However, I think a little story time is in order. In my late teens, when we were at breakfast and just fresh off the announcement of the 2013 general elections results, my dad gave this big speech to both me and my sister. I cannot for the life of me remember what it was about but the take home was in the next general I (me) WILL vote. There was not even so much as an allusion to me having a choice, it was more like it was written in stone.
It is also a vivid memory hearing my parents at the crack of dawn going to vote in 2002, 2007 and 2013. My mom would even go as far as planning our annual Christmas holidays around the election calendar so that we would be back in time for them to cast their vote.
Now I am not sure if the spirit of patriotism burns ever so bright within them or it is they fact that they are career civil servants, what is private sector? and a change in national administration is more hard hitting to them than it is to most.
Flash forward to 2016. It may have been in my Family law class where my lecturer asked by a show of hands who would be voting.Only a handful went up. Do not get it twisted though, that could mean anything. My class has a unified poker face. Not even Dave Chapelle could get so much as a smirk out of us. I know for sure my hand went up, but at the time I was high off the energy the 2016 U.S election carried with it. You have got to give it up to the American people being the most spirited nation out there.
In true Kenyan fashion, the last day of registration found me impatiently queuing to just get it over and done with.
The process in itself was pretty painless and not as time consuming, contrary to my anticipation. The IEBC have taken a whole lot of smack for the past few years leading up to the elections but you have got to hand it to them. It's efficiency, at least in my experience was high up there. For one they were available 6 days a week and yes that means Saturday to. All I needed was my original national ID,my finger prints taken and one crappy photo later I was issued with my voter's card. So to a future first time voter, do not go the last day, maybe you did not here me the first time, DO NOT PUT IT OFF UNTIL THE LAST DAY.
So I lost my voter's card.
The story behind my loss is rather boring. It pretty much involves remodelling my room and losing a whole bunch of things in my temporal state of roomlessness (not a word), the voter's card being one of them. The good news is, the big girl I am on a Saturday afternoon dragged my feet to my polling station and confirmed it is indeed no biggie, all I need is my ID when the day is here with us, however I am pretty sure that my voter's card will pop up when I least need it.
And now, will I vote? Should I? Excuse me while I get into my feelings here. These manifesto are beautifully written sounding like an out of this world business plan.But what about the 5 years worth of loose ends? NYS scandals, KDF still in Somalia, industrial strikes every waking moment thanks to CBAs that are only good in theory. Is no one going to tie them up? All these new flashy plans, all I am hearing is mo' money, mo' problems, mo' debt and another burden on the taxpayer.
Work with me here. What I would like to hear is maybe getting KDF out of Somalia and redirecting these resources to I don't know health, education, housing, averting recurring food crises, crack the whip on corruption cases of the yester years, recover embezzled funds because that money can't just be floating somewhere in space and we just let it. Then maybe just maybe a second term will be a guarantee so that you can roll out your fancy shmancy plans.
Have a good one!
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