My Views on the Election are Changing

My thoughts on the election are changing slowly and in ways that I find interesting. I was incensed yesterday about the apparent mockery of our electoral process. Irrespective of who won or lost I wanted the process to be carried out in a fair and transparent process. I felt that a corrupt ECK makes a mockery of all of our right to vote. I am a simple Kenyan who simply wanted the electoral process to work flawlessly so that KENYA would win.

Today my feelings are moving more towards sympathy to the Kibaki camp. For these reasons.

- First, Raila more than anyone else was stoking atavistic sentiments. He used words like adui and he was telling people well in advance that Kibaki was planning to rig the election. He created a scenario where anything other than a Raila victory was unacceptable. I would have embraced Raila as my President. I just don't think he would have embraced anyone else as his.

- The numbers coming through that show that the "turnout" in many ODM areas was over 100%. So that means that ODM was not playing fairly after all. So, in my mind, even if Kibaki did not play fairly they were both cheats and Kibaki won.

- Third, and most concerning to me, have been the scenes of people looting generators and refrigerators in Kisumu (and trying on sneakers) under the guise of demonstrating. Then came today's pictures of demonstrators carrying pangas. I truly hope that the GSU shoots all those goons demonstrating with machetes. Peaceful mass demonstration has a place in democracy. An orgy of looting, raping, killing and maiming does not, irrespective of your grievance.

- Fourth the pragmatist in me simply wants to put this behind us. We’re citizens in a country run by crooks and hate mongers so why would one be better than the other.

So, to rub it in real good, Hongera Rais Kibaki. Kazi Iendelee.