The
recent disturbing events surrounding the acquisition of Biometric Voter
Registration kits should sound alarms bells regarding the Independent
Electoral and Boundaries Commission's preparedness for the march 4,
2013, general election. Since the first tender for the BVR kits was
cancelled because of the infighting within the Commission, it was always
doubtful that the election calendar that the Commission had published
in the middle of this year would be kept. The Committee of Experts,
reacting to the pressure from human rights activists and other loud
members of Kenya's civil society, ensured that the Constitution
contained iron-clad deadlines for the conduct of elections, deadlines
that were incorporated even more stringently in the Elections Act and
the Political parties Act.
It is now emerging that the CoE and civil society simply refused to consider that the well-entrenched impunity amongst Kenya's leaders and its people would throw a spanner in the works. We have long obsessed with the political corruption that characterised the Moi and Kenyatta eras, forgetting that many of the beneficiaries of official corruption in those two eras were now in well-placed positions in the Kibaki administration. Not even the revelations of the Kriegler Commission or the complete elimination of everyone who had anything to do with the 2007 general election served to clean up the electoral process; the whispered allegations of kick-backs demanded and rejected regarding the BVR kits saga point to the fact that it is not new institutions that will rescue the nation, but a complete repudiation of the business-as-usual attitude that seems to hold all public officers in thrall, regardless of the men and women appointed to Commissions endowed with the task of righting the ship that is Kenya and steering her away from the roiled waters she finds herself in today.
It is almost inevitable that if the general election is held on the date announced by the IEBC, it will not be a credible election. Given the timetable that the IEBC published, some of the crucial activities will have to be undertaken in a shorter period than published, including the registration of voters and the examination of the voter register. Time and again Kenyans are asked to place their trust in their leaders, whether in the political, business or civil society sectors and time and again Kenyans are disappointed. The very same politicians that asked us to trust them when we promulgated the Constitution, betrayed that trust when they fiddled with legislation meant to implement it as intended. The men and women we appointed to Commissions meant to ensure that the Constitution is implemented, have suddenly discovered the pleasures of dipping their fingers in the till that is the Consolidated Fund and today we are talking of 400 million shilling mansions for the Chief Justice and multi-million shilling pay-packets for the army of Commissioners that we have appointed since 2010. Anyone who believes that the IEBC deserves our trust or confidence...well, I have a bridge to sell you.
It is now emerging that the CoE and civil society simply refused to consider that the well-entrenched impunity amongst Kenya's leaders and its people would throw a spanner in the works. We have long obsessed with the political corruption that characterised the Moi and Kenyatta eras, forgetting that many of the beneficiaries of official corruption in those two eras were now in well-placed positions in the Kibaki administration. Not even the revelations of the Kriegler Commission or the complete elimination of everyone who had anything to do with the 2007 general election served to clean up the electoral process; the whispered allegations of kick-backs demanded and rejected regarding the BVR kits saga point to the fact that it is not new institutions that will rescue the nation, but a complete repudiation of the business-as-usual attitude that seems to hold all public officers in thrall, regardless of the men and women appointed to Commissions endowed with the task of righting the ship that is Kenya and steering her away from the roiled waters she finds herself in today.
It is almost inevitable that if the general election is held on the date announced by the IEBC, it will not be a credible election. Given the timetable that the IEBC published, some of the crucial activities will have to be undertaken in a shorter period than published, including the registration of voters and the examination of the voter register. Time and again Kenyans are asked to place their trust in their leaders, whether in the political, business or civil society sectors and time and again Kenyans are disappointed. The very same politicians that asked us to trust them when we promulgated the Constitution, betrayed that trust when they fiddled with legislation meant to implement it as intended. The men and women we appointed to Commissions meant to ensure that the Constitution is implemented, have suddenly discovered the pleasures of dipping their fingers in the till that is the Consolidated Fund and today we are talking of 400 million shilling mansions for the Chief Justice and multi-million shilling pay-packets for the army of Commissioners that we have appointed since 2010. Anyone who believes that the IEBC deserves our trust or confidence...well, I have a bridge to sell you.
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