Sham polls the result of weak institutions

People queue to vote at Gatina Primary School in Kawangware, Nairobi, during repeat presidential polls on October 26, 2017. PHOTO | FREDRIK LERNERYD | AFP

What you need to know:

  • Thursday’s repeat ballot was probably the most shameful event to have taken place at taxpayers’ expense since independence.
  • Despite confessing that he could not guarantee a credible ballot, Mr Wafula Chebukati went ahead and oversaw the fiasco.
  • The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights was timid and invisible when needed most.
  • The Catholic Church made desperate efforts at meeting both Mr Kenyatta and Mr Odinga but their overtures were snubbed.

If elections are intended to be a nation building exercise then perhaps Kenya should try dictatorship. Thursday’s repeat ballot was probably the most shameful event to have taken place at taxpayers’ expense since independence. Less than half of the registered voters showed up to vote and the other fifty per cent stayed away in protest, deciding that there was nothing or nobody that justified them standing in line for.

The sham ballot was the final and inevitable result of weak, compromised, divided and incompetent institutions that have failed the country at its most critical moment.

The IEBC carries the greatest burden of responsibility in this respect. Despite confessing that he could not guarantee a credible ballot, Mr Wafula Chebukati went ahead and oversaw the fiasco.

He now insists that voting will be repeated in four counties Saturday despite the fact that the vast majority of voters there insist that they don’t want any election.

VIOLENCE

His stubbornness and recklessness will most certainly lead to violence and probably loss of life.

The National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) too has disgraced itself by its indifference to the growing ethnic tensions and petty responses to hatred spewing from the filthy mouths of politicians on both sides as well as bloggers hired to spread lies on social media.

The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) was timid and invisible when needed most.

The business community had such conflicting interests that they could not agree to support the civil society and trade unions decision to push for a postponement of the election.

The Catholic Church made desperate efforts at meeting both Mr Kenyatta and Mr Odinga but their overtures were snubbed.

POSTPONE ELECTIONS

The Bishops had hoped to convince both men to postpone the election but when that opportunity passed the best they could advise their faithful was to vote or boycott peacefully. Yet, I wonder why the Prelates could not have called for a deferment on their own or in the company of civil society and the trade unions if they were convinced that it was imprudent to proceed with the ballot.

Finally, the Supreme Court let the nation down with the unexplained absence of three of its members on Wednesday.

The continuous harassment of the Supreme Court as ‘wakora’ had taken its toll and so the case to postpone the ballot was adjourned indefinitely.

The accumulative effect of weak and divided institutions is that we ended up with a sham election that will not satisfy anyone, even the eventual winner.

CHAOS

Maybe out of the chaos and confusion people may well come to their senses and realise that we have gone too far and that the country needs to cool down and start talking. Another series of court cases and appeals will make lawyers rich but Kenyans poorer and more divided. Elections and courts alone will not heal the wounds that exist.

A new leadership is required at every level. Those figures are there hiding within their professions and comfort zones.

They need to become visible, combine resources and reclaim this great nation from the predators that we call politicians who want to capture the state and enslave its people.

 [email protected] @GabrielDolan1