Democracy dies in darkness: the worrying case of Kenya's polls

photo:courtesy

While going through an online edition of the Washington Post, a publication that I admire for its objectivity and carefully researched news and opinions, I suddenly noticed something unusual.

On the front page of the newspaper where the date used to be, there was the motto, “democracy dies in darkness”. Death is of course a shocker for any human being. But why should such an influential newspaper, respected around the world, put such a motto on its front page? Of course the choice of this motto is influenced by the local issues in America and that does not really interest me much.

DEMOCRACY IN CHAINS

One of the opinion columns, to my shock, again was giving a literary criticism of a book by Nancy MacLean entitled Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America. Seeing these two seemingly pessimistic views on democracy quickly sent my medulla oblongata into a heightened mode. Indeed, democracy is in trouble.

Immediately the image of Donald Trump came into my mind. Nancy MacLean’s book criticism of the ultra-right definitely smells of a conspirator’s theory but I believe it also gives a view shared by many today that indeed democracy is in trouble not only in America but even right here in Kenya.

The recent court ruling that ordered the printing of the presidential ballot papers be done by Al Ghurair printing company is, to say the least, worrisome. The issue at hand in my view is not really whether this Dubai-based company is capable of performing this task or culpable as far as underhand dealings are concerned.

INSTITUTIONS

It is really about the process. This court ruling prompted me to ask whether our Kenyan democracy was dying at infancy considering that ours is a much younger democracy. Just like Nancy MacLean raised concerns on whether the the so-called radical right is killing democracy. I also want to think that the Jubilee Party and its affiliates in various State institutions are out to kill our young but vibrant democracy.

Most Kenyans now believe institutions such as IEBC do the bidding of the Government and this is reinforced by the fact that both the IEBC and the Government have maintained the same position on various contentious issues. One amongst these is the printing of the ballot papers and who should do that job.

The Washington Post motto, democracy dies in darkness, therefore, is very relevant to the Kenyan context. In a democracy it is expected that every step of the elections need to be transparent, any sign of doubt brings the whole election process into doubt and its legitimacy into disrepute.

VOTERS CHOICE

Ideally, an election should be left to the voters to decide. And the voter must have the perception and the feeling that the election in which he is about to participate in is fair and free. If a voter finds his rights to vote for the right choice of candidates is violated, this leads to anger and as we saw in 2007, violence. The nation is polarised already due to the more than active campaigns seen on both sides of the divide. What to do?

The NASA candidates are relentless in their efforts to convince the voters. In these numerous political rallies, the kind of words being used by both sides of the political divide are already scaring many people, most of them, sadly, investors.

The Government also appears to be bracing for violence after it procured armored vehicles equipped with instruments to control and contain riots.

I hear most airlines are fully booked in the periods around the elections. People with money are fleeing with their cash. An investor friend of mine from the UK who was planning to invest in the real estate business with colossal sums of money has halted his plans until after the elections.

NON DELIVERY

All these fears and anxiety are caused by concerns that institutions mandated to oversee the election processes might not deliver credible elections. But is it for nothing that we should wonder whether the IEBC, the Judiciary, the security agents are impartial?