CA overreaching its authority on media tallying

CA Director General Francis Wangusi. Photo: Jenipher Wachie, Standard

Communications Authority of Kenya Director General Francis Wangusi has directed media houses not to announce election results in the period following the casting of ballots on August 8, 2017. While Wangusi’s concerns are legitimate in light of what could happen if media houses announce results that are markedly different from the final figures released by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, a blanket ban on the media by the CA is overreaching its limits. 

On election day, media houses traditionally have agents in the field who relay tallies announced at polling stations to their central tallying centres in Nairobi. That is standard practice the world over. In some advanced democracies such as the US and the UK, the media calls elections.