The photographs above carry a powerful message. A Kenyan can travel thousands of kilometres from home, meet people from another country, share a moment of friendship, and appreciate another culture. Yet when we return home, we sometimes allow political differences to turn neighbour against neighbour, brother against brother and Kenyan against Kenyan.

As we approach the 10 August 2027 General Election, Kenyans must begin asking themselves a difficult but important question: What exactly are we fighting for—and who will bear the cost when political temperatures turn into violence? The date is contained in the IEBC's current election operations plan.

POLITICIANS CAN DISAGREE TODAY AND TALK TOMORROW

Politics is competition. Politicians will disagree. They will form alliances, criticize one another, negotiate and sometimes change political positions. That is politics.

But ordinary Kenyans must understand something: political competition should never become a licence to destroy the country we all depend on.

Behind the political podiums, political actors can negotiate, consult and work together even after publicly disagreeing. Coalitions can change. Friendships can change. Political enemies can become political partners.

So, before you insult your fellow Kenyan because he supports a different candidate, ask yourself:

• If you and your politician both make a phone call at the same time, whose call is more likely to be answered first—the politician calling another politician, or an ordinary citizen calling that politician?
• That question should make us think.

THE POLITICIAN MAY HAVE OPTIONS. THE ORDINARY KENYAN HAS KENYA.

• But what about the ordinary mwananchi?
• What about the boda boda rider?
• What about the teacher?
• What about the farmer?
• What about the small trader whose shop is destroyed?
• What about the parent whose child cannot go to school because roads are blocked?
• What about the young person whose employment opportunity disappears because businesses close?
• Where will they go?

Before you become a political goon and destroy somebody else's property, remember that the property you are destroying belongs to another Kenyan who is also struggling to survive.

Before you pick up a stone, a machete or any weapon against another Kenyan because of politics, remember that the person standing before you is not your political enemy. He or she is your fellow citizen.

DO NOT DIE FOR A POLITICAL ARGUMENT

There is no political argument worth losing your life over. There is no political leader whose position should make you hate your neighbour.

There is no political party whose colours should make you destroy a fellow Kenyan's business. There is no political rally that should convince you that another Kenyan is less human because he supports somebody else.

You have the right to support your preferred candidate. Your neighbour has the same right. Let us compete politically without becoming enemies socially.

KENYA IS OUR ONLY COUNTRY

A politician can lose an election and contest again. A political party can lose power and reorganise. A politician can cross the political divide and form another alliance. But a Kenyan who loses his life cannot contest another election. A family whose property has been burnt cannot recover everything overnight. A child who loses a parent to political violence carries that wound for years. A country whose citizens destroy one another pays the price long after the politicians have moved on.

Therefore, protect your neighbour. Protect your business. Protect your community. Protect your vote. And above all, protect Kenya. Our political differences are temporary. Kenya is permanent.