Watch out for disgruntled, insincere aspirants running as independent candidates

The obsession by Kenyans that electing new people to positions of leadership will automatically result in better governance is a fallacy. A new person must be thoroughly assessed to find out whether his/her track record can count for anything.

The scepticism about this clarion call is because every year, the country elects new MPs but they end up being worse than their predecessors. Could this be pointing to a serious leadership problem? When one dismisses the whole lot of experienced leaders on the basis of having been in the positions for long, it is hypocritical. Some of the accused individuals have not had a real opportunity to prove themselves.

For instance, the experienced President Mwai Kibaki pulled the country out of an economic quagmire. Therefore, experience cannot be dismissed wholesale. Voters need to tread carefully regarding some of the claims independent candidates make. We must interrogate the guys in ‘the middle’ of political ideology, the non-aligned group, before casting a vote for them. In cases where they lost unfairly in the party primaries, it would be prudent to support them.

But where they are vying merely because they are disgruntled, we should dismiss them with the contempt they deserve. People must learn to accept defeat and move on. That is the hallmark of democracy. As for political parties, they have a duty to hold free, fair, and credible primaries. Trying to give certain candidates undue advantage is wrong. All candidates deserve fair treatment. A party that violates its own constitution encourages disgruntled candidates’ undemocratic behaviour.