Torn Apart: BOYD PHIRI
ELECTIONS have come to pass. Obviously, it has been a good experience for some young people who were voting for the first time.
It has also been a good experience for young people who were aspiring for elective office – whether they won or lost.
I remember how one youth was excited to register as a voter and looked forward to the prospect of voting for the first time.
Of course, he can now congratulate himself for being part of the process of choosing his leaders.
As you know, there are many problems in the hood which residents want their leaders to address.
This is why now you have the ‘Boma iyanganepo’ expression in the hood, which literally means ‘Government should address our problems’.
I am sure you have heard people in the hood saying “Kuno kwa George tilibe vimbuzi (toilets), boma inyanganepo,’ meaning, “Here in George township we do not have toilets. Government should address this problem”.
Oddly, in some of these townships some people are subjected to walking long distances to access toilets.
Little wonder some people conveniently patronise tarvens and bars, not out of choice, but to waylay toilets – which sometimes comes at a greater cost than fee paying toilets because they have to buy a beverage or bulk beer not to expose themselves as toilet seekers.
Bar tenders, in some instances, keep keys and only give them out to people they have seen buying something, including cigarettes and groundnuts.
Of course, walking long distance to access a toilet is not the same as walking long distance to fetch water, although the two challenges fall in the category of water and sanitation.
But whatever the problem, residents in the hood want to make sure that they have credible leaders to address their problems.
The agony is to hear that your presidential candidate did not vote because of not having a national registration card (NRC).
Yet he was expecting to be voted for by other NRC card-carrying members of the public.
How amusing! To deprive oneself of such a big opportunity to vote after spending money on campaigns seems a great waste of resources.
Actually, I am not surprised, because the presidential candidate only resurfaces during elections.
These are seasonal politicians, meaning at times, they are out of season and thus cannot remember where they keep their NRCs, let alone voter’s cards.
I can also imagine how disappointed those who woke up very early to vote for that particular presidential candidate must have felt, when, after voting, they realized the person they wanted to get into the highest office in the land had no NRC after all.
This is not to say that the candidate lost his NRC in the hood while campaigning, but the thing is, he can’t remember where he put the card.
If it got lost in the hood, I am sure residents would find it and stick it at a market notice board for the owner to get it – that is if he would have reason to go back to the hood now that the elections are over.
The last time, he was seen in the hood was in 2015 when he came to campaign as a presidential candidate for his party.
From that time residents in the hood did not see him until now, which is why on voting day they did not even see his national registration card.
The said presidential candidate may not have been alone in this scenario because there could have been others vying for Parliament, mayoral, council positions who found themselves in such an awkward situation.
Of course, unlike the presidential candidate who was caught on camera by virtue of being a high-profile person, aspirants for Parliament, mayoral, council positions got off the hook because none was monitoring them.
While voters braved long queues to cast their ballots, they were probably sleeping or sipping some wines, spirits, lagers waiting to hear how many votes have been attributed to them.
However, it’s time to wait for results. Maintain peace.
bjboydphiri@yahoo.com