I have never voted, and do not feel even remotely attracted to the prospect, if my choice remains limited to the ‘old guard’ who seem to think outlining an agenda and achievable, realistic and dated campaign promises is unecessary in the third world. I refuse to vote on tribal grounds, and I refuse to choose the lesser of the available evils.

I had the pleasure of discussing the constitutional review process with Joe Kadhi recently, and one matter that he pointed out which has not been addressed in any of the various drafts is the introduction of a formal primary election scheme as practiced in the States, rather than independent party-run nomination schemes.

The logic here (as I see it) is that if properly implemented, this would prevent ‘cronies’ from pulling together a political party and hand-picking each other as candidates. Instead, wananchi chose who runs for the party of their choice. If this is coupled with a scheme that requires a party to field candidates across the country, it will cut down on single-tribe parties. This in turn will reduce the segmentation of parties in the country, and force even those with tribal interests to run for democratic nomination in a party with an agenda and a properly-outlined agenda.

If the day comes when I have two or three parties with national interests to chose from, all of whom explicitly express their differences in views, and each field democratically chosen candidates with well expressed visions and campaign promises.. maybe then I shall be bothered to pick up a votesrs card.