Fresh rules to prevent chaos at referendum

Chaotic scenes witnessed during the tallying of votes in the 2007 presidential election may be avoided in the August 4 referendum if new regulations set by the electoral commission are implemented.

According to the regulations published by the Interim Independent Electoral Commission (IIEC), only a few individuals will be allowed into national and constituency tallying centres during count.

During the 2007 elections, the national tallying centre at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre in Nairobi was packed with people, and the situation often got out of hand as anxiety mounted over delays in relaying the results from the constituency tallying centres.

Referendum committees

On June 30, the IIEC announced it had registered seven referendum committees – four from the ‘Yes’ camp and three from the ‘No’ side.

A referendum committee is any group of persons that intends to support or oppose the proposed law. Only a registered referendum committee can conduct rallies and send agents to polling and tallying centres.

The referendum regulations also give the presiding and returning officers powers to control activities at the centres. The referendum officers can expel any individual or group deemed to have tried to interfere with polling within a radius of 400 metres of the centre.

Every referendum committee has a national chief agent and team leader. And it can only send two agents to a polling or tallying centre.

The IIEC has prepared a register of the chief agents. They have a record of the name, address and telephone number of the chief agent of each committee.

The chief agents will be responsible for the conduct of their teams during the campaign period from July 13 to August 2.

Church leaders opposed to the proposed constitution will be campaigning alongside ‘No’ politicians led by Higher Education minister William Ruto.

The clergy are on the same referendum committee with the politicians on one of the committees that have been registered to spearhead ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ campaigns.

According to IIEC chairman Isaack Hassan, the referendum committees will have sole authority to stage campaigns.

Campaign period

Though the ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ teams have already been holding rallies on the proposed law, the official campaign period kicks off on July 13.

The IIEC had in mid-May issued a Gazette notice requiring any person or group of persons wishing to campaign during the referendum period to form a referendum committee and apply before June 25.

Mr Hassan said the commission is currently processing the applications for constituency campaign teams but encourages applications under the recognised national committees.

“We look forward to peaceful campaigns, devoid of incitement, hate speech and violence,” he said.

The national ‘Yes’ committees include the Multi-Sectoral Salvation Front affiliated to the Centre for Multiparty Democracy. The group’s chief agent is Cyprian Namwamu, while the team leader is Prof Larry Gumbe.

The YES Green-Katiba For Change is supported by the grand coalition government led by the President and the Prime Minister. Its chief agent is Medical Services minister Prof Anyang’ Nyong’o and the team leader is Kiraitu Murungi, the Energy minister.

Narc-Kenya chairperson Martha Karua is the chief agent for the One Kenya YES Secretariat with party secretary-general Danson Mungatana the team leader.

The fourth ‘Yes’ committee is the Urban Volunteers Organisation whose chief agent is Stephen Nyagah; the team leader is Margaret Mliwa
The ‘NO’ Red National Referendum Committee, associated with Higher Education minister Ruto, has Mosop MP David Koech as the chief agent and Dr Tom Namwamba. The latter is also the director of the Red Card Centre.

Mr Hassan said members of this committee include church leaders, among them National Council of Churches of Kenya deputy secretary-general Oliver Kisaka.

The second ‘No’ team is Muungano wa Katiba Kombozi whose chief agent is Jane Njiru and team leader is Njeru Kathangu. The other ‘No’ team is Independence of Democratic Evolution Alliance of Kenya. Its chief agent is Bernard Nyakundi Machira; team leader will be Patrick Mogambi.

Agents will witness the opening and closing procedures and processes of a polling station, examine the serial numbers of the ballot boxes before the commencement of the voting and after and also examine and verify electors’ registers.

Security seal

They will have the responsibility of verifying whether a person seeking to vote is qualified to cast their ballot at a polling station. They will also put a security seal on the ballot box and can object to the presence of any person other than a person lawfully present at the polling station or tallying centre. Agents will also monitor all the activities taking place in a polling station including the conduct of the poll, the observance of the polling regulations, the conduct of the count of the votes and the observance of the counting regulations.

They will also be required to submit to the authority of the IIEC officials at the polling station and the constituency tallying centre.

Agents or any other person cannot communicate with any voter in the polling station without the authority of the relevant referendum official.
To guard against halting of polling and tallying of votes, the IIEC has directed that no one can interfere with the poll or counting process in any manner.

It will also be illegal for an agent or any other individual to “wilfully damage, destroy or in any way endanger any document or other property of the commission even those that they may be given to examine or handle”.

“The presiding officer may refuse admission to a person claiming to be an agent if that person does not produce a letter of appointment as an agent signed by the chief agent of that referendum committee,” the regulations say.