Leaders must address issues of real concern

Claims and counter-claims of vote rigging continue to dominate Kenyan news. And these, coming from both sides of the political divide, have made some very depressing reading. The Opposition threw the first salvo by claiming the Government had schemed to use non-existent voters to win the August 8, 2017 elections, giving as their reason the Government’s determination to use manual back-up systems in August in case the electronic system failed as happened in 2013. Despite vehement opposition, President Uhuru Kenyatta proceeded to sign the contentious Electoral Laws (Amendment) Bill 2016 into law.

In his speech during the 2016 Jamhuri day’s celebrations, Uhuru claimed foreign governments were using Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) to fund the Opposition to manipulate the August polls. Picking cue from there, the NGO council of Kenya claimed that International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), was a conduit for sending funds to the Opposition. Despite having worked closely with the Government since 2008, attempts were made to discredit IFES by saying it was not registered.