Things IEBC, State must do to ensure successful elections

By Koki Muli

The Biometric Voter Registration begun on November 19, 2012 with a lot of hope and excitement, at least for me. I was among the first people to register and as I was doing so the queue was building up, giving me hope that the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) might just be able to hit its 18 million target.

 Well, I am an optimist. Of course, there are many things that needs to done to ensure the process remains on course. IEBC needs to intensify voter education.

They need to work in very close collaboration with the Ministry of Immigration and the Registrar of Persons to ensure as many eligible voters as possible get their Identity Cards (IDs) and all those with provisional ID registration papers get their cards at least a week before closure of the registration process to enable them travel to stations where they intend to register as voters. IEBC needs to work better with the media and the media should realise that they have corporate social responsibility to encourage Kenyans to register as voters.

The new Constitution has new provisions that create new responsibilities for citizens. While no one will be held liable for not registering and voting, anyone who wishes to participate in governance especially setting the priorities for their counties need to begin by deciding on who should be their leaders.

 These should be leaders of integrity with capacity to manage the county affairs to ensure the country does not get wound up because of failure to perform.

The IEBC needs to get out and persuade most of the youth who registered in 2007—almost eight million of them—to go back to the registration centres. Notably, many youths are so disenchanted and believe there is no point in voting.

The IEBC needs to build a lot more confidence in the process to convince the doubting Thomases that it is worth voting. The internally displaced and the dispossessed who have nothing to hope for and are running away from political violence and associate elections with pain and suffering should especially be encouraged to register. But the IEBC is not the only institution that needs to do its work and even go beyond the call of duty to make the forthcoming elections a success.

The Government must especially work hard to improve security. Pre-election violence have become a matter of grave concern in Kenya. Whatever happened in Turkana-Samburu, Garissa, Eastleigh, Tana River, and well, who knows where else, reminds us of years past of violence before elections since the reintroduction of multi-party elections of 1992.

  The former president then warned Kenyans that if multi-party elections were introduced we would witness violence and instability. Unfortunately, Kenya, before general elections, has never been the same again. To make matters worse, this year we have witnessed the killing of those who ensure our security; police officers, military, administration police and other security personnel including police reservists. Some of our leaders tried to justify the killings.

What hurt us most is that violence is being visited to those charged with protecting us. This sends a very strong message to Kenya – the Commander-in-Chief; we can kill the protectors of your citizens – utado? It is a declaration of war – that – if we can kill the men and women you have armed to protect you and your people, just imagine what we can do to those helpless citizens. I am very afraid for our security.

As if that is not enough, the killers have come to the seat of Government – Nairobi. There is a nasty rumour that these killers possess Kenyan IDs – so in fact, they are Kenyans. Another rumour has it that they were helped by genuine Kenyans to acquire the ID cards. What does that mean for us? We remain paralysed: We are on the verge of losing the soul of Kenya and we cannot move.

 

The writer is an elections and constitutional law expert and lecturer, South Eastern University College South Eastern University