Substituting Democracy In Migori County Elections; Considering Epistocracy
Over 150 years since Mill advocated for democratic model when there was none, we now have it; probably the most popular model of governance. Not everything about it is accurate. He posited that democratic governance would enable the common mwananchi's (citizen) intellectual and moral values, however, the common political engagements associated with democracy tends to stultify and corrupt mwananchi than ennoble.
Another economist, Joseph Schumpeter complains that "typical citizen drops down to a lower level of mental performance as soon as he enters the political field...he becomes a primitive again".
Whereas John Stuart Mill sees direct societal involvement in politics as ennoblement of mwananchi, Schumpeter views it as an opening to a more politically ignorant and primitive society.The question may be answered by looking at the societal response to politics.
Species of Democratic Citizens
In his book Against Democracy Jason Brennan argues against the popular notion that democracy is the best form of government that empowers the citizens and makes them more informed and civically engaged. According to Brennan democracy has made us irrational and ignorant.
In making his case that democracy is not working well enough to justify its continuance, he grouped democratic citizens into three groups; hobbits, hooligans and vulcans.
Hobbits are mostly apathetic and ignorant about politics. they lack strong, fixed opinions about most political issues. They are ignorant of current events. That they have only a cursory knowledge of relevant world or national history and prefer to go on with their daily lives without giving politics much thought. The typical nonvoter in Kenya is a hobbit.
Hooligans tend to know more than hobbits do. They are political fanatics with fixed political worldviews. They can present arguments for their beliefs but they cannot offer an alternative points of view which one would find satisfactory. Hooligans receive political information in a biased way. They seek information that confirm their preexisting opinions but evade and ignore those that contradict their opinions; cherry-pick data and tend to learn about research that support their own views. Hooligans are overconfident in themselves and what they know, their political opinion form part of their identity and are proud to be members of the political teams they belonging to (NASA or Jubilee) matters to their self image. They despise people who disagree with them holding that people with different worldviews are stupid, evil, selfish, or misguided.
Vulcans think scientifically and rationally about politics. Their opinions are strongly grounded in social science and philosophy. They are self-aware and only as confident as the evidence allows. Vulcans can explain contrary views in a way that people who hold those views would find satisfactory. They are interested in politics, but at the same time, dispassionate, in part because they are actively trying to avoid being biased and irrational. They do not think everyone who disagrees with them is stupid, evil, selfish or misguided.
Migori County Voters Politically Ignorant?
Sadly, the vast majority of in Migori County are a combination of Hobbits and Hooligans. We often lack the political knowledge and what we know we analyse in a biased way. We act as political fans who cheer instead of seeking the truth into various political decisions we make or potentially make.
The root cause of the problem is rational ignorance that there is so little chance that an individual vote will make a difference, the voters have little incentive to either acquire relevant knowledge or keep biases under control. Voters who are ignorant and bias are susceptible preys of unscrupulous politicians, ideologies and interest groups especially during election time like we are now expecting Senate by-election.
As I type this article, majority of voters armed for the process in October have no idea the role of the senate, let alone who the previous senator was. We are busy politicking who among the candidates is best suited for the role and what not yet the basic reason for voting or not voting a candidate is missing. Why are we even going to vote?
We may as a county vote in whomever we deem fit and qualified to represent matters of the County at the senate but we may not guarantee that he will rule effectively if we lack the basic political knowledge. If we know little or nothing about the government, it becomes difficult to hold political leaders accountable for their performances. Unfortunately, our ailing Migori County's public knowledge is disturbingly low. We need intervention to correct this situation.
Need for Intervention: Ushering Epistocracy in Migori County Politics.
We cannot fix this problem of voters ignorance because it is an in-built feature of democracy. So maybe it is time to consider an alternative to democracy called epistocracy. Epistocracy means the rule of the knowledgeable. More precisely, a regime is epistocratic when political powers are distributed according to competence, skill, and the good faith to act on that skill. In epistocracy, voting power is widespread, but votes are weighted: More knowledgeable citizens' vote count more. (Jason Brennan)
Thousands of years ago, Plato worried that a democratic electorate would be too dumb, irrational and ignorant to govern well. He seemed to argue that the best form of government would be rule by a noble wise philosopher king. Contemporary political philosophers would label Plato an epistocrat as he advocates for rule of the knowledgeable.
It is true democracy has made us dumb and too irrational to choose the best suited leaders. We make decisions based on leaders wealth and influence even if we don't receive any services we remain loyal to these poor leadership. I won't budge in this regard and mention that my own constituency Suna East led by Junet Mohamed is poorly performing, notwithstanding the fact that he would mop the floor with any candidate who might run against him at any moment- reminds me of "A Man of the People" by Chinua Achebe.
ODM unconsciously enforcing features of Epistocracy in Migori County:
After the promulgation of the new dispensation Constitution of Kenya 2010, the political climate in cosmopolitan regions of Nyanza faced a lot of political challenges especially between the electorate and the popular parties when a preferred candidates of the parties are challenged by candidates popular with the people. The parties (ODM especially) was inclined to negotiate places of their candidates in order to accommodate both the needs of the people and their own.
This situation occurred in 2013 General Elections where some seats were allocated a given community after it was apparent that if candidates were to vie on equal footing, the popular among the people would floor all those preferred by the party.
Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) since has exercised these negotiations under the label negotiated democracy. In every election the party has selected preferred candidates and imposed on the population who go ahead and elect the selected (nominated by the party). Recently, The ODM's Elections Board nominated Dr. Ochilo Ayacko as its preferred candidate after consultations and a mini-election among few members of the party who know "better". This however isn't a negotiated democracy.
Features of Epistocracy;
Restricted suffrage; This feature involves a competence test of suitability to make well informed decisions before voting.
Plural Voting; Every citizen has a right to vote but those who are well informed and deemed suitable to vote have additional vote.
Enfranchisement lottery; This feature by default deprives all citizens the right to vote except those who have earned the right to vote but only if they participate in a competence-building exercise e.g deliberate forum with fellow citizens.
Epistocratic Veto; All laws are passed through a democratic procedure via a democratic body. An epistocratic body with restricted membership, though, retains the right to veto rules passed by the democratic body.
Weighted voting/ government by Simulated Oracle; Every citizen has a right to vote but must take quiz based on political knowledge at the same time. Their votes are weighted based on their political knowledge.
ODM might not have applied unconsciously all these features but the manner in which it has handled elections in Migori County over the past years, epistocracy is evident in the following ways:
Enfranchisement Lottery & Truth and Knowledge Tenet.
The party acted as a group of citizens who provide unbiased in-depth information relevant to an election on behalf of Migori County electorates. We can think of this party as a jury system. Where it is important that we do not accept making decisions that are highly publicized trials by a vote of general public; we nominate only people fully informed of the facts and relevant arguments put forward in an trial that make important judgment.
In simpler terms the party at the apex has acted as a clique of the well informed and presumably deems itself more reliable than the ordinary Migori County electorate.Hence believes it has every correct answer to the afflictions that affect the people of Migori County.
Epistocratic Veto & Restricted Suffrage.
During the party primaries towards the General Elections, it has occurred that some candidates win the democratic process they are subjected to however they fail to serve in those positions as result of subsequent "electoral losses" inflicted by the knowledgeable ODM Elections Board.
The electorate in this case are allowed to exercise their democratic right however the ODM Election Board reserves the power to veto the election in favour of the candidate it prefers.
Authority Tenet.
By exercising the ability to veto and knowledge of what is right for Migori electorates, in other words ODM Elections Board sends electorates of Migori County the message that:
"When you are morally unreasonable, ignorant, or incompetent about politics, this justifies not permitting you to exercise political authority over others. It justifies either forbidding you from holding power or reducing the power you have in order to protect innocent from your incompetence" (Jason Brennan)
Is Migori County Ready for Active Democracy?; A right to be Protected from Incompetent Electorates?
Reference to Nomination of Ochilo Ayacko by the ODM Elections Board.
Paradoxically I found myself asking the question are we ready for democracy notwithstanding practicing it.
We have all the rights to exercise democratic rights entrenched in the constitution but the ills that come with democracy, it's not time we actively got involved in it baring in mind fatal accidents for leaders we have elected when we were given the opportunity to exercise it. So my answer is a resounding NADA!
We have so far elected under performing, corrupt, disgraceful leaders.We have incompetent and unreasonable people as our bosses, thanks to politically ignorant voters.
I am not however ushering an era of political inequality where I discriminate against a group of people therein inhibiting their political rights, no. Jason Brennan talks of many take it as an unquestionable, nonnegotiable axiom that everyone ought to have an equal share of political power. Unequal political power is a marker of injustice. He has a point because we all have the right to vie for seats of our choices and vote in candidates of our choosing, plus, we also need to be protected from discrimination based on illiteracy, sex,age, marriage, poverty and so forth.
That said, even if these inequalities are unjust, it does not mean that political inequality is inherently (wholesomely) unjust. even if some are excluded from holding political power for bad reasons, there might be good reasons to exclude some people from holding power or grant them smaller share of political power.
Jason Brennan uses an analogy to explain above discussion. He states that just because we should exclude citizens from driving because they are gay or atheist or Dalits does not mean that all the restrictions on the legal right to drive are unjust because there might be just reasons to forbid some people from driving, such as that they are incompetent drivers who impose too much risk on others when they drive.
He proceeds that countries used to exclude citizens from holding power for bad reasons, such as they were black, female, or didn't own land. but though this was unjust, it remains open that there could be good grounds for restricting or reducing some citizens' powers. Perhaps some citizens are incompetent participants who impose too much risk on others when they participate. Perhaps some of us have a right to be protected from their incompetence.
I believe that the decision by the ODM Elections Board to nominate Dr. Ochilo Ayacko as the Party's candidate, therein according him an undue advantage was in the best interest of the County; towards protecting its inhabitants from incompetence that might be associated with other less qualified candidates. (I mean no disrespect to other candidates: Peter Jobando, Ogolla Ogolla, David Osiany, Eddy Oketch et al.)
Conclusion:
Democracy according John Stuart Mill holds that people should be allowed to make bad choices so long as they only hurt themselves. This is not right. An electorate is not an individual its a group of of individuals with separate goals, behaviours and intellectual credentials. It is not a unified body in which every person advocates the same policies. Instead, some people impose their decisions on others.
Jason Brennan states that if most voters act foolishly, they don't just hurt themselves. They hurt better-informed and more rational voters, minority voters, voters who abstained, future generations, children immigrants and foreigners who are unable to vote but still are subject to or harmed by that democracy's decision.
Migori County should know political decision making is not choosing for oneself; it is choosing for everyone. If a majority make a capricious decision, others have to suffer the risk. Thus political decision making, whether democratic or otherwise, has a higher justifactory burden than the decisions we make for ourselves.
Comments
Post a Comment