When will the next elections be held: 2017 or 2018?
The Sunday Nation
Nairobi,
03 March 2013
As we prepare for tomorrow’s general elections – the first under the new constitution – I have heard whispers suggesting that the next ones will be held in 2018. This reasoning behind it is based on simple arithmetic: 2013 plus 5 equals 2018. But is that correct?
As I keep reminding readers in this column: please read the constitution for yourself and make your own judgement. This is what article 101(1) says regarding the timing of general elections:
“A general election of members of Parliament shall be held on the second Tuesday in August in every fifth year.”
Now let’s count the years like nursery school children:
The first year will run from tomorrow, 4th March 2013 to 3rd March 2014;
The second one, from 4th March 2014 to 3rd March 2015;
The third one, from 4th March 2015 to 3rd March 2016;
The fourth one, from 4th March 2016 to 3rd March 2017; and
The fifth one, from 4th March 2017 to 3rd March 2018
If you read the wording of the constitution carefully, you will notice that it says “IN the fifth year”: it does not say “AFTER five years! From the counting above, it is obvious that after tomorrow, the fifth year from will start on 4th March 2017. Therefore, the next general election “shall be held on the second Tuesday of August” in the year 2017; that is 8th August 2017.
Let no body come up with some funny theory as to why we should wait until 4th March 2018! Like I argued in a past article, I believe we disobeyed the constitution by not holding elections in August 2012. We should never make that mistake again.
Still on this subject, there has been talk in political circles to the effect that if you do not vote for one of the two presidential candidates that have been leading in opinion polls, you will be wasting your vote. In my view, that argument is wrong. I think that your vote will be wasted only if you give it to some one you don’t like!
That is; if you think candidate X is best suited to lead, but you give your vote to candidate Y because you suspect she/he has a better chance of winning, then, in my view, you will have wasted your vote.
Another message being peddled around is that people should only vote for
the two candidates leading in opinion polls in order to save the
estimated Sh6 billion needed for the run-off. My response is: while Sh6
billion is a large sum of money to any one of us, it is a drop in the
ocean that is
Imagine you have Sh1,500 in your pocket; what difference would it make if you spent 6-bob out of it? Very minimal, isn’t it? That’s the same effect that the Sh6 billion will have on the national budget.
Furthermore; the Sh6 billion has been budgeted and designated for a run-off presidential election. It cannot be put to any other use even if there was no run-off! So those saying that it can be used to pay teachers and nurses are simply not telling the truth!
 |
 |