What Girls Want from the Kenyan Election

Tomorrow (August 8th) is election day in Kenya; citizens will soon be at the polls casting votes for their local and national representatives. The Presidential run between sitting President Uhuru Kenyatta and leading rival Raila Odinga has been brutally tight, with the country nearly evenly split.

The Daraja student body, which hails from every corner of Kenya, holds political views as diverse as its country’s. But the student body is united in two feelings: fear of election violence, and frustration with politicians who exploit tribalism for votes. Some students are more confident than others about a peaceful election, citing the vastly improved conditions between tomorrow’s election and the brutal election violence of 2007. But others on campus, and in Kenya at large, are more nervous.

Regardless of the election outcome, the Daraja girls hope that Kenya’s elected politicians will be good leaders who will serve the people. I asked the Daraja girls what they thought made a good leader. One student responded that “a good politician is a person of integrity, who is honest, respectful, doesn’t discriminate and works to unite people.” Another said that “a good politician is not just a person of words but of actions who works to follow through on his/her promises to better serve the people.” Daraja Academy hopes that Kenya’s election will be characterized by peace, and its results by a decline in corruption.

The Daraja girls are working to improve and educate themselves in order to better serve their communities, and their country. It’s the eve of an election, but perhaps also the eve of a generation of newly educated girls taking their power and leading the change they know to be important.

By next election cycle, you might just be casting your ballot for a Daraja girl!