Tread cautiously on army and assure they will be neutral in polls

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has been faced with myriad logistical challenges right from the outset. Matters have not been made any easier for the Wafula Chebukati-led team even after the previous office under Issack Hassan was forced out before its time.

IEBC, unfortunately, finds itself caught between a war of words and the struggle for supremacy between Jubilee, which forms the Government, and the Opposition, which seeks to unseat Jubilee. Demands from both sides of the political divide make it exceedingly difficult for IEBC to execute its mandate without looking over the shoulder.

These past few months have been particularly difficult for IEBC, especially on the matter of tendering for the printing of ballot papers for the August elections. The first tender given to Paarl Media, a South African firm, was challenged on Jubilee claims the firm had associations with leader of the Opposition, Raila Odinga. The second award to a Dubai based firm, Al Ghurair, is similarly being challenged on allegations it has ties with President Kenyatta. Attendant to all this posturing have been claims and counter claims of rigging the August elections.

Amidst the cacophony, it is difficult to ascertain who is telling the truth. The veracity of the latest claim by Raila that Jubilee is planning to rig the August elections by deploying the army has not been verified. But while several Jubilee leaders have come out to rubbish the claims, President Uhuru Kenyatta, the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces is yet to lend his voice.

There is no room for the deployment of the army to influence an election outcome in a democratic society. Ordinarily, the army is called out the barracks whenever issues of external aggression that threaten a country’s peace arise, and cannot therefore be used for internal policing.

While it is the hope of every Kenyan that the claims were part of the propaganda being thrown about, it is incumbent upon the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces to reassure Kenyans the army will remain neutral in the elections.