The Social Justice Fight is Our Fight: Lessons from the 2022 Kenyan Presidential Elections
Kenya is going through an election to find its 5th President, leaders at the National Assembly, and at local levels. It is a historic election because it seems to be an inflection point––a point where the older generation of leaders are asking for their last chance to make their contribution to the development of Kenya before a transition happens. The old generation is being represented by Kenya’s freedom fighter, H.E. Raila Amolo Odinga, while the new generation of Kenyan leaders is represented by the resolute and ever-present and persistent Deputy President of Kenya, Dr. William Samoei Ruto.
The vote hunting season has been nothing but remarkable, largely peaceful, and idea-based. We have witnessed a massive number of female candidates vying for various leadership positions, including the deputy presidency. We have witnessed the oratory skills and delivery of well-crafted messages to generate hope, paint a shared vision, and drive the population towards alignment and unity. Kenya has offered several lessons to its neighbors in East Africa and the rest of Africa in the areas of respect for the freedoms of speech, freedoms of association, the right to belong, the need to find it in ourselves to value life, diversity and inclusion, among several other lessons. But something else caught my attention on the polling day of the 9th of August, 2022.
An elderly woman of 87 was carried to the Kibwayi Primary School polling station in Kisian, Kisumu County. As the narrative goes, she has always cherished voting for her favored candidates and contributing to her country’s development. In this particular election, she demanded that she be taken to cast her vote and was carried by a young man to the polling station. Upon reaching the station, the biometric system failed to detect her fingerprints and was unable to locate her in the digital register.
Mama was unable to vote because of these technology glitches, along with many others whose concerns are now being highlighted on various social media platforms by their relatives. I got emotional on reading about her story and had many thoughts. This was a clear case of injustice against mama and the elderly in our communities in the name of sticking to the non-user-friendly technologies to conduct critical exercises like elections. We see these and many kinds of injustices taking root in our homes, at our workplaces, and in our communities. It bothers me that we no longer pay attention to recognizing these injustices, let alone doing something about them.
At 87 years, Mama is one of the African greats that braved it all to offer us an opportunity to live dignified lives as Africans, and perhaps thrive and change the world at some point. Their generation faced the wrath of colonialists and conquered it. They faced various epidemics and survived them, along with climate emergencies, internal political insurgencies, and all kinds of abuse against their rights. But in this moment in the 21st century, during the age of technology and communication, she was failed. We failed Mama, just like we have failed ourselves in many ways today. We have allowed injustice to find space in our midst, sometimes cheering acts of injustice, tacitly approving those acts, or directly being involved in some of them.
I believe it is time for us to rediscover the African spirit, the spirit of Nelson Mandela, Winnie Mandela, Thomas Sankara, Julius Nyerere, Steve Mbiko, Milton Obote, and the many African greats who resisted every form of injustice meted upon us during their times. Our generation should never be remembered as one that sowed the seeds of anarchy, intrigue, ruthlessness, the lack of shame and remorse, corruption, and yes, exclusion like the case of the Mama in Kenya.
Let’s reawaken the African spirit, and fight all forms of injustices that have pegged our people behind for so long. Get aware of all these forms of injustice, our role in bringing them to life, and what we can do differently to liberate our minds and our communities. Let us be alive again, for one who keeps silent about the things that matter, is one whose life has begun to end — paraphrasing Martin Luther King Jr, another African great.
Ariong Moses was a 2012–2013 fellow. He now serves as the Partnerships and Fundraising Manager at Teach for Uganda.
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