The rethinking of kenya's election systerm

By john nato

There is a number of questions about election in kenya and wether they are a force for political stability or instability .I would posit that kenya has made great strides to improve electral credibility since its catastrophic 2007 election.The election credibility  and  political stability aren't mutually exclusive.

There should be a positive correlation between democracy and improved well being of state and its people.But in a country like kenya with 40+ tribes , the more populous tribes will always take advantage  of their voting might, while the less populous ones struggle to compete .The systerm just does not  work in their favour .It would be seem therefore that they are locked  out not by choice but by circumstance.

So does a majoritarian /winner takes all , systerm suit an ethnically diverse society like kenya's.

Perhaps not, I'm persueded that there is need to be  a re imagination of electrol democracy practices in kenya .Kenya should take recent events as an oppotunity to clean up its institutions and electrol  systerm .If it doesn't , future polls will continue to offer up a point of diversion between electrol  credibility  and a tenuous  political stability .