Why we must campaign against voter bribery ahead of 2027 polls

The season for voter bribery is here. Every General Election in Kenya is a time for many voters to target “politicians’ money.” And, it comes in various forms, including contributions to programmes, hardware projects and charities. The most visible form of corruption is the culture of handouts.

Handouts have been dished out in marketplaces, behind tents, in cars, on playing fields, or through group leaders for generations. I do not recall an election where the agents of political aspirants did not line up desperate voters for handouts. I vividly remember church leaders in the 1980s warning us never to accept handouts from politicians, as it was seen as a form of corruption. We were also told that if we do not stop accepting handouts and other forms of bribery during campaigns, we will never see much development. The argument was that anyone who invests in campaigns will want to recover their money as soon as the campaigns are over. We were taken through a financial breakdown of how much each aspirant would need to distribute to stand a chance of winning.

It is now decades since that time, and not much has changed. In the last General Election, for example, hundreds of people flocked to the roads, waiting for politicians to give them handouts. I remember driving through rural areas where we were mistaken for political aspirants. Every time, groups of voters would run to us, ready to belt out songs in praise of our candidate. Some would mistake us for one of the aspirants and start chanting, of course, expecting handouts in return for their expended energies.

Voter bribery is a good example of modern slavery. The erroneous school of thinking that election winning comes before social morals destroys what it means to be human.

I have listened to both political aspirants and voters on various platforms, and I know for a fact that politicians are well aware that voter bribery is against civil law. However, it is also one of the main tools of a successful campaign. Many of them would strongly argue that while they understand and agree that voter bribery through various strategies is immoral, they are also aware that a majority of Kenyans are swayed to vote for whoever offers a competitive bribe, disguised in whichever form. On their part, many voters recognise that voter bribery undermines the electoral process. However, they justify the appetite for campaign bribes by saying that every season has its benefits. They also argue that political aspirants are only giving them back the taxes they have illegally acquired. In other words, it is payback time.

Let us be honest with ourselves. Voter bribery is a social sin. It leaves us worse off. Why?

We are pushing even the well-intentioned political aspirants “to be creative” in generating revenue to mount competitive campaigns. We are nurturing theft. We are collectively abetting the destruction of systems of governance. We are watching over an election of some aspirants with deep pockets at the expense of meaningful service delivery. Bluntly said, we are pushing a few people up the social mobility ladder while destroying professionals such as medics, lecturers, teachers and faithful law enforcers. We are bringing down our public hospitals and yet claim to want reasonable services.

Breaking the chains of corruption, such as voter bribery, is not a walk in the park. But we must start somewhere. We have under two years to the next general election. It is in our national interest to combat voter bribery. The theory of change is simple. The cheaper the election campaigns, the more resources will be available for government service delivery. Needless to elaborate, the less funds candidates spend, the less appetite they would have to recover their investment should they win. Even those who do not win are often compelled to recover their campaign through illegal strategies.

While we understand the inevitability of funding political campaigns for planning meetings and public engagement, we should not sanitise voter bribery in any form it comes. The one resolution we should make before the 2027 General Election is to campaign vigorously against voter bribery.

Dr Mokua is Executive Director of Loyola Centre for Media and Communication