YVONNE'S TAKE: Kenya’s democracy; not perfect but work in progress

Today is the International Day of Democracy. And how timely it is, coming right after Kenya has been through the General Election.

And so far, so good. It may not be perfect, but it is work in progress. We seem to be ticking the right boxes in many ways.

Let’s get some perspective first, the August General Election is our 6th multi-party election since 1992, we now have the 3rd President since the advent of pluralism, and we have just witnessed the 3rd peaceful transition from one administration to another.

We have the right structures. A vibrant Parliament, that may still be trying to find its place in the presidential system brought on by the Constitution of Kenya 2010.

A Parliament that has been accused of being subservient to the whims of the Executive, but one that has also has some successes too.

Another structure that stands out is the Judiciary. The Supreme Court has reined supreme, particularly in interpreting the Constitution, and being the final arbiter of presidential election disputes. This coming after 2007, when the post-election violence was attributed in part to the fact that there was no belief in the courts to adjudicate over the disputes arising from the presidential poll.

Then came 2013, and the Supreme Court delivered its verdict. Whilst the petitioners disagreed with its findings, the decision enabled the country to move forward.

Then came 2017 and the Supreme Court made history, making Kenya the first in Africa to annul a presidential election outcome and only the 4th in the world.

Once again the same court took centre stage in 2022. Catching the eye even of the New York Times that said, in Kenyan elections, the people decide first, then come the judges. This apex court has also given direction on several constitutional matters including the gender rule, the division of revenue row and famously on how to amend the Constitution when it threw out the BBI case. All this points to a well matured democracy in which we can make our own decisions and resolve our own decisions.

One point to note though is the low voter turnout that was witnessed during this just concluded election. At about 65%, it is the lowest on record since the advent of multi-party politics. What does it say about us that a whopping 8 million people, for one reason or another, did not go out to vote? To put this into perspective, the 8 million who did not vote, were far more than what each of the top two candidates garnered in the election.

To make it clear, the 8 million who did not vote are more than the 7 million odd votes that President William Ruto garnered. That is some food for thought, and in my view worrying. We can beat the brows of those who didn’t vote, we can throw all the cliché sayings at them about those who don’t vote having no right to complain, or blaming them for poor leadership because they chose to sit this one out. But perhaps a different approach would be needed to find out just what they are thinking. Remember, this is also a silent form of protest, and this must be interrogated and we must seek to understand what is going on with these 8 million.

We typically ask the president to reach out to the other 6 million who voted for his opponent, but shouldn’t we also ask him to reach out to the 8 million who did not vote?
Our democracy is nascent compared to others around the world. But it is growing, do we have challenges? Certainly. For one; we still struggle with the processes such as elections and ways of making them credible. Mistrust dominates each step we take - whether manual or electronic, there is always that lingering doubt about the outcome of all elections since 2007.

Then there is the space of ideals - none of our parties are founded in any particular coherent ideology. We float through elections using make shift parties and coalitions that mean little beyond the tallying of votes.

But even then, we still must celebrate the basics such as the relatively peaceful transitions between living presidents across the last 6 elections. In some parts of the world, that alone is a miracle even we here must celebrate.