US Elections: Kenyan students in America take vital lessons

The recently concluded US elections are a sharp contrast to what Kenyans have had for donkey years.

For Kenyan students in the US, being in the US in an election year was insightful.

According to Daily Nation, the Kenyans student had much to learn from the debacle pitting Donald Trump (Republican) against Joe Biden (Democrat) who is now the US President-elect.

“People here are organised, calm and they show up at rallies to listen without disruption,” he said, adding that political rallies in the US have smaller crowds compared to those in Kenya. They also mostly take place on weekends or after working hours,” Peter Oluoch, a Biomedical Sciences PhD student at UMass Medical School in Worcester, Massachusetts said.

Oluoch adds that American democracy exhibits a lot of “maturity”.

Maureen Ojiambo, a Media and Journalism student in her comparison said US party politics are issue-centred unlike in Kenya.

 “I haven’t seen politicians use young people to cause violence just because a contest is heated…The electorate is not lured using new roads, wheelbarrows or new stadiums,” the Wisconsin-based student averred.

Drawing an example on Biden’s victory, she said that he won because Americans have decided to wipe away the shame that came with a Republican administration.

Alex Wagikuyu, a Masters in Finance student at Clark University, Massachusetts observed that the American youth are informed and support candidates who have sound policies that will help them in future.

“Because of the low unemployment rates here, youths are not easily manipulated by the political class,” Ojiambo further told Daily Nation.

For the media, Wagikuyu drew comparison saying that the US outlets hold candidates of political offices to account over their performances in past positions. They are not intimidated or threatened like is the case with Kenya.

Another takeaway, especially from Kenyan students in Massachusetts, is that it was mostly quiet even during the campaign period.

Compared to their motherland Kenya, this was such an amazing thing to experience.

Wagikuyu and Ojiambo both agree that Biden was a good choice especially because he does not hold a tough stand like Trump when it comes to anti-immigration issues.

Another lesson was that democracy and a political class that respects the Constitution leads to excellence.

“Even the way they express their dissatisfaction is so good, no much disruption to normalcy.”

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