Surely, election candidates can expect support from family members

What you need to know:

  • But if you have been following the threads on social media, others say quite a bit about what they feel he has done for Kisumu
  • Clearly she thinks her father has something to contribute to the building of this nation or she would not have made the video at all.
  • In my opinion, the upcoming election is basically done for. This was the parties’ chance to prove that they could handle their nominations and thus the elections.

It’s a testy time in our country right now. Politically, the nominations have brought us what seems to be a prelude to the main show in August.

Talk of rampant rigging and marked ballots, late night counting that seems to go on for 48 hours, crazy WhatsApp messages that seem to spread fear and mistrust – the list is endless.

Lately, the fire was turned onto Lupita Nyong’o, daughter of Kisumu Governor hopeful Prof Anyang’ Nyong’o.

Now, the votes are split as to whether this man can actually take charge of Kisumu County. Some think that his record will forever be marred by his stint in healthcare that saw him go abroad for his cancer treatment.

How did that reflect on him, that his own health docket was not doing well enough for him to get his treatment here?  While he may be no Magufuli, his family is associated with the African Cancer Foundation and his signature appears on Kenya’s first ever national cancer control strategy.

But if you have been following the threads on social media, others say quite a bit about what they feel he has done for Kisumu. Lupita put out a video that was basically a call to action, telling people to vote for her father.

Now, the question here is not whether or not he is fit for office, yet again. My question is, why would you expect a daughter to not support her father? After all, if she thought her father hadn’t done anything she wouldn’t have said anything or supported another candidate, for example. If she had nothing nice to say, she wouldn’t have said it.

Clearly she thinks her father has something to contribute to the building of this nation or she would not have made the video at all. The vilification of this video was extraordinary, as if the woman had not thought of what she was saying before she sat down and said it.

WHAT NOMINATIONS?

But people are passionate about their candidates, I suppose, which is why they took such offense, or pleasure, in the video. The larger problem with this election, however, though, is not whether candidates are receiving support from famous kin but how these nominations have gone down.

How exactly are we, as Kenyans, as our political parties, as the incumbent government and the incoming one, if it is even going to change, supposed to be able to handle elections when we can’t even do nominations without drama and intrigue?

In my opinion, the upcoming election is basically done for. This was the parties’ chance to prove that they could handle their nominations, and thus the elections.  With all this chaos, you have to wonder where this leaves the people who do not have rich powerful patrons in top party positions, who simply put their names forward because they wanted to serve Kenyans.

So as unfortunate as it may sound, it would appear that there is little hope for the free and fair elections we were hoping for – not with all the muck that has surrounded this process. It just illustrates the heavy burden than now rests on the IEBC.

Twitter: @AbigailArunga