God Does Not Vote

Before I tell you why God does not and cannot vote, I must clarify which God I am talking about. Kenya today is polytheistic meaning we worship more than one God. The God each Kenyan worships is determined by which community or consortium of communities he comes from. By extension, it is also determined by which political party or coalition one supports.

We currently have two dominant Gods in Kenya. One “blesses” the Jubilee Party while the other one “uplifts” the NASA coalition. Christians are praying, fasting, and laying hands in the names of their respective Gods. Meanwhile, Atheists, whose number is fast growing in Kenya, seem to be the only ones practicing the impartiality that is being so emotionally preached by Christians.

“Good Leaders are from Above”

This was the phrase Kabogo (former Kiambu Governor) is said to have used every time he arrived at campaign rallies in his helicopter. The words are however used by many Christians after elections, to endorse politicians “on behalf of God”. They will go about in a frenzy blowing whistles and dancing on the streets claiming that God has given them a leader. This is notwithstanding the fact that they queued in long lines well before dawn to cast their vote for the new leader whose victory they now attribute to God. Supporters of the losing candidates will on the other hand be mourning the blockading of their leader’s descent from above by “agents of the devil”.

“Our God is Better than Yours”

Elections in this country always lay the stage for what I request to call the “Grand God Showdown”. They present an opportunity for various adherents of the different Gods to showcase what their God can do. The measure of these Gods’ power is in how many votes their God garners above those of the “visiting” God. The children of the winning God will tauntingly call out to the children of the lesser God asking them to do the “Christian” thing and cross over to the one true God’s side. The children of the losing God will reply, “Over our dead bodies!” and the winning God’s children will say, “Okay, that can also be arranged”.

The Third Dimension

I recently read an interesting article by a Bishop whose name and church I will not divulge (just to spite the stereo-typists amongst you). He was talking about how Kenyans think in two dimensions of “Us” Vs “Them”. He called this the dichotomy and described how dangerous it is. He then introduced the third dimension, which is the God dimension and called it the Trichotomy. The gist of the sermon is that God does not take sides. He is above all. 

Whoever you support politically is unimportant to God. All he needs is for you to know him and obey his commands. He will not vote on your behalf or tell you who to vote for. You will just have to use your common sense to do that.

The Supremacy of God

All candidates and voters belong to God. The earth and heaven belong to him as well. The politicians who we tend to love to the extent of worshiping them will still raise a bible as they take their oath of office. If they go to court for their petitions they will still raise their bible and ask God to help them. That God who these leaders stand in awe of, the one who speaks to their consciences as they plan to engage in corruption or unjustifiable war campaigns; that is the one true God and the one this Layman ascribes to.