I do not know if you have seen my op EdAl Jazeera today.
Here is my big takeaway.
The Kenyan election of 2013 can teach scholars, and observers of
democratisation numerous lessons. First, a completely successful
election in Kenya as well as other parts of Africa depends on large part
on processes with high levels of transparency, consensus, and a careful
chain of custody of votes. Second, technology must be carefully tested
far in advance of elections, and care should be taken to identify
weaknesses. Third, governments and civil society can work together to
create independent institutions with clear rules, and well-trained
voting officials. Finally, the 2010 Kenyan Constitution has helped to
create institutions and laid out rules to promote democracy, which has
already led to improved electoral outcomes.
Chief Justice Willy Mutunga (third from left) leads the Supreme Court
during the pre-trial conference on March 25, 2013. he other judges are (from
left) Njoki Ndung’u, Jackton Ojwang’, Philip Tunoi, Mohammed Ibrahim and
Smokin Wanjala Credit. Nation Group.
My cousins tell me that Nairobi is at a standstill as all wait for the Kenyan Supreme Court to issue its ruling on Saturday
The Kenyan Supreme Court ordered a
recount of votes cast at 22 polling station. The re-tallying is meant to
determine if the votes casted exceeded the number of those registered. The
court also ordered the inspection of all forms 34 and 36 used by the IEBC in
tallying the results.
AFRICOG and Odinga argued before the Supreme Court
that various polling stations had increased Kenyatta’s number between when
local polling stations announced publically their totals and when the numbers
reached the tallying center. Since Kenyatta only hit the 50% mark by 8,400
votes, they are demanding the votes to bee invalidated. For example, in once
center, Nyeri Country, they announced publically that Kenyatta won 53,252 votes
but the election commission reported that he won 55,726. They are asserting
that this would trigger a run-off election. (Washington Post, March 27, 2013)
The African Centre for Open Governance (AFRICOG),
which is generally viewed as being on the CORD side, requested that the IEBC
produce marked voter registers used during the March 4 election. They allege
registers the court currently has in their possession (electronic) are not the
registers actually used during the election (manual). Africog’s lawyer argued
that over 70,000 voter discrepancies exist between the electronic and marked
registers. Counsel Kethi Kilonzo explained that it was only the principal
register that could verify the actual number of registered voters. IEBC’s
lawyer Paul Nyamodi stated that the request to supply the registers was
unreasonable and was filed late, therefore cannot be accommodated. He said that
to gather all the registers in the 33,400 polling stations would take about 2
weeks but would gladly avail them at the petitioner’s expense. Chief Willy
Mutunga said the court would decide on Wednesday. (All Africa, March 26, 2013)
At the end of the day, the Kenyan Supreme Court rejected an
application by Odinga to carry out a forensic audit of the IEBC information
technology systems used during the election. The court stated the application
was time-bared as it was filled 4 days after filing the petition. The
application would require production of the IEBC’s entire IT system, which is
not feasible. If the application would have been submitted at the time of the
initial filing, it would have been possible for the court to order IEBC to
provide the audit. (March 26, 2013)
Justice Philip Tunoi ruled that an additional
affidavit (nearly 900 pages long) filed by Odinga will be removed from the
records as they were filed after his initial petition. “The court said that it
could not shoulder the burden of the omissions of the petitioners, who failed
to make available all the affidavits in time or seek through an oral application,
the leave of the court to file the affidavits.” There is no provision for
additional affidavits in the Supreme Court rules, it is left to the court’s
discretion.
The judges ruling on Saturday will focus on four core issues.
The first issue, he said, is: Whether the Third and Fourth
Respondents (Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto) were validly elected and
declared as President-elect and Deputy President-elect of the Republic
of Kenya, respectively, by the Second Respondent (Ahmed Issack Hassan)
in the Presidential Elections held on the 4th of March 2013.
The second is: Whether the presidential election
held on March 4, 2013 was conducted in a free, fair, transparent and
credible manner in compliance with the provisions of the Constitution
and all relevant provisions of the law.
The third is: Whether the rejected votes ought to
have been included in determining the final tallies of votes in favour
of each of the presidential candidates by the First and Second
Respondents (IEBC and Chairman Ahmed Issack Hassan).
The fourth is: What consequential declarations, orders and reliefs should the court grant based on the above determinations.
Two things stand out in the Kenyan General Election of 2013: IEBC’s late procurement of both services and equipment related to the
election, and the fact that all technology should have been tested and debugged
far in advance of the election. The failures that occurred were both
foreseeable and preventable. Of note was the failure to plan for backup power. Electricity
fails routinely in Nairobi, and is often absent in rural areas altogether. In
addition, the cell phones and biometric scanners were not procured until
approximately one month before the election, and were most likely not tested
sufficiently for either load or other stresses. Professor Makau Mutua asks whether the
collapse of the computer systems during vote tallying was due to incompetence,
technological illiteracy, or lack of adequate preparation. The most likely
answer is a lack of adequate preparation, combined with a failure to follow
good advice.
Despite the massive
technological failures, it can be argued that their main impact was a
significant delay in reporting the results, not the integrity of the election
itself. Importantly, the physical count of votes was the final and official
record of the election. The manual voter register worked well to identify
voters at the polling station level. No vote count was finalized at the polling
station level without agreement of the presiding officer and political party
agents. This process was repeated again as all presiding officers reported
their numbers to the reporting officer in full view of political party agents
and observers at the constituency level. All marked and unused ballots were
locked into the transparent tally boxes with final numbers. Those boxes were
tracked from polling station level to the constituency level, and eventually
flown to Bomas to ensure that the final vote was correct.
The idea that manual
ballots trump electronic systems is widely accepted internationally. A
symposium on Voting, Vote Capture, and Vote Counting was held at the Harvard
Kennedy School of Government in June 2004 in the wake of the counting failures
in the Bush vs. Gore presidential race in the US. At that event scholars
indicated that best practices for a secure voting system include a hybrid
system that includes paper for audit and an electronic system for speed and
flexibility. Ironically, their study noted that digital systems can actually
produce more complex failure modes and concluded that paper ballots, carefully
tracked through a custody chain remain necessary to ensure accurate voting
outcomes. The Kenyan election of 2013 illustrates those conclusions well.
As we move forward please consider the following views by scholars. I am personally familiar with the work of all three of these scholars, and I respect their views.
Jendayi Frazer
Jendayi Frazer--former US Assistant Secretary for State for African Affairs, former Harvard Kennedy School Professor, and current adjunct senior fellow for Africa Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations-- critiques the role of the ICC in the recent Kenyan election. She makes several important points that I think are worth noting. First, she notes that The Supreme Court of Kenya correctly allowed Uhuru Kenyatta to run on February 15, 2013 because the ICC cannot bar candidates. Second, she argues that the ICC was pre-emptively trying to try and convict Uhuru Kenyatta in the court of public opinion. Further, she states that the ICC's legitimacy has been compromised by the fact that Luis Moreno Ocampo has only found cases of atrocities and crimes against humanity in Africa. ICC has Fallen Fromt the High Ideals of Global Justice, Accountability, Jendayi Frazer Daily Nation, March 16, 2013. Most importantly, she states that "Kenya's new institutions must be respected and allowed to operate autonomously."
Mahmood Mamdani
The world renowned Africanist Mahmood Mamdani, whose work I teach in my class, ( I recommend Citizen and Subject, among other books) weighs in as well. He argues that there were two key issues in this election, land and the ICC. Indeed, tragically, the three largest landowners in Kenya are its three presidential families, Kenyatta, Moi, and Kibaki. (As an aside, this fact breaks my heart, and it indicates to me that since Independence, Kenya has been more of a predatory state than a developmental one.)Mamdani notes that the explanation for the ethnic reconciliation which occurred this March the 4th between the Kalenjin and the Kikuyu can be found in the domestic impact of the ICC. He argues that the ICC re-ethnicised Kenyan politics, re-dividing the country into two large ethnic coalitions. Kenya 2013: The ICC Election, Mahmood Mamdani, AlJazeera March 15, 2013
Makau Mutua
Makau Mutua is Dean and SUNY Distinguished Professor at SUNY Buffalo Law School and Chair of the Kenya Human Rights Commission. (He has an excellent book entitled Kenya's Quest for Democracy, Lynne Rienner Press) He emphasizes the need for the candidates to accept the court's opinion, even if they disagree with it. He notes that for an election to be gree and fair, there must be universal suffrage. All eligible voters must be able to register in credible, verifiable, tamper proof rolls. Candidates must enjoy an environment free of repression. The state must not favor a candidate or doctor the process. He emphasizes the need for the IEBC to be independent. What Is Odinga's Case Against Uhuru Kenyatta? Makau Mutua, The Daily Nation, March 16, 2013 Importantly he notes
"The Supreme Court would most likely nullify the presidential vote if it's proved the numbers tampered with were sufficient to cannibalise the 'will of the voters.' But this is a tall order, and the statistical evidence must be damn near impeccable."
Kenyatta University students on Friday went on the rampage after unused election materials were discovered in the institution.
The students smashed windows and broke into the Business Students Service Centre where the materials had been kept.
However, the administration explained that the materials were in a room that had been used as a tallying centre by the IEBC.
The commission had hired the university facilities
from February 22 to March 15 and election officials were to clear up
yesterday when the rental ended.
The IEBC materials included jackets, stamps, marker pens, ballot boxes,
ballot papers for presidential, governor and women representative for
Nairobi County.
After the Supreme Court receives the petitions, it will have 14 days to make a ruling.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human rights has congratulated the government and people of Kenya for the broadly successful national elections on March 4. Press Briefing on Kenya And of course, everyone is reading Ngugi A Dictator's Last Laugh. In a moment of irony, everything in Kenya comes for full circle. The funding for my dissertation was, let us say, suboptimal. Accordingly, I did a stint at Kabarak University for nearly two years in Eldama Ravine, Nakuru, Rift Valley. I taught a book by Ngugi to one of my courses on writing, sort of to stick it to Old Man Moi, who would ride around in a blue van, with a rose corsage in his smart suit. But that, my friends, is a different story. If things can cool down, maybe I will have a minute to write about technology! Here is a teaser IEBC and CORD ordered to agree on documents (Daily Nation)
Cord has also withdrawn a demand that Safaricom release a printout of
all messages sent through the hand-held transmission devices; contracts
signed with IEBC in connection with the General Election and
information transmitted to the IEBC server on March 4 and 5.
Safaricom welcomed the withdrawal of the petition.
I was a professor at the American University in Cairo during the year of Revolution (2011). I loved all my students, and I have taught a leadership class there every summer since. But one thing I noticed is that Egyptians do not know how to have a conversation. I love you guys, but every small dispute becomes a shouting match. Parliament is dismissed, and Tahrir has become the parliament of the streets. One thing I love about Kenyans is how calm they are. Perhaps it is innate, and perhaps it is the British influence, but Kenyans are generally a reserved and controlled people.
One of the issues that is really raising temperatures in the post-election environment is the debate about the Hague.
One of my good, helpful ICT colleagues whom I respect enormously said to me
"the fact that the new President is in the Hague should be the main
focus of ALL press coverage!"
TNA Campaign Poster in Kikuyu (photo credit the author)
And my beloved GA wrote (I requested her views on this matter) states
"I think it's ridiculous that the main political figures have charges as
severe as "crimes against humanity." During the second debate [the candidates] spent
quite a bit of time talking about everyone's numerous acts of
corruption and it was quite frustrating to see everyone complacent. "Eh,
it wasn't as bad as it sounds, or that was the other prime ministers."[ .. . ] Not to say that politics/
politicians aren't similar everywhere, but it seemed so blatant. I chew
on how severe the phrase sounds (and in reality should be: the chargeis):
crimes against humanity. It seems like something out of a science
fiction novel. So yes, the fact that people were worried of whether or
not Ruto and Kenyatta would be "distracted" by the court hearings and
whether they could run the administration from Skype is a slap in the
face to how serious these charges are, or should be. If Odinga should
have been charged too, then yes, it's ridiculous that he was running [ . . . ] I saw articles talking about how citizens had
amnesia. Apparently!"
We had already normalized the abnormal, making it seem perfectly
acceptable to have two ICC-indicted politicians on the ballot. At the
first presidential debate, moderator Linus Kaikai had been more
concerned with how Uhuru Kenyatta would “govern if elected president and
at the same time attend trial as a crimes against humanity subject” and
not whether he should be running at all. Any suggestion of consequences
for Uhuru’s and William Ruto’s candidature had been rebuffed with
allegations of neo-colonialism, interference and an implied racism.
People who had spent their adult lives fighting for Kenyans’ justice and
human rights were vilified as stooges for the imperialistic West for
suggesting that the duo should first clear their names before running
for the highest office in the land.
Uhuruto Poster in English (photo credit the author)
So my question to the audience is, given that the Kenyan people elected two persons who have been indicted by the ICC, how do we move forward? Kenyans have spoken. Even if the court decides that there were serious election violations, and that a runoff is needed, Kenyatta won by a large margin. Kenyans may be wrong, but this is what they decided. Now what?
The last line of a recent Jeffrey Gettleman piece in the New York Times caught my attention.
Now that the two have won, many supporters wonder why the International Criminal Court cases are even necessary.
“If Uhuru and Ruto have succeeded in reconciling warring communities,
isn’t that the point?” asked Edward Kirathe, a real estate developer.
“What other interest does the I.C.C. have?”
Found a cool image for the above. Check these bad boys out. Maybe they know what they are doing!
Wenzangu, can we make an agreement with each other? Can we just have a conversation? I feel that the coverage of this election is polarizing folks. The media,journalists, observers, activists, and scholars are as stressed out and angry after the election (such that it is) as CORD and Jubilee candidates going in. We all need to just take a deep breath and relax. As my very calm Kenyan cousins are always telling me, "Cool Down."
There is a war of words going on regarding media coverage. I research the nexus between science and technology and the state, and lately, have spent a lot of time on information and communications technology (ICT). ICTs include television, radio, and yes, print media, which is increasingly carried online.
To paraphrase Nelly, "it's getting hot in herre" (C'mon, I am in the diaspora) or as a Kenyan might say, "moto sana."
Poor Michela Wrong, she is just inciting the wrath of the Kenyan blogosphere. But it is a fair matchup, World class author, New York Times blogger and well recognized British journo against the beautiful Kenyan TV journalist Terryane Chebet.
Terryanne is not too happy. Wrong is Wrong You really need to read Terry's piece for yourself, but here is the rundown. She writes "being a reporter in Africa does not make you an expert in African matters." In this sentence, she echoes a sentiment which my former classmate, BBC Reporter Komla Dumor made in a recent talk Telling the African Story. (Disclaimer- I am stealing this link from Terry, but Komla and I went to the JFK School together, so forgive me dada.)
So back to Terry. She is rightfully incensed that for some reason African journalists do not get to run coverage on Africa. I was a little puzzled about this in the coverage of the Kenyan election. Damn, I miss Jeff Koinange. That voice! Koinange at Arise . Why was he not front and center on the coverage? I just do not get it.
Terry is unhappy that Michela Wrong has, in her view, unfairly insinuated that the Kenyan media is corrupt. She notes that "there is a weighing scale that measures the peace and economic future of an entire country against the telling of anxiety that couldn't really be filmed, as really nothing had happened yet."
Okay, so read Terry's article and tell me what you think. Then, there is Gathara. He makes some valuable points. I linked to his article in a previous post, so check out his work. I like his thoughts here, although I am not sure I agree with them. It is said that truth is the first casualty of war. In this case the war
was internal, hidden from all prying eyes. Who cares about the veracity
of the poll result? So what if not all votes were counted? We had
peace. “The peace lobotomy,” one tweet called it. “Disconnect brain,
don't ask questions, don't criticize. Just nod quietly.”
What maturity is this that trembles at the first sign of disagreement or
challenge? What peace lives in the perpetual shadow of a
self-annihilating violence?
So Gathara, ndugu, I watched the election. I think if not all the votes were counted we need a recount for those contested areas. That is the normal procedure. I am not just nodding quietly, really, I am not. I am just saying that let the process play itself out.
So what I am disagreeing with or challenging is this. Is the fix in? Call me crazy, but I saw a peaceful, free and fair election in the 5 polling stations I was at. That is my story and I am sticking to it. I went to one out of 290 constituencies and then to Bomas. I am waiting to hear about the other 289.
I am beginning to feel like I am considered an "apologist" or a brainless, knee-jerk Jubilee advocate for stating this position. (I think I made it clear in an earlier post that I hold no truck with UK) But I refuse to let my views conform to the hegemonic discourse when that is not what I saw. Let's count the 30 constituencies that are having problems. Lets see what happened. Let's let our well trained, highly capable Kenyan jurists have their moment. Lets have a discussion about the spoiled ballots, and how to handle that, and rafiki, lets not panic.
