Do not allow party 'waves' and bribes to influence your choices at the ballot

Seventeen months to the general election, political temperatures are fast rising, with politicians engaging in sloganeering and attractive campaign messages to soothe the electorate.

As we head to 2027, Kenyans must reflect on the kind of leaders that they want. They must evaluate their gains and the losses under the current office bearers.

The voters must also ask themselves why they voted for the current leaders. Was it because of the quality of their leadership, or because the leaders were politically correct after they joined the popular political parties, then? Was it because of the money that they dished out, or was the voting based on sympathy?

These tough questions must be the guiding principles in next year’s elections if voters are to do away with mediocre leaders who ride to electoral victory on party 'waves' and the millions of shillings that they use to buy the loyalty of voters.

The time has come for Kenyans to understand that corruption is not a failure of leaders but a failure of public memory. As we head to the polls, let's understand that when voters forget too quickly, power learns that it can steal loudly and survive easily.

As opposed to being consumed by the political sloganeering of 'wantam' and 'tutam', the electorate must gauge the current leaders based on what they have done and not on their political and ethnic affiliations.

Kenyans must not forget about the state of policy interventions and infrastructure in their electoral areas before deciding who they will hand over the contract to serve them for a period of five years.

As they continue to blame their leaders for not implementing their campaign promises, the electorate must understand that they are the ones who pick the leaders. They must also bear in mind that a nation erodes through memory loss, selective outrage, and the quiet normalisation of impunity.

As political aspirants crisscross every corner of our wards, constituencies and the country to sell their messages of hope, efficiency, discipline and breaking from the excesses of the past while amplifying their well-political affiliation, we should ask ourselves whether they will return to normalcy, procurement irregularities and inflated contracts, once they are elected.

At the local level, legislators have been accused of failing to demand accountability while acting as an appendage of the State as opposed to playing their representation, legislation, and oversight roles. These accusations should form the basis of next year’s polls.

Kenyans must stop the habit of abandoning their anger against their leaders’ inadequacies when the election looms, only to go back and complain after casting their votes. They must judge their representatives harshly at the ballot, while leaving the campaign rhetoric and campaign waves at the gates of the polling stations.

For the candidates who wish to dislodge the current office bearers, the electorate must demand to know their past engagements with the community because voting in a leader with no record of community interaction and a leader with a tainted character is like donating their voting power to the political class.

In every election cycle, politicians frame the contest as existential; they cultivate devotion rather than scrutiny while converting political support into something resembling religious loyalty. But once that transformation occurs, evidence struggles to compete with emotion. That must come to an end.

Accountability requires emotional distance. It requires the willingness to criticise those we voted for. It requires humility to admit when we were wrong. Kenya’s tragedy is not that we lack information, but when the elections loom, we are swayed by emotions and political epithets.

We should all remember that anger burns brightly but briefly. By the next election, campaign narratives shift to new grievances, new fears, and new promises. If indeed the current leaders have failed in their mandate of saying no to oppressive bills and policies, if those wishing to be elected have no tangible development record, why then should they be voted in?

Mr. Kagiri is a policy and governance expert and a community leader