Electoral justice key to getting the right leadership

IEBC Chairperson Wafula Chebukati and vice chairperson Juliana Cherera during verification of presidential results at Bpmas of Kenya.

This week, Kenyans have partaken in mental gymnastics of rationalising how we got here once again. 'Here' being a disagreement on the presidential poll results announced by the electoral commission chairman on Monday.

Although this will be the third time, Raila Odinga will be presenting a case of electoral injustice to the Supreme Court, it will be the first time ever, we've had public dissent from commissioners, who went as far as disowning the announced results. There are glaring irregularities that cast doubt on whether the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) undertook their task competently.

The first irregularity is that of the Mombasa and Kakamega governorship election ballot papers. The two counties are Azimio strongholds and for the IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati to announce this mistake on the eve of the election was of concern.

The ballot papers were flown in three weeks to the election, so any errors should have been detected earlier. In his announcement, the IEBC chairman stated that residents of the two counties could vote for the other ballots. However, such an announcement being delivered less than 18 hours to the polls likely led to lower turnout for the presidential race and hence hurt the more popular presidential candidate in the two counties.

Second, the tallying at Bomas was marred with many disruptions that appeared to compromise the process. Kenyans on social media watched the video in which a member of the Kenya Kwanza team was caught on camera trying to interfere with tallying. Azimio agents also reported a number of issues that may have undermined the process.

Third, to legitimise Chebukati's announcement while majority of commissioners denounced the same results, would be ignoring the essence of having independent commissions. The drafters of the electoral laws, introduced a safeguard for instances when one commissioner, or in this case, the chairman, acts in a manner that compromises fairness and credibility of the election process.

By proceeding to announce results before announcing the remaining constituencies and getting a unanimously decision with the rest of the commissioners, the IEBC chairman went against the principle of a legal provision.

Finally, we cannot ignore the fatigue of prolonging the election period and the associated tensions. However, by overlooking inconsistencies in the conduct of the chairman, we are putting our aspirations of a better Kenya at risk.

Ignoring such glaring issues in the electoral process is an invitation to embrace injustice. The very injustice that put us in a dark hole in 2007. The calls for Kenyans to accept the results announced on Monday without due process being adhered to, is tantamount to forcing citizens to give up their right to a fair and verifiable election.

The writer is a communications specialist. Twitter: @dianangao