some lessons we can learn from these results.
1. You need to ‘connect’ with the people.
The polls taught us that no politician has the luxury to lose
touch with ‘Wanjiku’. She needs to
‘feel’ you even when you ain’t there. These polls can be viewed as a form of
protest vote, a kind of whip to punish the ‘wrong doers’.
The vote was Wanjiku’s language to declare who is boss and
those who had lost touch with the electorate were humiliated and shown the
door.
One lesson that we learnt is that any candidate who
resonates with the challenges affecting with the majority of the people carries
the day regardless of their political affiliation. Save for a number who sailed
through due to the political party euphoria, majority of those who won in these
elections were those who were able to achieve an emotional connection with the
electorate.
For instance, in the case of the Thika Town Constituency,
Eng. Patrick Wainaina was running against a very strong Jubilee Party wave that
swept almost everybody else in the Mt. Kenya region. His biggest support base
were people who felt that they have been left behind in the current establishment
and were angry with the incumbent’s handling of their plight. It was for this
reason that Eng. Wainaina campaigned on his ability to create jobs and economic
success.
His message of inclusiveness and hope to the people, resonated
so well with them thus their defiance to vote in the Jubilee Party candidate.
2. The baggage of office can come back to haunt you.
Most challengers eyeing to unsit the incumbents were able to
brand the incumbents as beneficiary of a corrupt system and biasness in terms
of resource allocation, a factor that perfectly drove up their negatives. This
made the challengers own outrages more acceptable to their supporters and
especially when they reminded the people that those defending their seats were politicians
who stood for the status quo, not good for real change.
The incumbents were the ultimate face of the establishment
in an election that was all about change. People who perceived themselves
to be caught in an economic downdraft – their children would be worse off than
they were – wanted a simple fix and these new faces seemed to provide it.
3. Wanjiku is unforgiving and never forgets.
Politicians fond of playing games with Wanjiku have to brace
themselves for her ‘nyaunyo’ when her time to make decision
comes. Wanjiku this time showed us that she can be very ruthless towards
politicians known to cheat on her, disrespect or mishandle her.
To survive in the Kenyan politics, every politician MUST always
mind their language and match their actions with their words because when the
people say no, nothing can change that.
4. Change is constant.
They say that change is the only constant thing in nature.
The big turnout of voters at both the party primaries and in the
general elections was a clear message that people were tired of others making
important decisions on their behalf. It was a demonstration that they were
tired of the status quo and were determined to correct all errors committed in
previous regimes.
This became evident as results started streaming in with majority
of the incumbents and those perceived to be forced into people’s throats were
shown the door. Most greenhorns in politics adopted the slogan of change
and made sure they acted on it. There
will always be ‘favourites’ and ‘underdogs’ in any contest, but everything just
ends there.
Being a favourite doesn't mean an underdog has no chance to
win it. In so many cases, underdogs have been seen to cause upsets. We saw that
in the win of 23-year old MKU student John Paul Mwirigi who beat all odds to emerge
victorious in Igembe South Constituency.
5. An Informed Electorate
Kenyans also showed that they are more informed in their
political decisions. In the past, voters spared politicians and some
politicians thought they were untouchable. In the recent polls, voters seemed
more enlightened and are aware of their democratic rights. Veteran politicians
and incumbents used to undermining people, misusing their power or making false
promises or failing to deliver were all tossed out at the party nominations
stage.
6. It's no longer business as usual.
Wanjiku relayed a very strong message to politicians that
she was no longer ready to be taken for granted. The era when politicians wooed
the electorate with stupid goodies is long gone. Wanjiku wants someone who
will bring forth permanent solutions to her woes.
For the first time, Kenyans witnessed politicians sell their
candidature through manifestos with others trying to outdo each other in
development projects and programmes aimed at empowering Wanjiku.
People are more or less not getting carried away by
propaganda and rhetoric. Propaganda, though it worked in some instances, is
slowly but surely getting outdated.
The electorate is getting younger and more informed. They
are simply demanding to know what the politicians can deliver. This is just but
a beginning of a new era where issue-based politics will start taking centre
stage in campaigns. It may not be time yet but Kenyan politics are on the verge
of being issue-based.
7. New crop of leaders
This was one of the most exciting part of the polls. Popular
and veteran politicians were voted out and a new crop of young people were
voted in. What seemed impossible was finally realised and Kenyans showed they
had grown tired of the same old stories and were now ready to give chances to
new blood with power of their vote.
The perception that Kenyans are never involved in the
decision making of their country was kicked out. More so, Kenyans set history
when they elected three women as governors while a watchman campaigning in a
cart was elected as an MCA.
8. Little things count.
It may interest you to know that the little things leaders
take for granted will definitely affect the outcome of their actions directly
or indirectly.
Majority of those leaders who lost in the just concluded
elections assumed that the electorate ‘lived in their comfort zones’ of Runda, Lavington
and the likes, forgetting that little issues like putting food on the table and
Medicare really mattered to their electorate. So, when the time came for judgment,
the electorate unleashed their wrath on those they perceived had neglected them
and taken them for granted.
9. Parties need to reject false choices
Candidates from major political parties lost the election to
those from little known parties and independents because these parties opted to
impose unpopular candidates against the will of the electorate.
It’s true that these ‘unwanted’ party choices didn’t have
much of a message for the people and could not win over the people. There were
warning signs of this through the campaign, as leaders of these political
outfits had a lot of problems convincing the electorate to vote ‘6-piece’.
The big number of independents winning in both Jubilee Party
and NASA strongholds was a big lesson to them to always read the mood of the
electorate and avoid having to give in to false choices like the ones that were
put forward by their party officials.
The clear message here is: Parties cannot just wave a magic
wand and expect the electorate to turn
out at the polls and sing their tune.
10. Competition helps, not hinder parties.
Party primaries are meant to strengthen democracy and not to
stifle it. They give the electorate a sense of ownership and the urge to fight
for the party’s ideologies.
When they are reduced to an “appointment forum” in which the
will of the electorate is ignored and
taken for granted, then trouble starts to
crop up. Free, fair and just primaries end up injecting enthusiasm amongst the
party supporters with which other opponents cannot compete with; a hard lesson political
parties have learnt in the August 8 outcomes
To prevail in future elections, these are lessons parties
should never forget and now, more than ever,
recommit themselves to
rebuilding their party structures.
11. Women have a long way to go.
It does need rocket science to sense that some Kenyans could
not stomach the idea of a female MPs, Senators or Governors. Save for the three
gubernatorial seats and a couple of women senators, the electorate decided to
blackout majority of the women candidates.
Sexism was dominant in this election from the
beginning. However, women too are to blame for the resultant attitude due
to the perception that they vie for these seat to fight men. The moment women
will work on their attitude will be the moment they will start being taken
seriously, not only by men, but also by their fellow womenfolk.
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