This week eight presidential aspirants were cleared by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission to vie for the presidency.

Their clearance signifies the commencement of the official campaign period. Aspirants for the positions of governor, senator, MP and ward representative have also been given the go ahead by the electoral body to garner for their seats of choice.

As we edge closer to the March 4 general election Kenyans should not lose sight of the fact that politicians hungry for power will not leave anything to chance in their quest to be elected to public office. It is during the home stretch that we have seen the political class hurling the most unsavoury and hateful epithets at their opponents.

The tragedy is that in the course of doing this, they end up inflaming the passions of Kenyans, setting communities against each other. It is this stoking of ethnic embers that culminated in the infamous 2007/08 post-election violence that nearly ruined this country.

Much as politicians who incite Kenyans against their neighbours from other ethnic communities should shoulder the bigger percentage of the blame, ordinary Kenyans are not without blame.

It is being unreasonable in the extreme to torch the house and property of a neighbour, whom you've known and lived together for years, just because some politician has incited you.

The plain truth is that few, if any, of these politicians have the best interests of Kenyans at heart. They are mostly motivated by their own selfish and parochial interests, a fact that should put us on guard each time they seek to sell their agenda to us.

Kenyans should be wiser this time round. What binds us together as countrymen and women is more important than what divides us. We are one and should not allow anyone to sow seeds of discord in our midst.

Elections will come and go but Kenya will remain. As for the political class please spare us further agony. This country is bigger than any of you and the right thing to do is to subordinate your ambitions to the interests of the public. Leadership is about uniting and not tearing your subjects apart.