This election period, numerous candidates have stepped forth, to contest for the big office. Hon. Uhuru Kenyatta was the first candidate to take centre stage, in an event that took place at the KICC and received massive media coverage. Then came Hon. Cyrus Jirongo, Charity Ngilu and most recently we had Peter Kenneth-aka PK ‘Tunawesmek’. Quite a handful I would say. But of all these candidates a choice has to be made.
This number is incredibly high, given that there are those who are aiming for the same, but haven’t declared it in ‘style’ as Hon. Peter et al. They remain silent, yet their eyes doggedly fixed on the top sit. Is it that we will be hearing from them soon or they simply do not match the financial muscle of their competitors? Well, being the good citizens that we are, we wait.
Ever since this ‘game’ began, every other Tom, Dick and Harry is as if they had an epiphany. And each thought if s/he can go for it, why not me? I too can become president. Well this is just me trying to think for them. I however started asking myself endless questions, but one was weighty. As a youth, where is my country headed to? Considering countries like the United States, Britain, Germany et al, candidates vying for the presidency do not add up to a football team, let alone basketball. But here we are, twelve less one, plus who knows how many will emerge. Yet these countries present very few candidates for presidency, yet they are worth emulation in every dimension, more so politically.
Looking at it critically, it is overwhelming. Finding the best candidate who will deliver can prove gruelling. It can be equated to finding a needle in a haystack. Not that it’s impossible, do not get me wrong. It is a matter of fact, possible; only that it will take time. For decisions to do with voting, require people to see with their inner eyes, listen with their inner ears and make sound judgements partially with their hearts but wholly with their brains.
It is what I will call, 98 percent brain work and 2 percent matters of the heart. That’s why I will delve into critical thinking as a tool to help us make this sound and eventually ‘correct’ decision, which we will not regret. Come what will. I have placed correct in quotes, because, it is subjective. A decision you deem correct, is not in any way correct to others. It is your own correct decision.
Opinions on the other hand are ours to express. As who you will vote for, is 100 percent your business. For at the end of the day, two people might vote for the same candidate, yet for entirely different reasons. Those are their opinions.
Look at it this way; you ask yourself of the candidates, who will I vote for? If you settle on candidate A, then there you are, decision made. But we have to be solid that we will not waver when shove comes to push. It is at this point that you ask the second most relevant bit of the question. Why A and not B? When coming up with various reasons as to why A, and not B backed up with relevant examples, then we are thinking critically. Simply put, critical thinking is convergent thinking.
Quoting a pedagogue, I deem very insightful and whose works I follow whenever I can, Professor Michael Giesen defines critical thinking as; ‘Evaluating evidence using logic and reason in order to help us make decisions.’ For instance, what has A done that puts him on edge, over B? What quality does A exhibit that B doesn’t stand a chance against?
Allow me to be candid for a while, having many candidates vying is not a good indicator. Given that some wounds haven’t yet healed and very great losses were exhibited during the 2007/8 post election violence. Quoting doctor Obala; ‘This coupled with the high complications emerging from the ICC case makes the forthcoming elections be a game of very high stakes.’ It signals more tension. But being the humans that we are; we are encouraged to always maintain some level of optimism.
Others cling on to skepticism, saying it enables them be more careful; I do not know about you, but personally, I choose to strike a balance. Nothing is in black and white nowadays. There’s is a shed of grey. Despite my level of optimism and skepticism we simply hope that nothing exhumes the past and brings it back to life. At the same time, gauge all the candidates to choose just the one who will not allow that past to relive again!
For that matter, critical thinking is the way to go. It is gruelling, mentally, to be precise. Thus, I will tackle a tool, called the decision matrix and how we can employ it in making our critical thinking a bit easier. It is an aide and accompanied by other cognitive processes then I bet you, you will be among those who made the ‘right’ choice despite the outcome.
This technique is not only used in deciding who to vote for, but its mastery can go a long way in making it easier to make decisions when planning, writing research projects and making other gold stand decisions. This can be while in school, at work or in the house. But for today, let it help us choose the next president of this wonderful country-Kenya. She deserves it.
The decision matrix according to business directory.com
Now having known that let us take our candidates, say A, B, C, D & E. Identifying our candidates is but one task. The second bit is choosing the qualities that we will use to vet them. These will be; performances, integrity, decisiveness, track record and educational background. These are but examples. You are at liberty to choose your own. And for each candidate per criteria, we have a scale of 1-5, with 5 being excellent,4 best,3 better,2 good and 1, poor.
It is from these two categories that we will form two columns, with candidates and criteria on the other hand, as below.
| Criteria | Performance | Integrity | Decisiveness | Track Record | Educational Background |
| Candidate | |||||
| A | 5 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 3 |
| B | 2 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 1 |
| C | 1 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 4 |
| D | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| E | 3 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
After you are done allotting the scales, per candidate per criteria (quality) you proceed to determine the weight. This is arrived at by summing up the totals horizontally for each candidate. The candidate that has a higher score in comparison with the rest emerges as your most preferred candidate.
For our case, the candidates A, B, C, D & E score 17,13,15,16 & 11 respectively. Placing A far better than the other candidates. It should be noted that, this qualities should be one’s own. And that, it is not some random scoring, but before you decide on what to award a candidate, deep in your mind you must have evidence to justify the award. It is not a matter of dishing out points. But having a reason to that further builds on your lager reason to make a decision.
Every race must come to an end. When the runner, crosses the finish line and tears the tape. ‘It is done,’ reverberates in their minds. Some visualize the national anthem singing, gold medal on their necks and crowds chanting their names: a true mark of victory. Yet it wasn’t that easy. So many things transpired, before clinching that medal. The same is true for politics. Though, amidst the campaigns, rallies and other persuasive ploys we are subjected to, ours is to make a decision. One that will make or break the yet to be born future. At first it will be daunting, but employing this method, then you have one foot in the house. Getting along with it to the end, you have both feet in the house.
Make that decision, despite the numbers. Be wise, be Kenyan!
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