365 QUESTIONS TO THE BALLOT BOX
The countdown clock at the election headquarters clicked down to exactly 365 days. There was one year left until the General Election. Outside, the city of Nairobi was full of nervous energy. A tense electioneering period was starting. At a busy bus station in Downtown Nairobi, 34-year-old Osoro adjusted the mirror of his 14-seater minibus, nicknamed The Future. Painted on the back was a new slogan: The Youth Vote is Not for sale. "One year left, Osoro," shouted Marcus, a driver from a rival route. "Are you ready for the drama?" "The drama has been here for months, Marcus," Osoro replied, tapping his steering wheel. "But this time, we aren’t just cheering from the sidelines. We are calling the plays." Osoro belonged to a large network of young entrepreneurs and digital content creators seeking to influence voting patterns of the youth. For years, they watched the same old politicians change alliances. But 2026 was different. The hard economic times had forced new political spaces open. This year, young people did not care about political personalities. Instead, they cared about food prices, digital taxes, and tech jobs. A few kilometers away, inside a high-tech digital room in Kilimani sat Malik, a senior strategist for the ruling government party, stared at a wall of screens. The monitors showed real-time data from TikTok and X. Suddenly, a red alert flashed on his screen. "Sir," one of Malik’s colleagues said quickly. "The SisiNiNumbers hashtag just passed two million views. They are sharing a public audit on the cost of living." Malik rubbed his temples. In the past, campaigning was simple. You just made alliances with local leaders, hosted big stadium rallies, distributed free t-shirts, and won the votes. But now, more than half of the voters were under thirty, and they lived online. "Run our counter-story," Malik ordered. "Talk about our big road projects in the West and Central Kenya." "We tried, sir," the analyst replied quietly. "They replied with drone videos of the many other stalled road projects." The war was on in digital spaces that looked likely to influence the coming polls. In Mombasa, Chef Yusuf looked out at his crowded restaurant. Political workers from a political rally sat at separate tables. They all ordered his famous coastal food while loudly promising to improve the business sector. Yusuf just smiled and focused on his cooking fire. He knew that for the next year, everyone would be hungry for power and so, promises would keep on coming but for him, his work took priority. In his sitting room in Bungoma, Sikhole watched TV with so many election stories focused on political alignments just one year away from elections. For him, there were more than 365 questions in mind regarding that election. His mind raced. How different would it be? Are these political alignments not only for power hungry politicians? Would there be a digital influence by the youth? Would the youth vote or just keep making noise on social media? Will any Presidential candidate be strong enough to remove Ruto? Do alternative voices have meaningful agendas? How about the church? Will the church again be used as a mobilizing platform? Will we ever have a leader that does not lose trust after elections? Sikhole could not answer most of the questions, but he hoped that the future would be better for future generations.
Back in Nairobi, Osoro drove ‘The Future’ through the thick evening traffic. His phone buzzed with a notification from the SisiNiNumbers app. It showed a digital countdown clock that matched the official election clock. 364 days, 23 hours, 59 minutes.
He later parked his minibus in his CBD pick up point for the last trip as he looked at the crowd of commuters rushing home. The long walk to the voting booth had officially begun.
©Stephen Mungai
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