Went into town and the air was dense with elections. Clusters of bodabodas parked everywhere, some with pictures of candidates pasted on their bikes, others on their T-shirts. I am not sure if it was a part of it all, but in the sky, a jet-fighter wet swooshing by.
I went for a haircut and in the saloon a loud discussion ensued. It muffled out the words coming from the TV in the room. Elections was the agenda, and for the thirty minutes I was there that was all they talked about, both the saloonists and the customers blabbing about which candidate said what and why to vote for what/whom.
In the streets after my hair cut I became aware of posters all over the place, on cars, walls, on bikes, barricades, etc. Its like a "season", like Christmas season, or valentines... and it has everyone in a participatory frame of mind.
There is a sense of excitement that one could mistakenly assume will pass after elections are over. But I was in Kenya the day after their elections and two to three days after that in January 2008. It seems that the after elections is the tricky part. It’s the part of the elections process that spoils the festive atmosphere, the all-inclusive or unifying energy that elections bring to a country.
It’s like flying in a plane from Uganda(Entebbe) to South-Africa(OR-Thambo). All the passengers climb aboard entrusting the pilot to deliver a safe and comfortable flight. We all climb aboard not knowing each other or greeting each other. The take-off is smooth and the flight is quick and always goes well. But somewhere along the flight, usually closer to South African side there is some turbulence and we all get concerned. When the plane approaches its destination we hold firm to our sits and sit still. When the plane lands safely onto the tarmac, skidding and gripping, we all rise in applause for the pilot (and add to that some praises).