This past weekend reminded me of just how much I detest the circus that is the one year leading up to elections. Let the frenzy, the noise, the mudslinging begin.

It’s going to be a year-long combination of disaster and comedy and if it weren’t so tragic, we would probably get plenty of laughs from it.

And yes, I know I am being somewhat dramatic but there are so many ways in which elections throw the sensibilities of otherwise sane people out the window that it never ceases to amaze me.

There is one aspect of our existence that it does not seem we will ever rid ourselves of – the tribal conversation.

For a short while it seemed that we had started to gain some level of sanity where this was concerned.

There is one place where I always look when I want to get a feeling of what is going on on the ground and it tends to be representative of how people are feeling regardless of what they say when they are not donning anonymous personalities. On social media and online forums.

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We have long blamed politicians for inciting the fires that burn behind tribal lines and tribal conflicts. And to a certain extent, they deserve part of this responsibility.

But to be honest, we have to accept the role that we play in allowing our tempers and biases to be inflamed to the point where we cannot see reason.

Months ago I alluded to how the tribal fires are fanned and how the mistrust develops.

Historically, for over 50 years, the political elite have used the tribe conversation to create the ‘us’ and ‘them’ factions, fanning enmity out of neighbors and friends.

We cite historical injustices, some of which have caused the inequality that we now have to live with. But after going into elections a couple of times now, we can hardly claim to now recognize when we are being used as pawns, as a critical mass which is both predictable and easily impressionable.

When every online conversation deteriorates into hurling insults at each other by virtue of our perceived political allegiances, and in turn a hostility borne of the fact that we come from different regions in the country, we can no longer blame politicians.

All they need to do is set the stage and we do their bidding without needing persuasion. Sadly, this is the conversation that is going to dominate the next few months until we get to the polls.

By then we will be so inflamed against each other that no one else needs to lift a finger to set the country on fire.

So, before we go too far down this trajectory, can we take a step back and choose to act consciously, as opposed to instinctively, to respond as opposed to reacting blindly?

Before we start to idolize all the wrong things, like which party can throw around the most money, or has the most number of rented choppers, or has the most eloquently delivered speeches (without back up action).

Before we get caught up in the frenzy, mudslinging and hype. Before we convince ourselves of the lies that are going to be repeated over and over again until they start to sound like truth, I implore that we keep a few things in mind.

One, that we are all Kenyans, regardless of which corner of the country we come from or which parties we are affiliated to.

That regardless of what we are told, however loudly, we are all facing the same frustrations and angst and turning against each other will never, ever resolve our pain points.

That the ‘us’ and ‘them’ is not us against our neighbors or us and our friends. Only standing side by side and fighting for the same cause can make any difference in our existence.
That no matter how pretentious the political class is, we would be very naïve to believe that we are in the same boat.

Our concerns, our fears, our worries are not the same and to a large extent by looking at the issues that attract national importance, the apprehensions that keep us awake at night are as far from each other as earth and sky.

While we are still struggling with our most basic needs – health care, a faltering education system, poverty, high unemployment and a dire economic situation, insecurity and so on – the people expending hundreds of millions of shillings on ensuring they are elected in a year’s time cannot claim to share our struggles.

As long as we understand that from here on out the underlying drive behind the actions of those vying for power is vying, nay, jostling for power, we shall be just fine.

This includes, above all, choosing to exercise critical reasoning and being more questioning rather than accepting everything we are told at face value.

And above all, being cognizant of the fact that when all is said and done, we will have to find a way to rise above the noise and start acting like we’re all Kenyans.