Kenyans: This is how to count years correctly
The Sunday Nation
Nairobi,
09 April 2023
The bible records
that Jesus Christ was crucified and died on a Friday, then “on the third
day” he rose back to life. This begs the trivial question: on what day
of the week did he resurrect? Obviously, if the first day was a Friday,
then the second one was Saturday, and the third was a Sunday. Hence,
Easter falls on Sunday; not Monday!
The public holiday on
Monday is just in keeping with our tradition (and law) of extending
(compensating) holidays that fall on Sunday to the following day.
However, if it had been recorded that Jesus resurrected AFTER three
days, then the Easter celebration would fall on Monday.
If that is so clear
in our minds, why is it so difficult for us to count the dates of our
election cycles correctly. Even after I pointed out the error numerous
times in this column and writing to the Independent Electoral and
Boundaries Commission formally, the IEBC still went ahead and conducted
the general election in the wrong year!
It should have been
done in 2021, but we did it 2022 – a whole 12 months late! Our
constitution says general elections should be “in the fifth year” not
“after five years. Just the same way that the Bible say Jesus
resurrected “on the third day” and not “after three days”.
From August 8, 2022,
the five-year period will end on Sunday, August 7, 2027; hence, we must
have next election before that date. That is, the fifth year will start
from August 8, 2026 and run up to August 7, 2027. If you check the
calendar for 2026, you will find that the next general election should
be held on August 18, 2026. That’s “the second Tuesday in August in the
fifth year”. Unfortunately, politicians have already started preparing
for 2027 in the same way that they did after the 2017 elections.
In related news,
because of our failure to count years correctly, we missed the
opportunity to celebrate the 50th year of our independence. The 50th
year started on 13 December 2012 and ended on 12th December 2013.
Unfortunately, we did our “Kenya @ 50” commemorations in the 51st year –
2013 to 2014!
And now, we are in
the 60th year of independence. It started on December 13, 2022 and will
end on December 12, this year – 2023. What are we doing about this
Diamond Jubilee? Are there any activities planned, or are we going to
wait again until the 61st year
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