As mentioned in a previous post, March 4th is the
election date for local, county, and federal elections, including the
presidency. There is a large amount of anticipation, and some anxiety, for this
balloting date, in refection to all the deadly post-election violence from the
last Presidential election. World political eyes are on Kenya, as they are
working very hard for a peaceful national voting process.
There are some very specific items to this election which
mark it as history making. There is a new constitution in place since the last election. Yes, a new Constitution!
One article of the Kenyan Constitution calls for the
formation of “Counties” as opposed to an overall country wide federal
governmental process … read Counties in comparison with States.
The new Constitution then calls for an election of Senators
for each County … these Senators will work in conjunction with the existing
House of Parliament … Representatives and Senators … aligned with the new
Counties.
And the third significant article calls for the election of
Women Representatives from each County to work at the Federal level … a major
step. Similar to the significance of the US’s 19th amendment passed
in 1920, almost 100 years ago.
The “official campaigning” has just started … without the
advantage of television and radio being affordable to all Kenyans, the most
common method for a politician to get their word out is the car/truck impromptu
“parade” with many posters, street banners, and the loud speakers on the lead
vehicle ... makes for interesting spectating, and some amusing traffic jams ...
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