A Case for Kenya's Silent Majority- NonVoters

The recent election fiasco and ensuing violence in Kenya has eclipsed a large but silent majority: the nonvoters.

There are agnostic, cynics and skeptics who neither registered nor voted in the disputed poll. According to the Electoral Commission (if one can still trust their numbers), there were 14 million registered voters, about 10 million who voted out of a population of over 34 million. Bearing in mind that a section of the population is not eligible to register and vote by age or otherwise, that still leaves a huge chunk of Kenyans who did not participate in the elections.

And Kenyans are not alone. There are “silent” majorities of nonvoters even in the Western democracies. In the United States for example, only about one-third of the population participates in the presidential and congressional elections, roughly 100 million of the 300 million Americans.

We are here talking about persons who are otherwise eligible to participate but for one reason or other, choose not to. There is widespread assumption of the universal appeal of the political process. This is erroneous. When did the passions of a couple dozen ministers, a president and 210 egocentrics become the sole preoccupation of all Kenyans?

Don’t the non-voters have the right to a peaceful country uninterrupted by the greed and avarice as well as unbridled ambitions of the voting class? After all, they are the majority.

One can discern a number of categories of non-voters:

- those believing that their voices no longer matter. That whatever they (as citizens do), political elite will always ride roughshod over the, fueled by greed and desire for power

-those whose efforts at bringing change have been thwarted by political leaders who are intent on feeding their endless pockets and stomachs. Corruption, nepotism, spineless dealings, bask in the momentary glory as long as the price is right;

-those who genuinely have neither the interest nor the time for the apparent bickering and endless shouting match ( and now murderous rampages) that characterize Kenyan politics.

No matter what the categorization, these share one thing: a conscious decision to stay out of the political scene. They do not want to vote or be voted.


It is an ultimate act of collective oppression: the minority acting n total disregard of the wishes and aspirations of the majority, albeit silent.


Retired President Moi often said: Siasa Mbaya, Maisha Mbaya. (Translation: Bad Politics, Bad Life).

This epitomizes the politicians’ elevated self-importance. Presumptuous and arrogant belief that everything to do with the citizens’ lives depends on them (the politicians). There indeed can be good life despite the rot in politics. If only the politicians could stick to their lanes and leave citizens who have chosen to be apolitical, the hell, alone.

Before anyone jumps to conclusions as to why some Kenyans may rather opt for aloofness, it must be stated that every person has the right to decide, based on their personal preferences.
Just like career, marital status, religion and the like, the flip side of this argument is that citizens have an equally strong right to sit out and observe from a safe distance.


Nonvoters may not necessarily be uneducated, poverty-striken lot. Imagine the following members of Kenya’s emerging middle class:

Teacher – wants to teach and go home
Advocate – wants to litigate and become a formidable jurist
Business owner – keep shop open to earn a decent living
Civil Servant – wants to serve the public with the ultimate goal of rising to senior ranks, who knows even become Permanent Secretary

The chaos, mayhem are not only disruptive, inconveniencing, wasteful, inexplicable loss of lives and heightened ethnic tension.

Like a herd of bulls fighting, observers deserve a safe opportunity to watch.

Perhaps the unintended consequence of the events in Kenya since December 27, 2007 is counterproductive. The self-righteous/ self-proclaimed believers in the power of politics to transform everything may be dead wrong. If the goal of the election was to expand the democratic space (or as Americans would have it, expand the tent), the mayhem and death following the elections may well drive away potential participants from the process.