Daily Nation Online-Nairobi-Kenya
News
Friday, December 27, 2002
It's D-day for Kenya
Page One Commentary
Today, being polling day, is a wonderful opportunity for all Kenyans to demonstrate a love of their country, patriotism and responsibility by electing a government that they honestly and rationally believe is capable of tackling the many problems that the nation faces.
Those Kenyans who will stay away will be aiding the evil of bad government to entrench itself even further. And those who vote for murderers, liars and looters � as the Electoral Commission of Kenya has been warning � will be putting a gun to the head of their own future, as well as that of their children and country. For the 10.5 million decisions that will be taken in the secrecy of polling booths across this land today will decide whether Kenya continues to be a viable, even vibrant, nation or joins the blighted company of Africa's failed states.
This is the election that will make or break Kenya. We have made a mess of things over the last 39 years, so much so that even the concrete gains that have been made in development today lie buried under a heap of mindless corruption and poor government.
Thankfully � and owing to the valiant efforts of a brave clergy and other defenders of human dignity � Kenya has emerged from the dark days of dictatorship and State-approved, large scale violations of human rights. Today, it is the rare Kenyan who is persecuted for holding beliefs or expressing opinions. Other than for the circling of the wagons by the political elite to retain power, Kenya has taken giant democratic strides.
The same, however, cannot be said about the social welfare and economic spheres. The economy is a complete mess. More than half of Kenyans are abjectly poor. They cannot afford a good meal, a decent school for their children or care in case of ill-health.
A test of our shared values
The alarming rate at which the ranks of the absolutely poor are swelling in a country where massive corruption bleeds billions of public funds into private pockets every year is a national disgrace. The country has gone far enough on the road to destruction. It is your responsibility today to elect a government that will ensure that it does not take another step on that abominable road.
This election, too, is a test of our shared values. It will prove to the world whether Kenya respects the right of the people to elect a government freely and in peace. It will also demonstrate whether Kenyans are mature enough to separate the wheat from the chaff, the leader from the well-masked buffoon, the man of peace from the latent anarchist, the patriot from the tribalist.
But even as we go about this crucial democratic function, there is no reason why we should not do so in a mood of optimism, keeping faith in our country and our countrymen. Kenya has weathered many storms. In the 1960s, the rivalry between President Kenyatta and his former Vice-President, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, was expected by many to sound the country's death knell. It didn't. The many political murders stretching from the 1960s to 1990 were feared to be the last straws that would tear us apart. They didn't.
Kenyatta succession
In 1978, with the death of President Kenyatta, and given the polarisation and power struggles in the Cabinet the preceding five years, many saw instability and civil war as inevitable. Yet the succession was orderly and peaceful.
This time there have been dark rumours of petrol shortages and midnight swearings-in. Without necessarily recommending a relaxation of the vigilance that common sense requires, we believe that Kenyans can go to the polls with confidence and peace of mind. They should have faith in one another and in their country.
This, however, is not to say that a free, fair and peaceful election and an honest count are guaranteed. Inevitably, the incurable fascists and anarchists will be hard at work, trying to subvert the will of the electorate and to disturb the peace to serve ephemeral and wrong-headed ends. But the combined vigilance, calm and patriotism of the large mass of Kenyans will win at the end of the day.
There ought to be no doubt in anybody's mind that only a fair election can guarantee the continued civil welfare of Kenya. The mood among ordinary people is that the results of a stolen election would not be accepted and there exists a perilous level of risk that rigging might produce street protests and perhaps a breakdown in law and order.
This, unfortunately, is the product of the last two elections. Both in 1992 and 1997, there were widespread complaints of malpractices and outright theft of ballot papers. The Judiciary, in its usual unfathomable fashion, arbitrated over these complaints in a manner that resulted in bitterness, a sense of outraged powerlessness and injustice.
Unacceptable situations
For example, a petition against President Moi was dismissed because there was no way to personally serve him as required in law. Since no latitude was allowed in the mode of service, the judgement had the effect of making it impossible to petition the election of a sitting president.
Even that being the case, the course that is being proposed by sections of the opposition -- to storm State House and take power by mass action -- is an abominable one. The parrallels being drawn between our situatioon and Madagascar, where former President Didier Ratsiraka refused to hand over power disputing the result of the election, are intolerable. Kenyans must retain confidence that President Moi will do his duty and hand over to the winner as he promised in his Jamhuri Day speech.
Violence is a costly political option that we cannot afford. That is why we ask all Kenyans to do their job � be it in the election process or the actual transfer of power � with scrupulous honesty, peace and dignity and not to drag their country, and themselves, through the mud of international oprobrium and disrepute, either by seeking to win unfairly, or to refuse to accept gracefully the results of a fair election.
Go out and vote. Do not take part in or countenance election violence and ballot rigging. The future of Kenya and its fate is in your hands.
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