Alternative leaders must rise up to save the country

Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission chairman Wafula Chebukati during a press conference at Bomas of Kenya on October 17, 2017. Mr Chebukati said the commission is so divided and as such, he cannot assure Kenyans of a free, fair and credible election. PHOTO | JEFF ANGOTE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • A number of citizen groups and individuals have been considering ways in which alternative leadership can be found as could steer the country away from peril.
  • However, their recognition of the looming danger has made groups come together, transcending the limitations that usually keep them apart.
  • I have been involved in several such discussions where the common ground that the country is in a crisis has already been established.

This is a portentous week for Kenya, when what happens is likely to greatly clarify the extent of political crisis into which the country has fallen.

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission has promised to conduct a fresh presidential election which the opposition has boycotted and has campaigned against, and which the ruling Jubilee Party is eager to participate in, believing that the election will give the President the political and legal legitimacy he needs to govern for a second term.

Besides disagreements at the political level, which have overshadowed concerns about technical preparations for the election, the IEBC goes into the election from a position of adversity following the resignation, last week, of one of its commissioners.

Roselyne Akombe resigned as a commissioner while on an official trip abroad, and has since gone back to the United States, where she was previously based, and on her way out, she claimed that the election this week will be without credibility.

ELECTION BOYCOTT

Her actions are unlikely to improve public confidence in the IEBC, especially after the chair, Wafula Chebukati, came out to endorse the criticism provided by the departed commissioner, adding that he cannot guarantee a credible election as he lacks control over key processes, as well as support from colleagues, at the IEBC.

The political and the technical have linked up in the calls by the opposition to their supporters to boycott the election.

Scenes of mobs disrupting IEBC field staff as they prepare for the election have since been witnessed in opposition areas, raising questions as to the quality of the polling that will take place in parts of the country, and also as to the safety of election officials.

The country is on a path of divergent objectives, where the IEBC, supported by the ruling Jubilee Party, is determined to go on with the election, whatever its quality, while the opposition is doing everything to sabotage it.

CRISIS

Clearly, both Jubilee and the opposition Nasa believe that even if run poorly, the election will confer some kind of benefit to Jubilee.

That is why one side is so determined to ensure the election goes on, while the other is as determined to make it fail.

Over the last two weeks, and in the face of mounting evidence that the country is deep into crisis, it has dawned on a number of actors that are not necessarily involved in politics, that managing Kenya’s troubles is now well beyond the capacities of the country’s formal institutions.

A number of citizen groups and individuals have been considering ways in which alternative leadership can be found as could steer the country away from peril.

LOOMING DANGER

A number of these alternative groups have no history of working together and may not trust one another.

However, their recognition of the looming danger has made groups come together, transcending the limitations that usually keep them apart.

I have been involved in several such discussions where the common ground that the country is in a crisis has already been established.

The next logical question has been whether the citizen groups are prepared to come together to address the crisis, effectively playing roles that are reserved for State institutions.

ELECTION

Again, the answer has been encouraging and people have volunteered time and the use of their connections with people in authority to make this happen.

Not surprisingly, discussions have also dwelt on the fresh election this week and how this affects the crisis.

In the discussions I have been privy to, there is common ground, first, that the fresh election is unlikely to be credible, and second, that the crisis is now beyond elections and will not go away whether or not the fresh election happens this week.

Further, common ground has emerged that far from going towards resolving the crisis, holding the election this week will probably compound the crisis, as the electoral event is capable of creating new grievances, compounding the existing ones.

DELAY

In the circumstances, some groups have already called for a delay in the fresh presidential election, to allow for dialogue.

Because of concern about legalities, there have been suggestions that the IEBC should seek cover from the Supreme Court, in vacating the date set for the fresh election and also the constitutional timelines within which the fresh election must be held.

During a reflection that I attended last week, a colleague provided a case study on the role that alternative leadership played in Tunisia, the country most closely associated with the Arab Spring, at a time of crisis similar to what Kenya faces now.

The Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet was a disparate group of unionists, employers, lawyers and human rights activists, who helped to prevent the Jasmine revolution from descending into chaos, like the uprisings in other Arab spring countries.

For its role, the quartet went on to win the Noble Peace Prize for 2015.

TUNISIA

After the assassination of two of Tunisia’s opposition leaders in the space of six months in 2013, the country went into political turmoil characterised by street protesters calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Ali Larayedh’s government, and paralysing an unfinished constitution-making process.

The quartet, the Tunisian General Labor Union, the Tunisian Confederation of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts, the Tunisian Human Rights League and the National Bar Association, came together to provide leadership which promoted the consensus necessary for the successful ratification of the constitution and the organisation of parliamentary and presidential elections in late 2014.

CRITICISM

The quartet refused to be held back by criticism that it had no legal status to lead the country’s political processes or over the fact that it was exercising a self-appointed mandate, which contrasted with claims that the political leaders that were running down the country derived their mandate from the people.

The discussion on Tunisia was meant to inspire Kenyan groups to a realisation that during a crucial time in the country’s history, they too can make a difference.

Since the formal leadership has failed the country, alternative leaders must emerge and what alternative leaders do this week will be profoundly important for Kenya.