A confidential report by the Director of Public Prosecutions Keriako Tobiko has criticised the IEBC and police for lack of cooperation during the election.
The confidential report, prepared at the request of the European Union Election Observer Mission, said the two institutions were uncooperative and did not take their duties seriously.
“ODPP staff noted that IEBC officials were uncooperative in terms of dissemination and sharing of information reducing overall staff performance,” said in the 73-page report.
“It was noted that the police did not take the offences seriously resulting in many reported cases not been investigated,” Tobiko wrote to Dr Gillian McCormack, the deputy EU chief observer, on March 20, 2013.
“Police were inadequately trained on the draft charge sheets developed by the ODPP and some had difficulties utilizing the same and differentiating between electoral offences and general offences under the penal code.”
The report said that the DPP handled 119 complaints during the election period involving cases of ferrying internally displaced persons to vote but later abandoned at the polling stations; voter bribery; and rowdiness caused by faulty electronic voter identification kits and long queues.
In Nairobi there were 30 offences related to electoral matters and 24 related to faulty electronic voter identification kits and long queues.
Machakos, Kisumu, Eldoret and Kakamega had eight cases each; Nyeri and Mombasa each reported six cases; Garissa and Homabay five cases each; Kisii four cases: Bungoma three; Kerugoya two; Murang’a and Nakuru one each.
According to the report, on March 2, a government registered vehicle GKA484G “ferried people from Nairobi who were believed to be IDPs and at Gilgil, Nakuru and right now they have camped at the DC’s offices.”The DPP, the report states, alerted the traffic police to arrest the driver and return the IDPs to their original places.
Also on March 2, eleven IDPs were also ferried from Nairobi to Gilgil despite being registered voters in Nairobi using the same GK vehicle. They were later dumped at the Gilgil police compound after allegedly being beaten up by the Officer Commanding the Station.
On March 3, a candidate in Juja constituency was found dishing out money and campaign materials to students of the Jomo Kenyatta University. However, the DPP says the OCS failed to take action despite receiving the report.
“That such a matter was reported but the OCS did not take action of recording statement of the complainant, who was also an aspirant or the witness…The PCIO has directed the DCIO to open the matter afresh,” the DPP remarked.
On the same day, youths were reported to be patrolling Mwiki area looking for non-Kikuyu people. Similar threats were reported in Ngong area, allegedly by members of the outlawed Mungiki sect.
As part of the election preparedness, the DPP had established a Joint Quick Reponse Team at their headquarters and 19 regional offices throughout the country.
“In addition to that he set up a specialized unit referred to as electoral and election offences prosecution unit with officer drawn from the headquarters and county offices to deal with electoral and related cases that might be committed during the electioneering period,” the report says.The officers from ODPP, despite being accredited by IEBC still faced challenges accessing certain information.
Other challenges the DPP noted were inadequate training of its staff on electoral matters, limited time to distribute and understand the Elections Act by the officers.
“Security was also a challenge due to the fact that all police officers had been recalled for the national exercise leaving the staff working at night vulnerable,” Tobiko said in the report.
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