If only Kenyan elections were like these...

Last night, I sat up patiently and waited to listen to the final pre-election debate between McCain and Obama. While I admit I was half asleep when it began, I found myself paying attention to what McCain was saying, how Obama was sitting smilingly next to him, taking punches, even as McCain threw harder punches. I wondered at the way the election campaigns were being monitored and how, even a single pause or blink caused the polls to take a dive/dip. Everytime Obama stammered on a word, the graphic lines representing the undecided votes from both males and females dropped, when McCain was trying to swim out of a difficult spot by bullshitting, the dip was so huge. And when both spoke honestly and cadidly about issues, the graphs reached the upper limit.

Watching this, I began nightdreaming about the possibilities it held for African Countries, where physical brawls and public humiliation of opponents was still very much the name of the game. What if we started seeing elections as a platform for allowing citizens to decide on what they wanted, rather than using it as an opportunity to bribe, cheat, humiliate, fight, be abusive, or whatever else African leaders are always upto during such times? It is still a dream in Africa that we will achieve the state that USA takes for granted, where election capmpaigns are organized and the battles do not have to involve or rbuise the public, where citizens still have a large amount of power, and where presidents (potential) are taken to task about their manifestos...

Its a dream world, but a good one nonetheless.