Opposition and government should watch what they say

Residents of Ganda in Kilifi queue to vote at Maziwani Primary School in the Malindi parliamentary by-election on March 7, 2016. PHOTO | KAZUNGU SAMUEL | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • The other day, I saw a comment from the ICT minister responding to a statement that had been made by two senators from the Cord coalition, who had claimed that the government and the IEBC were colluding to fix the elections come 2017.
  • Opposition politicians must understand that when they issue statements like that, without even providing evidence for what they are saying, they are inciting Kenyans to chaos.
  • Is that what we want? In the same breath, those who are in government must know when to talk and when to keep quiet.
  • One who knows they are doing the right thing does not necessarily have to respond to certain allegations.

Whether or not we accept it, a lot of the noise and sometimes even violence that tends to accompany our elections is caused by perceptions that have been created over the years. It has been said before that the public does not respond to the objective reality but rather to the picture that has been engraved on their minds.

When we think about political waves that run in Kenya every so often, there can never be a more correct statement given our past experience. This is particularly so because of the ethnic and polarised nature of our politics in which our communities have tribal leaders believed to possess a monopoly of political wisdom. What such “leaders” say whenever we approach elections is critical given those past experiences.

The tragedy of this whole thing is the “distrust” that tends to characterise relationships between the various sides of the political divide. This is, of course, a distrust based on the search for raw individual power without consideration for the consequences as long as the so-called “leader” gets that power. I consider this a rather primitive instinct in the 21st century.

NOT FAIR

I am convinced that feeding the masses on information that is not really true or is half-baked is not fair for a delicate democracy like ours.

As I say, this is usually done for the sake of the tribal leader who “must” get into government. Even when he or she gets there, our experience is that, in a lot of cases, very little really gets to the people that they represent.

I do agree that the opposition must not behave like it is government. While that may be the case, politicians in government and those in the opposition are involved in the same national project.

The other day, I saw a comment from the ICT minister responding to a statement that had been made by two senators from the Cord coalition, who had claimed that the government and the IEBC were colluding to fix the elections come 2017.

This is my thought about this matter. Opposition politicians must understand that when they issue statements like that, without even providing evidence for what they are saying, they are inciting Kenyans to chaos.

Is that what we want? In the same breath, those who are in government must know when to talk and when to keep quiet.

One who knows they are doing the right thing does not necessarily have to respond to certain allegations.

Fr Dominic Wamugunda is dean of students, University of Nairobi.