Is Kenya ready for March 4 election?

By Moses Njagih and Martin Mutua

Kenya is left with 169 days to the General Election, the doorway to Kenya’s fourth Presidency, starting on Monday, but many questions linger over the country’s level of preparedness to hold the poll.

This has put the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission under scrutiny although its chairman Ahmed Issack Hassan dismissed calls for postponement of the exercise to August 2013 by a section of politicians.

The man who will oversee the elections said those who want the poll date shifted must not use the IEBC as the excuse.

However, the fear that IEBC may not be left with sufficient time to plan for such critical programmes as voter registration and education as well as procurement and implementation of the Biometric Voter Register. Most Kenyans agree the latter is critical for the credibility of the 2013 elections given the bad experience of 2007.  

One of the issues being raised is that IEBC has left Kenyans guessing on how it hopes to achieve so much with so little time left before the polls.

Whereas IEBC had initially announced it would be carry out the crucial voter registration of the close to 12 million voters in September that has not taken place even as the month draws to a close.

And ever since a special meeting chaired by President Kibaki and attended by Prime Minister Raila Odinga last month resolved that Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) kits must be used despite IEBC’s cancellation of a controversial tender, not much progress has been reported towards acquisition of the equipment.

Parliament is also yet to pass a law on campaign financing that will put a ceiling on how much presidential candidates can spend. It also has not approved Election regulations governing the conduct of candidates during and after the polls.

There are also no mechanisms in place for Kenyans in the Diaspora to vote even though it has been agreed this will be done in selected cities abroad.

The chairman of Parliament’s Committee on Implementation of the Constitution (CIOC), Mr Abdikadir Hussein Mohamed concedes he is aware of plans to push the March 4, 2013 elections forward by five months.

Mohamed told The Standard in interview yesterday he convened his committee to meet tomorrow so as to seek progress on the acquisition of the BVR kits.

“I am very disappointed over this BVR issue because I thought the issue of giving out a tender for the equipment should not have taken this long and we want to find out what is happening over the matter on Tuesday,” he added.

Mohamed argued it would be “irresponsible” of both the Government and Parliament if the polls were moved from March to any other day as this was bound to send wrong signals to the public and international community. “If there is any institution bent on delaying the elections that must be called to account without dragging others along,” he went on.

Allayed fears

Hassan allayed fears of postponement saying there was no reason to worry and all IEBC needed was political goodwill. “IEBC should not be used as an excuse by those who want to delay the elections because we will not allow them to do so,” he vowed.

He assured IEBC would soon issue a comprehensive statement on the BVR kits as well as the election timetable and voter education programme.

Deputy Speaker Farah Maalim argues it may not be possible for IEBC to conduct elections in March next year when it has not procured the BVR kits to register votes and there are several constitutional amendments Parliament is yet to pass.

During a conference Maalim attended in Mombasa a fortnight ago fears were expressed over possible constitutional crisis facing the country. It emerged that Parliament needs to “correct” or align the 80 newly created constituencies with the Constitution, failure to which the polls could face a constitutional crisis since the seats are not recognised for the March 4 elections.

Also requiring the attention of Parliament is the issue of the one-third-gender rule, for which MPs have not passed any legislation to conform to the new Constitution.

All the amendments, since they are constitutional, will require a two-thirds majority to sail in the house. On the other hand experts on electoral processes contend there are genuine concerns that the IEBC might miss crucial deadlines for some of its planned activities with a direct bearing on ensuring a credible election.

“The IEBC might not have appreciated the challenges ahead of them given that there are now less than six months to the polls, but this could be the Waterloo of the commission,” said Mr Willis Otieno, a programme officer with Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa (EISA).

IEBC has been forced to revise its earlier timetable and yesterday Justice Minister Eugene Wamalwa admitted that Parliament might be forced to amend the Election’s Act to give more time for registration of voters.

Postponed

Though the commission had initially promised to kick-off voter registration in August, it failed to procure BVR kits in time, prompting them to push the planned registration to September.

And though Wamalwa yesterday said the first batch of the BVR kits would arrive in the country at the end of the month, it is unlikely for the commission to register voters within its earlier scheduled timetable.

The Election’s Act requires that voter registration be conducted for 45 days, following which the compiled register must be inspected for 30 days, a situation that could force time constraints on the part of the commission

Wamalwa yesterday appeared keen to defuse the growing concerns as he promised that the election programme is on course despite the apparent delays in voter registration.

He said the Canadian Government, which will be providing Kenya with the kits, had promised to ensure the first batch be delivered by the end month.

Wamalwa dismissed as propaganda talk of shifting of the election date to next year August. “We must disabuse the notion that the Executive is keen on delaying or derailing the electoral process,” he said.

Otieno contends that apart from the local registration, the electoral body must consider that unlike before, it would this time be required to register Kenyans in the Diaspora.

“It is a genuine cause for concern because if Kenyans in the Diaspora are not registered to vote they could easily challenge the holding of elections. Already there is a suit from some seeking to compel IEBC to register them,” said Otieno.

IEBC is also required to delimit and gazette the 80 constituencies created by the Constitution and identify polling centres in these areas in time for the polls.

The chairman of the Centre for Multi-party Democracy, Mr Justin Muturi said IEBC should prepare periodic statements to inform Kenyans on what it is doing and show a timetable on how they will handle the timeline challenges facing them.