For the Dream on 5 Years: Chapter Six: Our Person

Election month was approaching, and people were travelling to their voting places to vote for their favourite person to lead them for the next couple of years. The current regime has been accused of corruption, injustices, theft of public funds, and extrajudicial killings. According to the polls, over 70% of the population was dissatisfied with the regime's leadership. Dave would be enraged! "What polls? Fake polls!" he would say. Campaigns were all over the place, and over five candidates were eyeing the throne. However, there were only two major candidates, the sitting president and the opposition leader. The polls were ranking them at the top. Nevertheless, the gap was massive and outrageous compared to what was evident on the ground. One time, the opposition leader held a rally in the city, and almost a million people attended, chanting, the change we want! Although Dave did not attend these rallies physically, he would 'spiritually'; he would say. "Why don't you attend these rallies instead of getting glued to the TV when they happen and later get frustrated when the government causes the power blackout," Michelle would ask. "These are the foot soldiers, for now. We are the foot soldiers in the social media platform at the moment, a time is coming when we will merge, and it will be epic," he would say, still glued to the TV, pacing in the living room, elated over the progress of the campaigns. There was too much hope that the opposition would take over, but the tricky question was how to dethrone a sitting president. There was no sitting president ousted in the past; Michelle knew this but couldn't break Dave's heart with such a fact. The voting outcome was trusted to give justice to the population. Or at least they thought. "I hope you can travel home because the city might be unsafe during and after the elections," Michelle told Dave while packing her suitcase ready to travel to her home. She had never changed her polling station since she became an eligible voter because she needed to be part of deciding the leaders of her home area. Dave kept telling her that it wasn't her home anymore since she was now married. Still, she didn't change her polling station to be a city voter or a voter at the lakeside, her new home. "I told you I must stay behind just in case there will be a revolution. I want to be in the front line to dethrone Mr. Freeman. Freeman, my foot! He should be called Mr. Corruption, or better yet, Mr. Injustice. I want Mike to have a better future in a robust economy even if it costs my blood," replied Dave helping Michelle fold some of Mike's clothes. "I am done convincing you, but ensure you don't die. We need you," said Michelle. "No, you don't, darling; you are a strong woman. I know Mike has a mother who can protect and educate him; my lineage will continue because you are powerful, Michelle. Never forget that, my love. You are not weak; you are both you and me for Mike," he said, cupping Michelle's face with his big warm hands and planting a gentle kiss on her forehead. "Please, I don't want to hear such things, especially now that I'm travelling. Did your father die for you and leave your mom to be both 'him' and 'her'? Please, spare me. Please don't you die. I forbid you, Dave. So many people have been killed in these rallies, and nothing but misery will happen in their houses. If you want to be a hero, be there for Mike and I. That will be enough for us," said Michelle. Dave did not want to start an argument with her, so he signed off with "You are strong, Michelle. More than you think, more than we see you." Dave drove them into town, where they took a bus to the countryside. There were still some days before the elections, and Michelle avoided watching the TV at all costs. They constantly talked with Dave over Skype and phone calls. This always eased Michelle's mind to know that Dave hadn't involved himself in something bad like a cult or a gang back in the city, considering how chaotic things were in the country. The news was full of gangs and cults, threatening people if they didn't vote for their preferred candidate. "Do we have a government in this country or what?" Dave would wonder. The people of his tribe fully supported Mr. Freeman and were confident that he would take the throne. Additionally, going with the polls, he mainly was leading even days before the elections. BBC and CNN had conducted several interviews with him because he appeared to be the country's favourite. It was said that the sitting president had the backing of people from his tribe alone because he was making their business atmosphere more favourable than the rest of the tribes. Michelle came from the tribe of the sitting president, and she too knew the challenges that most people in the country faced because she had a first-hand experience by marrying someone "from the other side." Before meeting Dave, she was accustomed to voting "our person," but now she had a different opinion based on an unbiased viewpoint when analyzing policies. ****** The voting day was very chilly. Michelle and her mom left the house very early to make it while the queues were not yet ridiculously long before masses turned up and made it a nightmare. They arrived at the polling station just before dawn to find thousands of people. At around noon, they cast their votes and headed for home. Michelle had not contacted Dan because she did not want him to know she was around. She had things to worry about, Dave in the city, alone and with a burning desire to dethrone a man millions had failed to beat. On their way home, she saw Dan with some guys on the road, supposedly going to vote or strolling around after successfully casting their votes. Michelle adjusted her cap to conceal her identity until they passed them. On the other hand, Dave cast his vote as early as nine in the morning because he was at the station around three in the night. She had called to wake Michelle up, but Michelle said they couldn't go in the dark because it was dangerous at night in the countryside. Dave met thousands of people in the station at three, who practically spent the night there waiting for the stations to open. Dave was already home by ten o'clock, keeping Michelle company over the phone since they were not in the same queue as the mom. "Hey love, just a by the way, who is your candidate?" asked Dave on the other end of the phone. Michelle laughed and told him that that was private information. They laughed it off. All along, Michelle wanted to vote for Mr. Amos. Could it be because Dave was drunk with the idea that Amos would bring changes in the country or because he was truly capable of it? Could it be because she felt pity for Dave and wanted his wishes to come true? Could her vote do the magic? She wondered. She had bought into Amos' policies and had made up her mind to vote him in. "Who are you voting for, now that you are married to the other side," her mom had asked. Just like she did with Dave, she laughed it off, saying it was private information. Was she ashamed to have betrayal thoughts of going against their way of life? Of consistently voting back their "persons" even when it did not necessarily make sense? She wondered. She pondered the thought of putting her mark against Amos' face picture while Freeman would be looking at her in his photo, probably above Amos' in the voting sheet. He would be wide grinning as if to say to her, "You know what to do, my sister; we vote our person and remain powerful." She thought. She wondered what power she had since birth because most regimes came from her tribe. She worked from home, writing magazine articles and offering online classes to some private schools in the city for tuition purposes. She had looked for work after her undergraduate, and no one employed her. She did her master's and thought, “I would be marketable if I upgrade my education.” Still, nothing came forth; she was doing her Ph.D., hoping she would be absorbed in a government office. Her student loans were crippling her. She had to find something to do to pay her bills and loans. Even after the farmers were promised better pay during every campaign, her mother was still paid pennies for the tea. The roads from the city to her home were a joke. The schools and the hospitals...practically everything was in a sorry state. So, how had voting "our person" helped? She wondered. If at all there was still something left to convince her anything about voting Freeman in, it was over. She had made her decision as she had made a few months ago, and it was time to vote out "our person." She was still buried in her thoughts when she realized it was her turn to enter the classroom, which had broken windows and blackboard, the classroom she would use to cast her vote. It solidified her decision. "How could anyone bring her child in such a class, where, when it rained, the poor pupils had to cluster in the middle to escape the rain freely falling into the classroom through the broken windows? The teachers suffocate inside a tiny staff room chatting about how they are raring cows and chicken to supplement their meager salaries?" She wondered. She remembered how ridiculous her teachers used to dress because they couldn't afford suitable clothing, yet they were working for the government, the "our person” government. One teacher, in particular, would come to school in Reebok shoes Monday to Monday, with mismatched trousers and jackets, like he had borrowed them from different people who owned a suit, one giving him a trouser, while the other a jacket. This particular teacher was very competent in his work, children used to make fun of him, but now, Michelle understood what it would have been like for him and his family. With the little pay from the government, he would strive to take care of his wife and three children. Enrolling his children in the same school he taught made no difference. There were still books to be bought, feet to be placed on the table when they went home, clothes to be bought, healthcare and when they would go to high school, even more problems because now, he would pay school fees for every single one of them. He would have nothing left to upgrade his education, venture into private investment, or give his wife to start a business. However, he would be eligible for a small loan, further trapping him. To keep up with the pressures of social standards, he would use the small loan to build a brick house, like the other teachers. Then, he would sink into a giant hole, that of leaving a life of hand to mouth, like the other teachers, like the other countrymen, and then, he would still vote "our person" in the hopes he would make things better the following year. Maybe pay him better so he could clear his loans and enroll his children in a better private school, start a business for his wife and enroll her into a good ICT college, buy her a car and take her on vacation at the coast where she always wished they had their honeymoon. He would change his wardrobe, go back to school and do what he wanted to do, aerospace engineering, which he forwent because it was expensive. The funds from all the fundraising held by his parents could only be enough to afford an education diploma from a local teaching college, despite passing very well in his KCSE. "Madam! ID Please!" yelled the woman who had been trying to get Michelle's attention in the polling station. "Oh, I'm sorry, I was lost in thought," she apologized, handing her the ID. "Oh, spare me; give me your voting cards and sign here," the woman retorted, pointing into a place she had marked 'X.' She was probably hungry because it was almost lunchtime, and she had the intuitive feeling that she would have to demonstrate in a few weeks to demand her pay after the exercise was long done. It had happened to all the others before her. She probably had no money for lunch, and she was exhausted already. Michelle did not blame her.