I have been toying with the question as to whether we actually enacted a vague constitution that just cannot be implemented. The furore generated by the Supreme Court petitions arising out of the just concluded general elections continues to amplify my fears. It will be safe to conclude in broad – spectrum that all the general elections petitions filed in the 2013 elections have one common grievance that the IEBC was in blatant breach of its statutory and constitutional obligations in the manner in which it conducted the 2013 general elections.
The relevant constitutional provisions, specifically article 81 and 86 where these myriad election petitions are anchored espouse an election which is credible, transparent and accountable and a voter registration that is equally verifiable, secure and accountable. The petitioners claim that none of the above was even attempted and lay the blame squarely on the door of the IEBC. Really?
Before i question the practicality of this responsibility on the part the IEBC, let me ask when did we start questioning the 2013 electoral process? I believe the current seeds of discord were planted the moment the commission shifted from the electronic transmission to the manual system. It is then assumed at this point that the tallying process was choreographed to favour a certain candidate to the detriment of the others.
I’m alive to the sub judice rule and i will endeavour not to opine on matters before the sacrosanct supreme court , however my beef is with these onerous constitutional responsibilities and obligations placed upon our systems and institutions vis a vis our inherent character, attitude and nature as Kenyans and the corresponding plausibility?
Didn’t we have all these civil societies and political parties monitoring the voter registration, election preparation including procuring of election materials? Did anyone raise any issue including why the server was being hosted by an impartial party? Negative! Because at the time the tide seemed to rolling on our side and that is what we all cared about.
Did we expect the IEBC chairman to personally prefect the whole process from the polling station to the tallying centre? Cut the guy some slack, we the individuals engaged in the process as returning officers, tallying clerks etc chose to behave the Kenyan way in our own selfish interest and here we are at the zenith.
Am i lamenting? No, I’m saying regardless of the outcome of the Supreme Court petition, the problem is far from being solved and we will continue in this circus of petition after petition every election year until the day we adopt the individual metamorphosis of civility, respect for rule of law and intrinsic self decorum.
It is plain to scream about the budget of the IEBC when every individual engaged in the process lacked the personal good manners to enable a hiccup free election. And we proceeded to prove this by declaring an all out online hate war thereafter. And these being the middle class endowed with some education and knowledge.
However, I’m not oblivious to the fact that human beings, who are almost unique to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable in their disinclination to do so.
We made our beds, now we must lie on them.
Paul William Ochieng is an Advocate based in Nairobi.
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