The injustice of cherished principle

The one-person one-vote principle, otherwise called universal suffrage, is the constitutionally prescribed system of election.

However, it is, in fact, overrated in a democracy such as ours. The basic legal understanding of that principle is that all are equal before the law and enjoy their rights as provided for in the Constitution.

All eligible persons have the same right and each has the same value while voting.

No one, therefore, should be discriminated on the basis of religion, race, education, wealth and so on, when voting.

As long as an individual is able to decide whom to vote for and expresses that decision in a ballot, the right is enjoyed.

But what is voting for in competitive politics? It is an act of making a choice between competing options — candidates and parties.

KNOWLEDGE

Governing is a demanding art of leadership, but also management that requires both skills and relevant knowledge.

To elect persons with practical skills who also have acquired knowledge to abstract social realities and complexities, voters themselves ought to be persons of sound judgement.

Socrates, the great Athenian philosopher, was strongly opposed to democracy, specifically the one-man one-vote system.

He reasoned that voting is a skill formed by relevant knowledge and not what he calls “random intuition”, which happens when anyone above 18 is allowed to vote.

Socrates did not deny anyone a chance to vote. A good education, call it civic education, will raise the level and quality of reasoning of the voter so as to make a sound judgement when voting.

REQUISITE KNOWLEDGE

Unfortunately, a significant number of voters do not have the requisite knowledge on leadership to vote wisely.

For Socrates, the best leaders would be philosophers because they reason well.

Anyone who does not reason well can only be a demagogue leading people like a ship without a trained captain.

Borrowing from Socrates, voters must, at the very least, understand not just the challenges they face, but also the causes.

A considerable number of voters have minimal knowledge to analyse the causes of their suffering. We have voters who are perpetual drunkards.

BALLOTS

Somehow they end up in a booth to cast their ballots. After all, they have a right to enjoy. We also have many ‘bribeable’ voters.

We have people amongst us battered by poverty so much so that they have no time to interrogate candidates and make informed decisions.

We have many people who vote for someone because the clan or tribe has decided that is “our own”. 

Then we have many voters who are excellent at describing problems but score very poorly in analysing causes.

Public relations (PR) propaganda machines target, especially this category.

POLITICAL SPINNERS

Presidential and gubernatorial candidates hire highly qualified political spinners to play with our minds.

The propagandists are handsomely paid, not to boost party membership, and loyalty, but to confound us, voters, with positive imaging of their clients while demonising the opponent.

Yes, PR is critical to campaigns but the kind of messaging we received on the just-ended election campaigns was demeaning to our integrity: lies, half-truths, irrelevancies, and yes, occasionally some bitter truths.

There is blame games, finger pointing, self-glorification, advancement of skewed standpoints and manifestos poorly explained to the public.

Unfortunately, it is this confusing messaging that many voters used to make decisions on whom to vote for.

CAMPAIGNS

People disinterested or disconnected from political processes will end up at the ballot having as much say as active citizens engaged in issues-based campaigns. What an injustice!

The one-person one-vote principle does not work even for the Americans or Hillary Clinton would be the President of the United States today.

It does not work in many democracies, which explains why countries such as the United Kingdom have parliamentary systems.

In the UK, the Queen plays a key role in ensuring the country remains intact at all times in spite of the powers bestowed on elected leaders.

RIGHT DECISIONS

Skills and education are vital in making the right decisions in voting.

It is a pity that the space for civil society to intensify civic education has been minimised by reduction in foreign funding.

People with low capacity to analyse the world around them would have greatly improved in making informed voting decisions.

Media must play a key role in educating voters because candidates have mutated into the enemies of truth, integrity and ethical conduct.

Dr Mokua is the executive director, Jesuit Hakimani Centre, Nairobi. [email protected]