Kasipul poll chaos is a mirror of our national decay

IEBC chairman Erustus Ethekon with commissioner Anne Nderitu at JKIA Nairobi after receiving first batch of ballot papers for the 27th November by elections.[Collins Oduor, Standard]

By shooting dead Ong'ondo Were at City Mortuary Roundabout and speeding off on a motorbike, the gunman did not just cut short the life of a legislator; he reopened an old wound Kasipul electorate had tried to heal.

Were's shooting mirrors the utter collapse or weakening of social norms; what sociologist Emile Durkheim referred to as "anomie."

His assassination was the latest symptom of a toxic political culture, where power is sought through fear, intimidation, violence, murder and loyalty to party. Loyalty to peace and commitment to serve the electorate have been lost.

A former host of intellectual politics in Nyanza, Kasipul now stands at a dangerous crossroads. For years, it was known for reasoned debate, its leaders respected for civility and thought. From Onyango Ayodo and Mbori Yogo, Oloo Otula, Peter Owidi, Paddy Ahenda, and Oyugi Magwanga, the constituency produced thinkers, not warmongers.

Today, that proud tradition has been replaced by politics of intimidation, destruction and death. Older residents remember a different Kasipul, one guided by authority of elders, professionals, and moral weight of community consensus. Those were the days of men like Ogweno Oindi, Richard Odak, Owiti Ogwang, Otiende Orega, Isaka Mbori, and later years Kassim Owango, Denis Obara, Basil Oloo, Okumu Aroko, Mbaka Jaramo and Laban Okoth, respected sons of the soil whose word carried immense weight among the electorate.

These personalities would convene consultations across the constituency, bringing together elders and professionals to deliberate on who best should lead the constituency. The decision would be reached with dignity and finality, without hostility, machetes or burning of homes.

The absence of such leadership is painfully felt in the current climate of suspicion, greed and violence. This by-election has exposed how far the constituency has drifted from those ideals. Violence has been normalised, and citizens feel powerless to intervene.

During ODM primaries, gangs of machete-wielding youths descended on voters, vandalised property belonging to one aspirant, injuring hospital patients and spreading fear among residents. Few were arrested; none were prosecuted. Local law enforcers have perfected the art of arriving after the violence, issuing tired statements about "ongoing investigations" that yield no results. This laxity or calculated indifference, has enabled the cycle of chaos.

The contestants include Boyed Were, Philip Aroko, Robert Riaga, alias "Money Bior," and Sam Kotiende among others. Despite the constituency being agrarian, half its population live below the poverty line. Unemployment, poor roads, and a sense of exclusion have made politics the only visible ladder out of poverty. That desperation, if unchecked, will continue to fuel manipulation, as politicians convert frustration into fury and hire youth to wage proxy wars.

To restore sanity, Kasipul youth must resist chaos disguised as activism. And the government must, at last, treat electoral violence not as routine disorder but as a national emergency that corrodes the foundations of democracy and breakdown of social order.

The writer is a communications expert