Constant changes to election laws bode ill for Kenya

Matters related to elections have received a lot of attention. This goes back to 2016 when the Opposition demanded the dismissal of the Isaack Hassan-led Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission for having lost credibility in view of scandals, the most notable being the Chickengate Scandal whose origin was in England.

The ballot paper printing scandal led to the jailing of the directors of the Smith and Ouzman Company for two years in England.

The matter of tallying and transmitting election results also led to a stand-off between the Opposition and the Government.

Even today, the question of whether transmission should be done manually or electronically has not been dispensed with despite President Uhuru Kenyatta signing into law the contentious Electoral Laws (Amendment) Bill 2016. Still under contention is the auditing of the voter register and the Opposition has thrown the spanner in the works by announcing it will set up its own tallying centre. But while this and other issues present a headache for voters and the electoral body, it emerges that a bill; the Election Laws (Amendment) Bill 2017 is at the second reading stage in the National Assembly.

The timing of the Bill is suspect and the possibility of mischief cannot be ruled out. A member of the Judicial Service Commission has come out to question the legality of the Bill, arguing it is a slap in the face of democracy and undermines fundamental constitutional freedoms and the political stability of the country at a time that nothing should be rocking the boat.

More intriguing are claims that the Bench under Chief Justice David Maraga drew up the bill, pushing it to Parliament through the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee Chairman, Samuel Chepkonga. This compromises the neutrality of the Supreme Court in the event of a presidential election petition.
It is imperative that care be exercised to avoid more potentially explosive situations or laying  the ground for unnecessary friction.