The recent failure of Okoa Kenya to take off by not attaining the one million registered voters as stated in Article 257 (1) of the Kenyan constitution is a pointer of a house that needs serious repairs. This is if it is to face the electorate again in 2017.
I am an ardent enthusiast and critic of CORD with equal measure. CORD’s Okoa Kenya through popular initiative exposes a lot of weaknesses for a national political party in the 21st century determined to give a better option for Kenyans.
It points to a secretariat that is either dead, on subterranean slumber or on a death bed waiting to be pronounced lifeless. To substantiate my claim, let us look at the reasons that made Okoa Kenya fail to get the required signature threshold.
There were several issues that IEBC raised. Top on the list were; some entries were not signed, serialization of some booklets were not consistent, and some entries were canceled and yet not countersigned for validity. Some records further lacked names while others had single name entries. The formats in which the signatures were submitted were inconsistent and still several records had double entries.
IEBC’s claims are numerous, but CORD was quick to call for the disbandment of the institution citing that it was working with its opponents to frustrate the initiative. This has left many Kenyans wondering if people spearheading the coalition can deliver on its tasks.
Was CORD serious in running this initiative? Does CORD have a functional secretariat? If the answers to both questions are yes, then what do they do on a daily basis? The above mistakes that were found reflect a dysfunctional system that lacks the capacity to handle simple data or better still people who lack basic excel and data entry skills.
Simple excel skills like data validation would have helped CORD weed out the duplicates. Simply counterchecking (does not require any skill) would have helped CORD remove suspicious signatures, entries lacking critical information like ID numbers.
When designing the data collection forms, somebody tasked with the role should have thought of the required fields and better still come with a consistent format for collecting data. If this process was well thought, CORD could have employed even recent form four graduates with basic computer skills for data entry and save its supporters the humiliation of this magnitude.
If this is the secretariat that is waiting to coordinate CORD activities in the next campaigns, then things are wrong from the top, and its supporters should not be keen to win. I do hope that CORD has learnt from this failure and will be vigilant on improving its dynasty.
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