Instinct is a powerful thing. 10 minutes after Kivuitu chose to ignore his, he had effectively changed the course of history. We trooped patriotically to our polling stations, braving the scorching sun and torrential downpours. We voted peacefully, and those of us endowed with televisions and radios proceeded back to our homes to watch ECK fulfill its mandate. We watched and we waited. We prayed and we waited. We watched the goings on at KICC in horrified fascination. We were shocked to disbelieving silence when Kivuitu announced the winner.

The bastion of transparency and steadfastness had let us down. The man who had declared over and over again how much he loved this nation and how immune he was to pressure had bowed down. A hasty end to a protracted tallying process. A hasty descent into chaos.

Kivuitu should have erred on the side of caution. There’s no smoke without fire. He should have listened to the voice of the people, seeing as complainants were armed with evidence to back their claims. The violence that would have been caused by delays in reading results can not be compared to the carnage we’re witnessing today.

Whereas some may say that this is a bitter lesson in democracy, that mother whose child has been burnt to death will not stop crying. The man grieving for his beloved wife will never get her back. Hundreds of hardworking citizens of this country are being plunged deeper into the poverty they wanted to overcome by voting responsibly.

It is therefore time to act. Ultimately, it’s Kenyans killing Kenyans. They should respect the sanctity of life. The newly elected leaders should be on the frontline of this peace campaign. This is their duty, it’s the mandate we gave them on Election Day. The police should step up their efforts to protect people’s lives and property. Two men should heed the call of the nation.

We fulfilled our duty remarkably, by turning up and voting responsibly and peacefully. To turn around and start killing each other is punishing ourselves for a wrong we did not commit..