Cabinet plots to woo Kenyans for December poll

The Cabinet has embarked on a charm offensive to convince Kenyans that December is the best time to hold next year’s historic General Election. (Read: Bill seeking changes tabled in House)

As part of the campaign, the government has declassified a Cabinet paper which makes the case for December elections.

The ministries of Justice and Gender have been mandated to organise a retreat to lobby MPs to pass the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill 2011 that will allow for the first amendment of the Constitution.

The Cabinet also plans to meet its critics, especially the Commission for the implementation of the Constitution, the civil society, professional organisations, trade unions, employers, religious organisations and the media.

Media campaign

Justice minister Mutula Kilonzo, who prepared the paper, said it will be published in newspapers to explain to Kenyans why the change is inevitable.

“It was adopted unanimously and the Cabinet has now decided to declassify the document so that the public can understand that position,” he said.

Among other things, the paper seen by the Sunday Nation argues that more time is needed to induct members of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission who are expected to be sworn into office in the coming week and train election officials.

The brief says it would be impractical to hold elections in August, citing several hurdles.

Article 101 (1) of the new Constitution requires that a General Election is held on the second Tuesday in August every five years.

“This provision is likely to have adverse effects on voter registration and inspection of the register of voters, the delimitation of boundaries, the term of the current MPs and the country’s national budget cycle,” says the paper.

But a December election will give Treasury time to raise around Sh20 billion needed for the exercise.

An alternative argument by constitutional lawyers such as Prof Yash Pal Ghai is that the country should go to elections in March 2013 which would coincide with the expiry of Parliament’s term.

But there would be a hitch since President Kibaki’s term expires in December 2012, five years after he was sworn into office.

It argues that the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) would not have sufficient time to create the mandatory 80 new constituencies.

It is estimated that the earliest the constituencies would be in place is August 9 next year and, in view of this, the Cabinet argues, it would be impractical to hold elections in the same month.

The Constitution requires the creation of these constituencies to reach the mandatory 290 MPs threshold in the next Parliament.

“You will need to then register voters and have them inspect the register once it is prepared. A lot of arguments that support the August date are based on an inadequate reading of the Constitution,” Mr Kilonzo said.

There is also the budget cycle problem; should the elections be held on the second Tuesday of August, it means that Parliament would have to be dissolved on June 13.

If the House is dissolved on that date, the Finance minister would not have presented the budget and MPs would go home before they have a chance to consider and approve the budget which would leave the government and the IEBC without any money to run elections.

According to Mr Kilonzo, the budget cycle cannot be changed because of constitutional demands that the Finance minister lay estimates before the House in March.

The Kenyan budget cycle is also synchronised with the rest of the East African Community states in line with economic and political agreements signed between member nations, Mr Kilonzo said.

Mr Kilonzo and his Cabinet colleagues argue that the country will also need to have a fully operational office of the Registrar of Political Parties.

The Cabinet position is similar to that taken by IEBC chairman-designate Isaack Hassan when he appeared before the parliamentary Constitutional Implementation Oversight Committee recently.

Mr Hassan said the push for the next polls to be held in August was “populist” and impractical to execute.

Mr Hassan said Attorney-General Githu Muigai and a member of the team that wrote the Constitution, Mr Otiende Amolo, had both advised the commission that the next General Election was not meant to be held in August 2012.

“The fact is, we cannot hold elections in August,” Mr Hassan told assistant minister Alfred Khang’ati, who had asked him to clarify the issue arising from the controversy surrounding the date of the next General Election.

“Our view as the commission is that December is the ideal date. When we did the timetable; it was going to push us to November 2012. For practical reasons the General Election can only happen in December, never in August,” the elections chief said.

“We have to be realistic; we cannot just go with what is populist. When the minister (of Justice Mutula Kilonzo) talks, I don’t think he’s talking from a vacuum. We work very closely with the minister. When the minister talks, I agree with him entirely.”

Valid argument

He noted, however, that Prof Ghai, the reputable constitutional lawyer, had made a “very valid argument” that the polls should be held in 2013 and that he won’t be surprised if the courts upheld that position.

The IIEC chairman said that because the matter was pending in the Supreme Court, the electoral team was “ready for the worst”.

“We have a worst-case scenario. We have a very professional secretariat. The Justice Minister has a plan for the worst-case scenario. If the (Supreme) Court decides on August, we’re prepared, but it will be very difficult,” the elections chief told the MPs.

Reacting to doubts expressed by assistant minister Joseph Nkaissery and Gwassi MP John Mbadi, the elections boss insisted that there were many loose ends that have to be tied for the process to run smoothly and for the results to be credible.

There is a pending constitutional amendment motion in Parliament seeking to change the election date from the second Tuesday of August in every fifth year, to the third Monday of December.

Mr Hassan said that there has to be sufficient time for civic education because of the number of positions for which voters will be casting their ballots is enormous.

In the next polls Kenyans will be required to vote for the President, the MP, the County Governor, the Senator, the Women’s Representative in the county and representatives to serve in the county assemblies.

“People need to understand what they are voting for; but nobody knows what the actual details of those offices are. We also have to conduct voter education for voters in the diaspora,” Mr Hassan said, suggesting that the process requires lots of time, planning and execution for it to be credible.

He said the commission was planning a mock poll in Kajiado and Malindi as it seeks to put final touches on the logistics of how the next elections will be handled.

A passing analysis of the number of candidates, agents, elective positions and electoral staff required shows that managing the polls is likely to be a logistical nightmare.

But the elections boss said that his team was keen not to repeat the mistakes of its predecessor, which bungled Kenya’s last General Election in 2007.

Having trust

“If you don’t hide anything … you’re able to continue having trust and then have peaceful elections. Integrity of the people who manage the process and that of the process itself is important,” Mr Hassan said.

He said the commission will effectively use the lessons learnt at the referendum, and that the use of technology will be improved to culminate in electronic voting come 2017.

He said such transparency in the release of results gave confidence to the contestants to an extent that it made acceptance of the results easy.

“I see a process in future where losers will concede defeat before we announce the results officially,” said Mr Hassan.

Other IEBC nominees vetted by the CIOC were Dr Yusuf Nzibo, Ms Muthoni Wangai, Mr Abdullahi Sharawe, Mr Albert Bwire, Mr Thomas Letangule, Ms Lillian Bokeeye, Mr Mohammed Alawi, and Ms Galma Godana.

The names were approved by Parliament last week.