We seem oblivious to the fact that we are courting violence

Game of Thrones fans will know the feeling of appreciating a looming threat while ordinary mortals continue to fight over quotidian concerns. The threat of the white walkers – the army of the dead – looms every larger as the main contenders for the throne continue to fight each other.

But once at a meeting of the Royals, Jon Snow, one of the key characters speaks truth when he says to his contemporaries that if they don’t come together to fight the white walkers, they will all be dead. He concludes ‘… and then it will not matter whose skeleton is sitting on the iron throne.’

Observing the drama unfolding in Kenya now, I feel such caution is the word of the moment. For some reason, we don’t seem to appreciate that we are courting a danger than the threat of either of our candidates losing the election. As we are busy pointing fingers and throwing words at each other, we seem oblivious that we are courting violence and disorder.

We must arise from our hypnotic state. Naturally, human beings will be myopic in the pursuit of wealth, pleasure and power. If you have any doubt about us, just consider how frequently our major companies – especially in the financial services sector – revalue assets and ask yourself why? Bonuses. Nonetheless, we also know the selfish individual or sectarian pursuits pose potent threat to our enterprise and existence. They are not sustainable.

To mitigate this threat, we establish rules of engagement – laws and institutions – to arbitrate our pursuits and check the selfish drive of ourselves and our neighbours. We elect a president to lead us and Parliament to make laws to address pressing challenges.

We select judges to adjudicate disputes. We entrust the execution of these critical election and selection processes to commissions such as the IEBC, the Judiciary and parliamentary service commissions. Not trusting ourselves enough, we then invite other people – external observers – to bolster the credibility of our processes. We had them observing the election and the petition.

My concern is that we are going completely off script and refusing to play by the rules. While Jubilee has sustained their attacks against the Judiciary, NASA has continued with their campaign to discredit everyone and everything. Now, the focus is beyond disturbing the apparatus of the state – destabilising the IEBC, boycotting Parliament – to even some of our most successful businesses. For now, they remain in favour of the courts after the nullification of the election. Thankfully, they seem to now be off the case of election observers.

This cherry-picking approach where politicians discredit institutions, seek to make rules as they go along and only accept that favour is not only disingenuous, it is also dangerous. It can only lead to trouble. Bit by bit, we are designing our own nightmare. The nature of elections is such that there will be winners and losers – and the processes will never be perfect.

But the thing we know for certain, is that they represent the best way for us to determine the leadership contest. So, we must allow and support the IEBC to do their work as best as they can and deliver and election within the timeline and in the manner directed by the Supreme Court. The Kenyan people deserve that chance to make their choice and move on with other aspects of their lives.

Such is the beauty of our democracy that if one is aggrieved, they can always go back to the court which has already signalled willingness to overturn another election if it does not meet the set standards. I am convinced, however, that if we continue with our current approach, we are unlikely to end up in the Promised Land. Lest we forget, we have been here before and our wounds have not yet healed. Standing on the edge of a cliff to test your resolve is not a sign of strength; it is an act of stupidity. Let’s sober up. Otherwise, the ghost of a new king will be dancing on our graves.

- The writer is a researcher and analyst in Nairobi.

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