Isabelle Alenus-Crosby
In the past couple of years, Africa has received an ever increasing amount of good press thanks to its unfaltering growing collective GDP.
One of the direct results of this positivism has been that the continent’s brain drain is slowly reversing, and turning into a brain gain instead.
In order for this return of the diaspora to last, stability is just as crucial as booming economies. This is why Ghana has been on top of the list for the past decade. Should Kenya have trouble-free elections in March, it is expected that many “diasporans” will return there too.
Understanding the importance of the upcoming elections, Kenya’s mobile operator, Safaricom, has partnered with Sisi Ni Amani, an NGO, and launched an SMS platform to promote the peace. This platform will allow community “peace” ambassadors to send out positive messages targeted at specific incidents at a micro level with the aim of preventing, reducing or stopping election violence.
With so much at stake, the Kenyan government has adopted a new constitution and made widespread modifications to its electoral system. A significant change is that the new laws enable diaspora voting. By giving diasporans the power to have their say, they might feel more inclined to return home and play a crucial part in the new Africa.
After all, this is history in the making, and who wouldn’t want to be a part of it?
