Debate rages over proposed polling centres in the USA

What you need to know:

  • As soon as the report appeared in the Daily Nation, Cord supporters in the US issued a press statement claiming the Jubilee Alliance was planning to rig the diaspora vote.
  • Mr Odhiambo said many pro-opposition members in the US were skeptical that Kenyans in the six proposed polling centres were biased towards government.
  • “The reality is that the Kikuyus are the dominant Kenyan group in the US whichever state one chooses. If the criterion was based on those states with a significant population of Kenyans, then in my view, there is no cause for alarm, but as you know, this is a political process and when it comes to politics, Kenyans are very partisan,” said Abubakar Rajab of Wilmington, Delaware.

PHILADELPHIA, USA

Last Saturday, Ann Kariuki, a Kenyan-born resident of Springfield, Pennsylvania, drove for more than three hours to Silver Springs, Maryland, to join a group of Kenyans in the area who were welcoming her former collegemate, Kenyan ambassador to the US Robinson Githae.

The welcoming ceremony, a foods-drinks-and-speeches affair organised by Kenyans living in the Washington, DC, Maryland and Virginia areas commonly known as the DMV has become sort of a tradition for any incoming Kenyan ambassador. It is usually a festive affair full of song and dance, prayers and speeches.

“I like the food, the music and generally all the trappings of the occasion because they demonstrate our shared values and common hospitality as Kenyans, but to be honest with you, I’m interested in the ambassador’s vision for the diaspora especially diaspora voting,” Ms Kariuki told the Sunday Nation moments before the ceremony began.

At the event the new Kenyan diplomat announced that the Uhuru Kenyatta administration had chosen several major cities in the US to be polling centres for the next general election.

Although many Kenyans living abroad had anticipated debate around the criteria used by the government to choose Dallas, Texas, Boston, Massachusetts, Atlanta, Georgia, Minneapolis, Minnesota and Seattle, Washington, as polling stations, the firestorm that followed this announcement was unprecedented.

As soon as the report appeared in the Daily Nation, Cord supporters in the US issued a press statement claiming the Jubilee Alliance was planning to rig the diaspora vote.

“If you live here in the US, then you know very well that the cities that the government has identified as polling stations are dominated by people from the so called Mt Kenya region. How then can this not be a strategy for Jubilee to rig the elections?” asked Jimmy Odhiambo, a resident of Dallas, Texas.

Mr Odhiambo said many pro-opposition members in the US were skeptical that Kenyans in the six proposed polling centres were biased towards government.

He said that the six cities are in states dominated by people from central Kenya and that the government will likely inflate the numbers to favour the incumbent President.

But there are those who believe the poling places in the US were selected wisely based on the Kenyan diaspora demographics despite the fact that majority of Kenyans found in those states are members of the Kikuyu ethnic group.

NO CAUSE FOR ALARM

“The reality is that the Kikuyus are the dominant Kenyan group in the US whichever state one chooses. If the criterion was based on those states with a significant population of Kenyans, then in my view, there is no cause for alarm, but as you know, this is a political process and when it comes to politics, Kenyans are very partisan,” said Abubakar Rajab of Wilmington, Delaware.

Ms Kariuki agrees with Mr Rajab that the announcement was bound to cause a controversy. She said the idea of voting in the six cities was floated before the last election but rejected by Jubilee who believed the ambassador at the time (Elkanah Odembo) was a close ally of then Prime Minister Raila Odinga.

Lister Nyaringo, a Kenyan resident of Jersey City, New Jersey, believes technology-based voting would be the best option for diaspora voting, saying that there are Kenyans in all 50 states.

“So this strategy is meant to ensure that only those who are banded together by ethnic affiliations get to vote,” she said.

In addition to its embassy in Washington, Kenya has consulates in New York and Los Angeles. Earlier this year the Foreign ministry named honorary consuls in Minneapolis, Atlanta and Chicago, Illinois.

Jorum Ragem, a Kenyan in California, said the the estimated two million diaspora votes could determine Kenya’s next election.