Try Ghana example to avert electoral crisis and violence

From left, Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission chief executive Ezra Chiloba, chairman Wafula Chebukati, Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission chairman Eliud Wabukala and IEBC deputy chairperson Consolata Nkatha Bucha Maina during the launch of an election conference at Kenyatta International Convention Centre on June 11, 2017. PHOTO | DENNIS ONSONGO | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • The electoral commission took highly visible steps to improve the credibility of the voters’ register by cleaning it up and publishing the list of names online.

  • The National Collation Centre, where the election results were tallied, was made more accessible to the media, civil society and party supporters.

  • Kenya might have peaceful elections, but many people are still not convinced that the IEBC will not succumb to bribery or political manipulation.

Kenya has held few elections that have been completely free and fair, and peaceful.

Almost every election has resulted in some form of violence, from the so-called “ethnic clashes” in the Rift Valley in the 1990s to the widespread violence of 2007/2008 that left more than a thousand people dead and hundreds of thousands displaced.

According to Ken Flottman, an American lawyer who had an opportunity to observe the 2007 elections first-hand, two things contributed significantly to the violence: The ban on live broadcasting ordered by the then Internal Security minister John Michuki and the government’s decision to pull down the media’s reporting of the results.

The electoral bodies have also been blamed for conducting flawed elections that contribute to the violence.

HURRIEDLY SWORN-IN

The chairman of the now defunct Electoral Commission of Kenya, the late Samuel Kivuitu, is on record as having said that he did not know who really won the 2007 elections.

Images of Mr Mwai Kibaki being hurriedly sworn-in as the President are still fresh in many people’s minds, as are those of Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission officials announcing in March 2013 that they were shutting down the tallying centre at night because they needed to sleep, only to announce the election results in the early hours of the next morning.  

The media at that time had been effectively “silenced” for the sake of “peace” and so did not ask the hard questions (such as why the commission was shutting down the tallying centre in the middle of vote-counting).

SUPREME COURT

Although the Supreme Court later ruled that the election was free and fair, the scandals that emerged regarding the procurement of non-functioning BVR kits and “Chickengate” did raise suspicions about whether the IEBC had been compromised.

Now, the IEBC is once again under scrutiny after the audit firm KPMG revealed last week that the voters’ register may contain the names of as many as a million dead voters.

According to Dr Dorina Bekoe, an expert in conflict prevention, Ghana’s elections had been similarly tainted, but the country managed to avert a looming crisis last year by significantly improving its electoral processes.

There are many parallels between the pre-election situation in Ghana and what Kenya is facing today in the run-up to the August 8 poll.

In December last year, the ruling National Democratic Congress candidate, Mr John Dramani Mahama, faced his chief rival, Mr Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, of the New Patriotic Party.

USING HATE SPEECH

In the months preceding the elections, violence broke out and politicians began using hate speech as part of their campaigns.

However, Ghana managed to have a peaceful election because its electoral commission, political leaders and civil society took steps to make sure that the process was credible.

First, the electoral commission took highly visible steps to improve the credibility of the voters’ register by cleaning it up and publishing the list of names online.

Second, it made it easier for the people to vote. Ghanaians could change their original polling stations to one that was nearer the places where they lived or worked.

Third, the National Collation Centre, where the election results were tallied, was made more accessible to the media, civil society and party supporters.

Local observers stationed in each of the country’s 275 constituencies could also record the election results.

TRANSPARENT

Because the polling station data had become so accessible and transparent, Ghanaians knew the results long before they were announced by the commission.

Although the race was tight, Ghana managed to have a smooth political transition, with Mr Akufo-Addo, garnering nearly 54 per cent of the vote.

Kenyans have learned from past experience that election rigging does and can take place at the national tallying centre. It is imperative, therefore, that the IEBC put in place systems that promote openness and transparency.

PEACEFUL ELECTIONS

However, Kenya might have peaceful elections, but many people are still not convinced that the IEBC will not succumb to bribery or political manipulation.

Questions about the accuracy of the voter register and about why the commission is not eager to have results announced at the constituency/polling station level have also not been adequately addressed.

And then there is the troubling question of why the IEBC cleared so many candidates with objectionable or dubious backgrounds.

The August elections might be free, but will the people elected be worthy of leadership?