The party primaries came and passed. Now that calm has
returned there are some lessons we can draw from the fiascos of party
primaries;
· We need a public holiday to conduct party primaries
The state should give a holiday for the electorate to
participate in this exercise. We saw a good number of good candidates loose the
party primaries because the so called middle class we at work and the aspirants
with street swag we’re able to mobilize support.
· IEBC needs to conduct the Party Primaries
Most of the party primaries we’re done in haphazard manner.
In some cases there we’re delays of days because the election materials we’re
not in polling stations on time.
· Party Boys will always be Party Boys
We witnessed broad day light rigging in some regions.
Especially in ODM and TNA zones where primaries are as good as elections. Some
of the areas where there were question marks were Nyanza and Central Province.
In the lead up to the election days we might be witnessing new voting patterns
is this dissent we witnessed was quelled by party organs that rigged in the
party boys
· The Fall Out in Nyanza Province
Some commentators have gone as far as calling it a Luo
Spring. How this shapes up is yet to be fully seen but in an area like Nyanza
Province where the Prime Minister has commanded a spell over might be finally
coming to an end.
We witnessed a good number of Odinga’s vying and the
electorate refusing them. The era of an insightful voter is coming to the being
and this can be attributed to;
1.
High literacy levels in these areas
2.
Technology especially mobile penetration
3.
Access to information through local radio
station
The fall out was not exclusive to Nyanza because we
witnessed a fall out in Othaya [President Kibaki’s backyard] where Mary Wambui
and Gichuki battled it out and we witnessed some drama.
· Get bloggers party to cover your opponents Primaries
and ‘expose’ short comings
During the primary exercise we witnessed some bloggers who
we know their party affiliation all of a sudden move to their opponents regions
to cover the primaries. The idea here was to report as much filth as possible
on nomination exercise of their opponents. In so doing they painted a bad
picture of their opponent’s primary exercise.
