Listening to Youth
Vote? Never Again!!
(By Oluoch Japheth)
It is four o’clock a.m. The day, 27th December 2007. This is no ordinary day. In two hours time the Electoral Commission of Kenya would ring the bell to announce the commencement of Kenya’s general election. Going by the huge crowds of voters lining the streets in Korogocho at this odd time, different groups criss-crossing the slum, singing songs in praise of their favorite candidates, many youths are expected to cast their first ballot papers since they turned eighteen. This is the minimum age limit allowed for one to acquire a national candidate identity and register as a voter to participate in the voting exercise.
Luke is one of such voters. A tailor in Korogocho slums, he looks up to this general election. He prays that things will be different. Together with other five friends, he arrives at his polling station, Daniel Comboni Primary School. He dreams to be the first voter to cast his vote hence the reason why he is two hours ahead of the electoral commission’s official six o’clock voting commencement time. He loses his dream, since by four o’clock long queues of excited voters have flocked the compound, and he would only vote after about a thousand voters. His disappointment really comes when he votes at eleven o’clock. He is among the last voters to cast his vote.
Today, a month after the fateful day, Luke says that come the next general election, he will not be among the last ones to vote. He will not vote at all. Martin, a vendor at the famous Korogocho open market supports him. ‘Vote?! Never Again! Sasa nimejua makosa nililofanya. Hiyo siku nilipiga kura saa kumi na mbili asubuhi. Sikujua kupiga kura ni makosa kubwa.’ (I have now realized my mistake. That day, I voted at six o’clock in the morning. I did not know that voting is such a big mistake).
The case of Jane is a double tragedy. She lives in Korogocho but works in Kibera. Both slums were terribly affected by the post-election violence. Sadness written all over her face, submerged in a long period of self-thought and decision making, she pours out her heart, ‘Japheth, you know what? We are creating a Kenya where we, the people, though laughing and smiling with each other, we shall know in our hearts that we are enemies simply because we speak different languages. It will not matter how long we have known and lived with each other’.
I have known Jane for seven years and I could understand her disappointment. Like many young people living in Nairobi, where she was born and brought up, she has very little attachment to her rural home and to the people of its ethnicity. She has grown among people of different ethnic origins and she has learnt different local dialects. She has never had any problem with them. Due to the post election ethnic animosity, she is now not sure of her friends. She is simply traumatized and confused.
Luke, Martin and Jane have two things in common. They swear never to vote again after their first attempt, and they are jobless. Luke has temporarily abandoned his sewing machine since his customers are preoccupied with the struggle to get food and have very little passion for new clothes. Foodstuffs are rare to come by and the prices have gone up by about two hundred percent. People who have been working hard to provide for themselves have been reduced to being beggars, relying on donation from the Red Cross Society, the Goal Kenya and the Catholic Church. Martin has also closed his business, since it is very expensive and risky to bring food to the market. Jane’s organization has stopped operating in Kibera.
The three youngsters represent thousands of other youths in Korogocho and in Kenya as a whole, whose lives have been shattered by the violence and animosity brought about by the controversy following the general election just about concluded. Many youths, who have never before participated in the election, turned up to vote with the hope of uniting the country and ensuring the creation of an environment conducive to the advancement and development of youth programmes.
The processes of mediation currently going on in the country, under the direction of former United Nations Secretary General Koffi Annan, must contribute to rebuild the hopes and faith of youths in the electoral process. Young people will be reluctant to participate in a process which will disorganize their structures of social integration. Issues of justice and peace need to be addressed with the required seriousness so as to find a lasting solution to the current threat of disintegration.
(The names have been changed to protect the interviewees.)
The writer is a youth leader in Korogocho slums and a member of the Justice and Peace Commission, St John Catholic Church, Korogocho.
