The Kenyan government has called for all Kenyans to register afresh ahead of the referendum ……Why do I have to register as a voter???????? I mean so as to vote for the same people who will still be in power come on…… In Kenya the people continue to have little say once their votes are cast. Many Kenyans remember the 2007 violence that that followed the elections. The skirmishes were unexpected and three years down the line the internally displaced people are yet to be allocated homes and are refugees in their own country……
I ask again why do I have to be a voter?????? When the peace accord was signed following a prelude that appeared to last forever Kenyans’ hopes soared. The coalition government was seen as the saviour that was going to deliver peace and the elusive jobs. Our hopes have certainly been dashed - food, scarce before is now harder to get and prices are stratospheric; the violence has ebbed but true reconciliation remains an elusive dream. And the only jobs that have been created appear to be of additional ministers! The government has limped from one loud quarrel to another with ceasefires lasting long enough for parliament to approve budgets so that politicians can continue drawing massive salaries. Rivalries within and outside parties abound. Scandals such as those on the sale of contaminated maize and Triton join a long list of unresolved cases that have cost Kenyans millions. Our politicians without a doubt are a rotten lot. But what does that say about the people that voted them in? As the old adage goes, the people get the leaders they deserve.
So I ask again why do I need to be a registered voter?
