Somaliland sun- The president of Kenya has officially confirmed that there is a possibility of violence to break out during next year’s general election.
The president has said this in his official speech during the Jamhuri day celebration on 12th December 2016.Kenya usually observes this day as a holiday for celebrating the date on which Kenya as a republic was formed from the colonial leadership in 1963.During the speech the president averred that there are Countries from Africa and in the Western world that are secretly funding the opposition politicians and hence the possibility of extending the funding to the violence in case of dispute over presidential results is there . President Uhuru Kenyatta has said this when Kenya is only eight months shy to the general elections.
The president did not give reasons why violence will break out during the elections and why the youths will readily accept to participate in the violence of protest against the election results of next year .Obviously, the only reason that can trigger poll related violence is the integrity of the electoral machinery and how it relates with the incumbent government.
If there will be observed evidence that the electoral body is using foul means to rig in the incumbent government for another term of five years then violence will automatically erupt. This is so given the previous experience of falsified presidential results in the last elections, and also how the government of president Uhuru Kenyatta has only been fair to a few by allowing them to loot the state resources as the Kenyan youths wallow in extreme poverty. Currently, Corruption and looting of the state by government officers that are close to President Uhuru Kenyatta through political partisanship and ethnicity has made the majority of the youths in Kenya to resort to gambling for basic survival.
Surprisingly, President Kenyatta only plays politics of Tom and Jerry when it comes to the question of corruption. He has not shown how he is prepared to deal with the problem of youth un-employment, negative ethinicty, corruption and mediocrity in the public service especially the public health care and university education.
With all these I agree with the president in pessimistic view that violence will break out as a reaction to falsified election results aimed at preserving a selfish government focused on two ethnic communities when the majority are excluded and left out to rot in social and economic despair. And indeed, these are some of the political and social forces that have made the Kenyan youths from central, coast, western and rift valley provinces of Kenya to be cheaply recruited by criminal and terrorist organizations like Al Shabab.
Thus, the best way forward is for the President to uphold transparency and facilitate good governance that appreciates fair political competition. The president also must accept the fact that the Kenyan society of over forty three ethnic communities has been unfairly ruled by one ethnic community for over three decades. And throughout all this time unfair distribution of national resources and dirty accumulation of riches by the political class has been the order of the day. Such historical conditions are enough fuels to explode into political fire in case of a mismanaged electoral process.
Alexander Opicho
(From, Lodwar, Kenya
