By OKECH KENDO

Three months after post-election violence, a retired South African judge, Johannes Kriegler, was invited to help Kenyans understand the massive mess the defunct Electoral Commission made of the 2007 poll.

 The Kreigler report was expected to inject insight into lessons from the ECK’s moonlighting with vested interests.  The dead ECK went to bed with the ruling clique, thus throwing the country off balance.

Warning signals

On the eve of another General Election, there are signals not much has been learnt from the mistakes of the 2007-2008 post-election violence.  The deaths of about 1,200 Kenyans, displacement of another 600,000, loss of property worth billions of shillings, and ruin of the economy do not seem to have given new urgency for free and fair elections.

Thousands of internally displaced persons, victims of the 2007-2008 post-election violence, are yet to be resettled.    Top perpetrators of the violence are yet to be vindicated or punished for their alleged crimes of omission or commission.  Impunity still runs amok.

The security machinery, which the Waki Commission accused of killing civilians, is still intact. Security agencies are yet to attain the face of Kenya, even as election date remains the subject of legal submissions.

Politicians, even those with presidential ambitions, are still mobilising support around tribe. Some are using malice as a campaign plunk to undermine free and fair competition for national leadership.  Politicians and parties are calling for regional voting blocks to acquire or retain power. In the maze of this ethnic and partisan conundrum, the national interest is overlooked.

Time warp

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, Parliament, and the Presidency personify the confusion.  Or shall we say indecision to admit the country is under a new Constitution?

Parliament is yet to pass all election-related Bills, and it is still playing around with election date.  Some MPs were contemplating an August 2013 elections before the Court of Appeal ruled on the March 4 date on Tuesday.

 The presidency is still caught in a time warp, with appointments that undermine reforms. This was the general public understanding of attempts by President Kibaki to impose county commissioners on country governments.  Even though the High Court declared the appointments are unconstitutional, the presidency has not relented.

Discredited structures

Worse, the presidency’s failure to constitute the National Police Service Commission, which has delayed police reforms and appointments of Inspector General of Police and deputy, indicate an Executive still determined to face the future with the discredited security structures that muddled 2007 elections.

The so-called tender crisis at the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission may merely be a tiny portion of a monumental pre-election crisis.

The IEBC must resolve the crisis of confidence to reclaim public trust in its ability to deliver free and fair elections. If the commission cannot manage Sh3.9 billion tender for electronic voter registration, observers wonder how it would run other election-related tenders.

If Sh17 billion elections account were overwhelming, how would IEBC have behaved with Sh40 billion-kitty, which was its initial budget? There are insidious intrigues at the commission than the public knows. The spillage of personal interests in tendering and procurement could well be the beginning of an electoral bungle.  

Vested interests

The tender stalemate is not about which of the four bidders – Face Technologies, 4G of India, Ontrack, and Symphony – was qualified to kit biometric voter registration.

Documents from knowledgeable sources about the intrigues indicate infiltration of vested interests. There are connected individuals who have placed personal takes above delivery of effective voter registration materials.  These individuals are working with international firms, which are propping up the actual bidders.

 Where is “my cut” is active at the commission.  Conflict of interest derailed the process, which was already behind schedule. The hands of a former commissioner, a top IEBC official, and international firms willing to play ball have been cited in the tender stalemate.

 With just seven months to the General Election, IEBC could not have got the timing of the paralysis wrong. So wrong it is undermining the credibility of the first elections under the new Constitution.

Justice Kriegler’s warned,  “Think for a moment with your heads, not your guts and hearts. Elections in Kenya have been notoriously bad.

They have been bad for a long time. Kenyans are used to having rigging at polling stations, violence, bribery, and stuffing of ballot boxes. One can understand where you are coming from ... climbing the hill towards democracy.”

Pain

“Before you know it will be 2012 and it’s going to be another repeat of an election year where each time you are beset by pain and suffering instead of joy.

“Elections should be about the people of Kenya. Elections should be an expression of national solidarity, a joint step towards the future of the country, not an occasion to kill one another over land or historical injustices.”

The year 2012 is. Rigging tenders is bad enough, and the IEBC must stay warned messing the March 2013 General Election would be a capital disaster for the country. 

IEBC commissioners were vetted and sworn-in to serve the public interest. They should not let Kenyans down. The commissioners and the IEBC must work together to deliver on their mandate.  They have no choice.

Writer is The Standard’s Managing Editor Quality and Production.

kendo@standardmedia.co.ke