CAN WE LEARN FROM BARACK OBAMA HOW TO RUN A CLEAN CAMPAIGN?

By Jerry Okungu

Barack Obama is causing some sort of tsunami with Democratic nominations in America, the first ever best performance by a black American in that country’s history.
Currently he is leading one of the most celebrated names in American politics; the Clinton family both in the number of delegates and states already in his bag. He has far out performed Reverend Jesse Jackson who made a bid for the oval office way back in 1984

Watching the American primaries on television, one gets the feeling that both commentators and candidates do not fear talking race, gender or age in the process.
If more women vote Hillary Clinton, poll watchers don’t fear saying so. If blacks and liberal young whites throng polling stations to vote their Barack Obama, poll watchers are quick to point out. To me this is the most innovative way of using demographics to dispel age old myths and prove that American politics has come along way.

For many years, Americans were made to believe that a Blackman was unelectable just like we were brainwashed to believe that a Luo was unelectable as the president of Kenya. Just like in Kenya, Americans have been made to believe that their John Wayne macho culture could not allow them to elect a woman president. Now there is a real possibility that the most powerful nation on earth may be led by either a Blackman or a woman. That is how American politics has evolved in the last two and a half centuries.

While we in Kenya are busy splitting hairs on how to deal with post election fiasco that has claimed more than a thousand lives with billions of shillings worth of goods and businesses destroyed, Americans are conducting their primaries in the most civilized manner. The multitudes thronging Obama, Hillary and McCain rallies are not goons armed with machetes, simis and stones to chop and blow off one another’s heads.
Hardly can anybody see the presence of uniformed and armed policemen with teargas in hand. Crowds attend rallies to listen to issues not insults and foul language.
Any candidate who veers out of the line gets instant rebuke. He gets booed there and then even by his party supporters. John McCain suffered that embarrassment once.
Now he watches every step he makes. He weighs ever word he utters.

The American campaign is a classic example of drama and theatre combined.
Speakers are fully prepared on issues and delivery. When on the podium, there is no room for stammering and guessing. Delivery has to be as poetic as poetry can be.
Catch phrases are the order of the day. There are punch lines galore. It is the art of speaking that keeps audiences glued on television sets nationwide. Live audiences wait anxiously for punch lines and respond appropriately. There are no hecklers and lay abouts ready to disrupt opponents’ rallies.


All contenders are courteous to one another whether absent or present. When they refer to their opponents, they start with the positives before they zero in on their weaknesses to demolish them with facts and truths. There are no lies that can fail the test of scrutiny because every one is watching every move or word that each candidate may make or utter.

Back in Africa, things are different. We bring too much negativity to the political competition. We never really appreciate our political opponents. We treat them as sworn enemies that we must destroy physically if we cannot beat them at the ballot box.
We take winning so seriously that we will go to any lengths to have our way.

If we cannot win, we will rig, steal or rob but we will not lose an election to our opponents. That is why we have introduced too much negative energy into an otherwise noble game. That is why we resort to burning our neighbors’ houses, chopping their heads or generally displacing them when we cannot beat them at the ballot box.

In a country like Togo in West Africa, I am told that they have perfected the art of rigging so much that the international observers never really have anything negative to report.

What the authorities do is to make sure that all telephone lines are either jammed or disconnected that day. Mobile phone networks, radio stations and TV networks would report power failures most of the day. On ballot day, no results would be released until they are counted at a central place by the electoral supervisors. The results they announce would be the first ever news of how the elections went. Once counting is finished there is little room for recounting and the winner is declared immediately.

Can we learn the art of clean politics from Barack Obama, a man who resonates well with us this side of the Atlantic since he still has his roots here? Can we try and do better than the last Kenyan and Nigerian elections by for once having free, fair and most importantly unrigged elections? Can Ghana, Somaliland, South Africa and Sudan show us the way in 2009?

Jerry Okungu
Media and Communications Consultant based in Nairobi
jerrykokungu@yahoo.com
By Jerry Okungu

Barack Obama is causing some sort of tsunami with Democratic nominations in America, the first ever best performance by a black American in that country’s history.
Currently he is leading one of the most celebrated names in American politics; the Clinton family both in the number of delegates and states already in his bag. He has far out performed Reverend Jesse Jackson who made a bid for the oval office way back in 1984

Watching the American primaries on television, one gets the feeling that both commentators and candidates do not fear talking race, gender or age in the process.
If more women vote Hillary Clinton, poll watchers don’t fear saying so. If blacks and liberal young whites throng polling stations to vote their Barack Obama, poll watchers are quick to point out. To me this is the most innovative way of using demographics to dispel age old myths and prove that American politics has come along way.

For many years, Americans were made to believe that a Blackman was unelectable just like we were brainwashed to believe that a Luo was unelectable as the president of Kenya. Just like in Kenya, Americans have been made to believe that their John Wayne macho culture could not allow them to elect a woman president. Now there is a real possibility that the most powerful nation on earth may be led by either a Blackman or a woman. That is how American politics has evolved in the last two and a half centuries.

While we in Kenya are busy splitting hairs on how to deal with post election fiasco that has claimed more than a thousand lives with billions of shillings worth of goods and businesses destroyed, Americans are conducting their primaries in the most civilized manner. The multitudes thronging Obama, Hillary and McCain rallies are not goons armed with machetes, simis and stones to chop and blow off one another’s heads.
Hardly can anybody see the presence of uniformed and armed policemen with teargas in hand. Crowds attend rallies to listen to issues not insults and foul language.
Any candidate who veers out of the line gets instant rebuke. He gets booed there and then even by his party supporters. John McCain suffered that embarrassment once.
Now he watches every step he makes. He weighs ever word he utters.

The American campaign is a classic example of drama and theatre combined.
Speakers are fully prepared on issues and delivery. When on the podium, there is no room for stammering and guessing. Delivery has to be as poetic as poetry can be.
Catch phrases are the order of the day. There are punch lines galore. It is the art of speaking that keeps audiences glued on television sets nationwide. Live audiences wait anxiously for punch lines and respond appropriately. There are no hecklers and lay abouts ready to disrupt opponents’ rallies.


All contenders are courteous to one another whether absent or present. When they refer to their opponents, they start with the positives before they zero in on their weaknesses to demolish them with facts and truths. There are no lies that can fail the test of scrutiny because every one is watching every move or word that each candidate may make or utter.

Back in Africa, things are different. We bring too much negativity to the political competition. We never really appreciate our political opponents. We treat them as sworn enemies that we must destroy physically if we cannot beat them at the ballot box.
We take winning so seriously that we will go to any lengths to have our way.

If we cannot win, we will rig, steal or rob but we will not lose an election to our opponents. That is why we have introduced too much negative energy into an otherwise noble game. That is why we resort to burning our neighbors’ houses, chopping their heads or generally displacing them when we cannot beat them at the ballot box.

In a country like Togo in West Africa, I am told that they have perfected the art of rigging so much that the international observers never really have anything negative to report.

What the authorities do is to make sure that all telephone lines are either jammed or disconnected that day. Mobile phone networks, radio stations and TV networks would report power failures most of the day. On ballot day, no results would be released until they are counted at a central place by the electoral supervisors. The results they announce would be the first ever news of how the elections went. Once counting is finished there is little room for recounting and the winner is declared immediately.

Can we learn the art of clean politics from Barack Obama, a man who resonates well with us this side of the Atlantic since he still has his roots here? Can we try and do better than the last Kenyan and Nigerian elections by for once having free, fair and most importantly unrigged elections? Can Ghana, Somaliland, South Africa and Sudan show us the way in 2009?

Jerry Okungu
Media and Communications Consultant based in Nairobi

jerrykokungu@yahoo.com