Towards a credible, peaceful general election next year

Is Kenya ready for a free, fair and transparent general election as stipulated by Article 81 of the Constitution?

On July 14, 2021, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) advertised a tender for electoral materials including “referendum result declaration forms”. This signalled that despite a restraining High Court order, a plebiscite was still on the cards. Obviously, we shall have the 2022 elections.

According to Article 138 of the Constitution, if no presidential candidate garners more than 50 per cent of the votes cast and at least 25 per cent of the ballots cast in a minimum of 24 counties, a repeat election of the two leading candidates must ensue.

Another pertinent question is thus begged: Can the country successfully conduct a referendum and two nationwide elections within one year?

The revamped Electoral Commission of Kenya’s (ECK) conduct of the 2002 General Election was hailed as exemplary since the agency was viewed as non-partisan. During the 2005 and 2010 constitutional referenda, the electoral agency similarly discharged its mandate with distinction.

However, in 2007, ECK was vilified for mismanaging elections. In 2013 and 2017, the IEBC was accused of partisanship.

Both the IEBC commissioners and the staff are electoral arbiters who must demonstrate impeccable professionalism, efficiency, fairness and impartiality as we approach 2022. Thus the ongoing recruitment of the four electoral commissioners should produce non-politically affiliated candidates.

Registered as voters

Before the 2017 General Election, 19,611,423 Kenyans were registered as voters, 51 per cent of them aged 18-35. Since the last election, only 149,600 people have been registered, although IEBC has projected registration of 23 million voters by 2022. According to the 2019 census, 36,504,233 Kenyans were over 18 years and, therefore, eligible to be registered as voters.

A youthful population of several millions remains unregistered as voters due to lack of identity cards. The law should be reviewed to guarantee every Kenyan of majority age their right to vote. Both processing of IDs and voter registration must be done evenly throughout the country.

The IEBC has given the date of February 28, 2022 as the end of continuous voter registration. Strictly speaking, the legally sanctioned continuous voter registration has in reality been intermittent due, mainly, to inadequate budgetary allocation.

So far, no serious attempt has been made to register the diaspora voters and enable them to vote. In 2017, only 4,393 diasporans were registered. In 2014, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs estimated Kenyans living abroad to be 3 million.

The political party is an engine of democratic elections. Currently, Kenya has about 78 registered parties with others awaiting registration. In many countries, there exist two or three major political parties with a few other fringe but influential parties. Kenya’s mergers and coalitions are largely ethnically based and opportunistic. Many become moribund after each election.

Article 91 of the Constitution and Section 7 of the Political Parties Act, 2011 provide that the membership and leadership of any political party should reflect regional and ethnic diversity, gender balance and representation of minorities and marginalised groups. 

Members’ core interests

Further, the parties must have national character, promote and uphold national unity, practice internal democracy, etc. We are yet to have parties that exhibit such values and a clear ideology springing from members’ core interests. Some parties even have “ghost” members.

By October 18, 2021, political parties that intend to participate in the forthcoming election must submit to the IEBC all documents containing party rules governing party nominations. IEBC needs to be strict this time round to ensure political parties provide all their requisite constitutive and related documents.

It is an open secret that party primaries are not free and fair. Many politicians buy their candidature. That is why many candidates choose independent status. In 2017, from a total of 14,523, some 4,002 were independent candidates.

To enhance democracy in party nominations, party members should supplement choice of candidates by their relevant party structures through public participation.

Recently there has been debate on whether all candidates for political office should have degree qualifications. Although every adult has a right to vie for political office, he or she must also have the necessary academic competence to discharge their responsibility.

The IEBC is also mandated to vet candidates to determine their eligibility to hold public office,  in keeping with Chapter Six of the Constitution on Leadership and Integrity. In my view, this is a critical mandate, which needs execution by an expanded body led by IEBC but with representatives from the religious sector, business sector, professional bodies, and the civil society. Those who offer themselves for leadership in 2022 should be ready to be subjected to a lifestyle audit.

By December 9, 2021, political aspirants must by law cease fundraising. However, Kenya’s finance campaign law is dysfunctional. Individuals and their parties spend astronomical sums in elections.

Continuous voter education

For example, in 2017 campaign funding ceilings were as follows: Political parties were to receive up to Sh15 billion in contributions with an individual including corporates being allowed to make a Sh3 billion contribution; presidential candidates could spend Sh5 billion; governors and senators a maximum of Sh400 million; MPs Sh33 million; and ward representatives Sh10 million.

Only financially well-connected and endowed parties and individuals could compete effectively in such expensive elections. Strict campaign funds tracking and reporting should be mandatory.

Often, it is said to win the Kenyan – or even African – election, a presidential candidate needs money, his or her tribe’s total support and the aid of the tribes of coalition partners, and state the machinery. In Kenya’s recent by-elections, the security forces and the provincial administration have made it their business to aid state-friendly candidates. If the state supports a preferred group in 2022, that is likely to trigger political upheaval. 

Is the Kenyan voter ready for the 2022 General Election? The simple answer is no. We need continuous voter education by IEBC, civil society and, especially, the religious sector. 

Kenyans must be educated on the value of their vote so that they can elect leaders of integrity who promote the national interest, nationhood and general socio-economic well-being.

Whereas the ICT electoral framework must be audited to ensure its deployment does not subvert electoral choice and justice, the real battleground for the 2022 General Election will be the polling station; where voting, counting, tallying and announcing will take place. Each candidate, political party, mainstream and social media and election observers could then aggregate and simultaneously relay the polling station numbers.

If the 2022 elections are bungled, our country may take a long to recover from the aftermath. I believe one of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s key legacies will be to deliver a free, fair, transparent and peaceful election in 2022.

The writer is the Governor of Makueni County