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Kenya govt bodies actually come clean on prepping for polls

Tuesday June 20 2017
IEBC

Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) chairman Wafula Chebukati (left), CEO Ezra Chiloba (centre) and vice chair Consolata Nkatha Bucha Maina during the National Elections conference in Nairobi on June 14, 2017. PHOTO | DENNIS ONSONGO | NMG

By MUTHONI WANYEKI

The big event this past week was the National Elections Conference. Convened by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission and the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission, together with Kura Yangu, Sauti Yangu, it was worth it for several reasons.

First, it was a platform from which all public institutions involved in the electoral process — including the criminal justice chain and the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights — could explain to the public where they were at with preparations for the elections.

The Inspector-General of Police explained the guidance the National Police Service has taken from the findings of the Akiwumi and Waki Commissions of Inquiry into previous electoral violence.

He was put on the spot by a question noting the correspondence of electoral violence with presidential incumbents fighting to retain their seat, including through executive compromise of the independence of the security services. Diplomatically — albeit uncomfortably — he assured the public his service would act according to the Constitution and the law throughout the process.

Rapid response team

The Director of Public Prosecutions talked of his rapid response team to address electoral criminality — including 105 prosecutors and a 24-hour call centre open in DPP offices across the country, supported by a special judicial division of just over 90 magistrates.

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Challenged by a young woman on “speaking tough but acting soft” on electoral criminality, he said that his office was already prosecuting no less than 57 cases involving 97 individuals — including candidates at most levels.

Critically, the IEBC shared its plans on all electoral aspects — most of which were subjected to strong questioning. About cleaning up the voter register. Voter identification and results transmission. The latest (sorry) story regarding single-sourced procurement of ballot papers widely reported on in the national media.

In that sense, the conference was useful. Public institutions explained to the public what they were doing to ensure credible and peaceful elections. The public — from across the country--questioned them. Organised civil society constructively shared their own findings of their elections monitoring process to date— talking with and not at them on public interest matters.

Mlolongo voting

Then there were the amusing bits. The reminder of how far we’ve come, despite our despairing tendencies— crazy stories were shared about what happened with the mlolongo voting process under the Moi dictatorship.

The reminder that, relatively speaking, things could be worse; Linus Kakai talked of his experience reporting on the Gambian elections under the Jammeh dictatorships, watching marbles being dropped into drums to cast votes and how demands for recounts were impossible.

But the best thing about dialogue is that is shows us where the real gaps in mutual understanding are. It was instructive that nobody (nobody!) used the lingo of “free and fair” elections; everybody (everybody!) spoke of “credible” and “peaceful” elections. The adoption of the term credible underlined the number of times that “trust” also came up, particularly trust in public institutions involved in the electoral process.

We have rational reasons, experientially and historically grounded, for our mistrust. Trust can only be rebuilt by new evidence before our very eyes that public institutions are acting independently and impartially, and in the public interest.

That they will protect not only our right to vote but our right to have that vote accurately counted and tallied. That they will themselves not be responsible for wreaking havoc on ordinary people’s bodies, properties and lives.

The writer is Amnesty International’s regional director for East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes.

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