Cosmas Butunyi
15 June 2008
Nairobi — Last Wednesday a group of voters hovered like vultures around Ebusiralo polling station in Emuhaya constituency waiting for the parliamentary aspirants.
With voters cards and national identity cards safe in their pockets, the men, women and youth huddled in small groups and waited for the highest bidder.
"We have been voting people in every year for free, but they do not change our lives. This time, they have got to give us something before we give them the job," one of them, a middle-aged woman, said bitterly.
If anything, she argued, by voting, she would help someone to get into a well-paying job.
"Our roads are still as bad as they were when I was young, and these leaders do not even help us when we need help with school fees for our children," she added.
Next to her, a young man in baggy shorts stood nodding in agreement as she explained their mission.
"I work as a boda boda cyclist but today, I sacrificed my job to come here. I am hungry, and my children are waiting for food at home," he said.
The voters remained undeterred, even as the clock ticked towards 5 p.m., the closing time of polling stations.
"If the stations close before I vote, then I will go home because I cannot employ someone for free," he said.
Even the blazing sun could not dampen their resolve to make a quick shilling. When it became too hot, they moved under a nearby shade tree and sat down.
And so the crowds milled outside most of the polling stations in the constituency.
The zealous voters, who did not seem to know their candidates, rushed to any vehicle that drove towards the polling station to demand payment before casting their ballots.
Even Commissioner Jack Tumwa of the Electoral Commission of Kenya, who was monitoring the process in the constituency, was not spared. When he drove into some of the stations, he was mobbed.
"Voter bribery is a cancer that we need to deal with as a country if we are going to have strong democratic principles," he later said.
The same scene was witnessed in several other centres in the large constituency that has 150 polling stations.
The returning officer, Mr Joshua Musungu, however, said that no one was arrested in connection with the vice.
According to Mr Tumwa, enactment of legislation to limit the amount of money that aspirants can spend on elections could stem the problem.
Finally, closing time came. Voter turnout was abysmally low.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 The Nation. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
