Kenyans want free, fair and peaceful elections on March 4. Three institutions — the IEBC, the police and the judiciary — can make this dream come true. To get things right the three institutions ought to look back and see what led to the 2007-08 post-election violence. They need to thoroughly analyse the indicators.
Kenya is a country grappling with institutionalising democracy through elections. The path towards fruitful democracy is long and torturous, especially with issues such as poverty, unemployment, impunity, tribalism, corruption, mistrust of governance institutions and land grabbing to contend with.
The 2007 general election was poorly managed. However, it made Kenyans detest violence, misrule, distrust and negative ethnicity. Notably, the Kriegler Commission found electoral fraud began at the polling station level and was rampant.
Some of the critical issues were the poor coordination from the polling stations to the then ECK headquarters, poor management of the returns, poor IT management, poor tallying process and poor verification of results.
Also, the strange circumstances that surrounded the final announcement of the result of the presidential election — the low-key swearing-in ceremony at State House — contributed to the ECK’s poor performance before, during and after election day.
Of much concern were the discrepancies in voter turnout for both PNU and ODM. This is why the 'tyranny of numbers' now being propagated is dangerous as not all Kenyans registered in their regional homes.
The IEBC should be ready to update Kenyans, and where necessary intervene and investigate any claims of insufficiency of information. This would provide an enabling environment to prevent flare-ups and provide amicable solutions at the earliest opportunity.
Constitutionally, it is the IEBC that is mandated to facilitate the observation, monitoring and evaluation of elections under article 88.
The enforcement of the law is the responsibility of the police. This is why all eyes are on reforming this institution. The police service is really walking a tightrope. It cannot afford to fail Kenyans this time.
The Inspector General needs support to ensure the police are ready for the poll and enough officers are deployed to polling stations.
Coming from a background where formation and arming of militias in some parts of the country was the norm towards ensuring and guaranteeing a landslide win by any means, Kenyans and the police service need to work hand in hand to lay the ground for peace. This includes taming hate speech by politicians that could trigger violence.
The judiciary has not been a trusted institution in the past.
It was not seen to be impartial, to administer justice, protect aggrieved parties and enforce the integrity of the electoral process. Hence it was not trusted during the post-election violence. This largely contributed to the escalation of the crisis.
For now, not an iota of mistrust in the judiciary should be allowed. Differences of opinion in this institution should be professionally settled and managed. Articles 159, 160 and 163 are critical.
It would be wrong to expect the IEBC, the police and the judiciary to be the only institutions to guarantee us free, fair and peaceful elections. Every single aspirant and the electorate can make a difference.
The writer is the chairperson of RPP.
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