SourceTaught well by the master: How we learnt the best way to steal elections
Elections are best rigged well before the ballots are cast. In Kenya, electoral thievery is as old as the hills. I doubt we’ve had many fair elections since we got the ballot in 1957.
Rigging is the absence of the equality of the vote. If your vote matters more, or less, than that of the next person, that’s rigging.
My concept of democracy is probably not Jeffersonian: I believe the sovereign power of a nation resides in the people, not in its hills and valleys. It is shared equally among all. It is the people who delegate that power to a government in an election. That’s why that argument about one-kilometre one-vote is a piece of political nonsense.
We got the vote 54 years ago. Before then, it was assumed such a decision was too difficult for Africans, we weren’t “ready”.
The colonial government was not hot on democracy; at that time, the concept of majority rule was a joke.
I mean, 55,000 settlers were represented in the Legislative Council by 16 elected members, 15 appointed ones and seven ex-officios while six million Africans had all of eight MPs.
A clever old man with a phenomenal grasp of history told me that at least 85 per cent of the African elite supported colonialism. It is the great unwashed masses that were nationalistic.
The colonial government knew this and in the 1950s it resolved to create a class system that would preserve the colonial edifice, many years into the future.
In central Kenya, where there had been a rebellion, that elite was supposed to “become the anchor of the tribe, the solid yeoman farmer, the land owner who knows he has too much to lose if he flirts, however slightly, with the passions of his nationalistic friends”.
The election of March 10, 1957, took to the political sphere the economic experiment.
A clever colonial servant, Mr Walter Coutts, was appointed to devise an electoral system that would buttress the collaborationists and stamp down on independence talkers.
He was, in effect, requested to find a way of loading the dice, making the playing field uneven and generally keeping the Mau Mau-loving masses in their place.
Africans were shackled by Emergency laws. Their political organisations couldn’t cover more than one district.
A constituency then was the size of the current province. They required permission to hold meetings, at which the police were free to record speeches.
But the beauty was this colonialists’ concept of franchise: Africans were not to vote on the basis of universal adult suffrage.
And it was not going to be one-man, one-vote. Some would have one vote, others two and others three.
The average 21-year-old African jackass could vote; but he could get more votes if he satisfied the following seven conditions: If he had an annual income of £120 (average annual income in the colony was £25), if he had long service in the government or councils, if he had been awarded medals or other honours, if he had held a job or been in business for a long time, if he had secondary education or a university degree. All these earned you more votes.
And if you were from the KEM areas (euphemism for the Mau Mau hotbeds of Kikuyu, Embu and Meru), then you needed a loyalty certificate, not only to run for election, but also to vote.
To get that certificate, you had to prove that you “loyally and actively supported the government during the Emergency”. In other words, this election was only open to collaborators.
The government was particularly keen to get rid of Mr Eliud Mathu, the representative for Central Kenya.
Their favoured candidate was Mr Bernard Mate, whose loyalties the colonialists had greater faith in.
Mr Mate played a part, according to my history adviser, in the tribalism project the governor was spearheading.
The colonialist, with the help of compliant Africans, whipped up quite a bit of ethnic passions in Meru, culminating in a meeting by the governor himself, at some point in 1954.
The colonial government issued loyalty certificates in Meru with a rare generosity.
By the election, there were more voters in Meru than the rest of Central Province put together: Embu, Nyeri, Kirinyaga, Kiambu, Murang’a, the works. Thus, Mr Mate became the LegCo member for Central Province.
And that’s how we learnt how to steal elections.
where is Meru?
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where is Meru?
Last edited by The_Patriot on Sat Sep 24, 2011 12:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: where is Meru?
And if you were from the KEM areas (euphemism for the Mau Mau hotbeds of Kikuyu, Embu and Meru), then you needed a loyalty certificate, not only to run for election, but also to vote.
To get that certificate, you had to prove that you “loyally and actively supported the government during the Emergency”. In other words, this election was only open to collaborators.
The government was particularly keen to get rid of Mr Eliud Mathu, the representative for Central Kenya.
Their favoured candidate was Mr Bernard Mate, whose loyalties the colonialists had greater faith in.
Mr Mate played a part, according to my history adviser, in the tribalism project the governor was spearheading.
The colonialist, with the help of compliant Africans, whipped up quite a bit of ethnic passions in Meru, culminating in a meeting by the governor himself, at some point in 1954.
The colonial government issued loyalty certificates in Meru with a rare generosity.
By the election, there were more voters in Meru than the rest of Central Province put together: Embu, Nyeri, Kirinyaga, Kiambu, Murang’a, the works. Thus, Mr Mate became the LegCo member for Central Province.
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Re: where is Meru?



Re: where is Meru?
Who left the cage door open?
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Re: where is Meru?
^^your sister 

Re: where is Meru?
She wasn't on duty, it was her day off.Meru wrote:^^your sister
Who ever it was they have some explaining to do.
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Re: where is Meru?
i dont have time for insults,today is sunday thus a holy day for me pick another day i wil be ready
Re: where is Meru?
Ok. just don't forget to include us in your prayer.
Our Father which art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done in earth,
as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those
who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil:
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
forever and ever.
Amen.
the lord's prayer - matthew 6:9-13 - jesus
Our Father which art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done in earth,
as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those
who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil:
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
forever and ever.
Amen.
the lord's prayer - matthew 6:9-13 - jesus
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Re: where is Meru?
Meru wacha kubadilisha topic , just admit wameru walikuwa vibaraka vya ukoloni.Meru wrote:![]()
now you see why we meru and kikuyu are addicted to rigging election. a good article,the british loved the meru most and considered us to be superior to all other kenyans including somalis

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Re: where is Meru?
you cant say that,even somalis fought for the british in the wars,so pia hao ni vibaraka?
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Re: where is Meru?
But you see NFD had been in a state of emergency even post independence.Meru wrote:you cant say that,even somalis fought for the british in the wars,so pia hao ni vibaraka?
meaning there was insurgence.
somalis that fought for the Brits were not substantial.
You see even though a section was used to crack down on MAU MAU but there was another section supplying/smuggling weapons to the MAU MAU.
But it seems Merus on the other hand were collaborators.
Tell me of any Meru freedom fighter? hope you dont say John Kiriamiti

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Re: where is Meru?
Most ferocious MAU MAU were Meru,Field marshal Musa Mwariama and General Baimunge Marete. google pliz,And No Meru was captured in the war.
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