The is no justification for holding elections in 2022!
By MUNGAI KIHANYA
The Sunday Nation
Nairobi,
12 March 2017
I am happy that the question of how to count the general election dates
has elicited a good amount of interest. Unfortunately, a lot of the
people who say that the general election after the 2017 one will be in
2022 do so without any reference to the constitution. They simply just
talk about a five year term.
One reader, though, likened the situation to the “fencing pole problem”:
Suppose you wish to put a fence on a 12m long, straight boundary. If the
spacing is 3m, how many poles will you need?
It is very tempting to divide 12 by 3 and say the answer is 4 poles.
However, if you buy 4, you will be shocked to find that they are not
enough! You actually need 5 poles. The extra one is needed to mark the
end of the boundary line.
In a converse sort of way, when the constitution says “in every fifth
year”, it is tempting to assume that it is referring to a five year
term. But, as I have pointed out several times before, that is not the
case!
Another reader suggested that we should start counting the number of
years from 2018. That is the first year should be the period from 8th
August 2018 to 7th August 2019 and so on. So I asked her:
what then should we call the duration from August 2017 to August 2018?
Is it the “zeroth” (0th) year?
The term “zeroth” was coined by scientists a long time ago in an attempt
to rectify an inconsistency in the numbering of the laws of
thermodynamics – the rules that govern the movement of heat.
Scientists had been quick start numbering the first, second, and third
laws only for some of them to realise that the fourth law was actually
more fundamental than the previous three. They decided to call it the
“zeroth” law of thermodynamics so that it appears on top of the list.
In the case the general election cycle, there is no justification for
starting the count of years with zero. Think about it: Why is it that
the years beginning with “20” are called the “21st century”?
A century is 100 years. The first century was the first 100 years of the
modern calendar; that is, from year 1 to year 100. The second century
was from year 101 to year 200. We immediately notice that these are
years beginning with “1”; and so, if we continue the same way, we shall
find that the 21st century years begin with “20”.
Similarly, the fifth year is not the one that starts after five years
but the one that begins after four years are over. For that reason, the
general election after the 2017 one shall be held in the year 2021; not
2022.
Let us not repeat the mistake we made in 2014: celebrating the 50th
year of independence one year too late! If we do, the legality of our
entire government will be at stake.
 |
 |