Advertisement

Ready or not, here comes another election from hell

Wednesday May 24 2017

Ready or not?

That is the title of a new report by the African Centre for Open Governance (AfriCOG) released this past week. As the title suggests, it provides evidence-based analysis of where we are — or rather, where Kenya’s electoral management body is — in terms of getting us through the general election this August.

Importantly, the analysis is given against the problems experienced with the 2013 election. So we are able to determine what’s been addressed — as well as what hasn’t.

The background from the trip down memory lane: Failure to bring Chapter Six of the Constitution on integrity in leadership to life in terms of vetting of potential candidates at all levels.

Multiple voter registers showing different figures against which to assess turnout. Changes to those registers that had the net effect of inflating registered voters in incumbent strongholds and deflating them in opposition strongholds. Errors and inconsistencies in the tallying forms. Failure of the results transmission system.

Announcement of the supposed presidential result before all tallying forms were even in. All resulting in mistrust of the validity of the supposed presidential results.

Advertisement

The current situation:

The promise of Chapter Six is still unrealised. With no less than 17 Members of Parliament having had criminal charges laid against them. And a further 90 implicated in corruption.

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission has set up a working group to determine how to vet candidates at all levels. But let’s be frank about the prospects of that working group being able to move forward.

The mass voter registration drive initially targeted 67 per cent of all unregistered eligible voters. The targets moved, depending on the location. Coercive methods were used — including by state officials — to up the turnout in some locations. The biometric voter registration equipment failed in some areas.

Resort was made to the infamous green books, resulting in inconsistencies between the alphanumeric and biometric data and single voter registrations being shared between two or more identity cards. An effort was made to register the prison population — but the limitations placed on the diaspora registration generated an uproar.

Unbelievably, given what happened in 2013, the IEBC finally gave the contract to Safran Identity and Security. Whose system failed so miserably last time around.

Electoral law amendments now enable the IEBC to use “complementary” mechanisms for voter identification and results transmission. What these are is up in the air.

And then there’s the concern about electoral violence. Already evident in the shambolic party primaries. But also in police violence towards demonstrators and protesters. A resurgence of criminal organisations now repurposed for political purposes. But, as the report points out, the biggest cause of electoral violence is public perceptions about the integrity of the electoral process.

We are not only running out of time. We are doing so when the intensity of electoral contestation is growing at all levels.

There’s no dearth of legal and policy frameworks to deal with all the concerns the report outlines. But there is an absolute dearth of public institutions prepared to act in the public interest. And simply uphold the law.

L. Muthoni Wanyeki is Amnesty International’s regional director for East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes

Advertisement