By Christian Beboni
The massive bookshelves in Koki Muli’s house cannot escape the eye. I notice rare titles such as the Dalai Lama Bible and another that talks about fixing failed states.
Koki is currently reading US president Barack Obama’s Audacity of Hope and Mary Kay by Mary Kay — a brand name in the world of cosmetics. They must be providing her with some form of inspiration for the book she intends to write. I think.
Koki Muli has a passion for electioneering processes |
A pioneer and indeed the only African woman (the other four being men), qualified to train and accredit students in election processes under the BRIDGE (Building Resources in Democracy, Governance and Elections) curriculum, this is no mean feat. Bridge is a professional development course in election administration, and the only one in use worldwide.
Indeed, the Kriegler Commission, which was investigating the country’s post-election violence following the controversial 2007 polls, recommended bridge training for the new electoral commission. The curriculum is intended to improve the skills, knowledge, and confidence of both election professionals and key stakeholders in the electoral process, including members of political parties, the media and electoral observers.
Since she left her job as the Executive Director, Institute of Education in Democracy, where she served from 2002 to last year, she has been conducting a lot of training in elections.
Her latest assignment was in Southern Sudan where she helped in the training of more than I00 people from five states. Sudan’s first General Elections after a 21-year war that ended in 2005 takes place in July, this year.
Koki is an advocate of the High Court of Kenya and holds a Masters Degree from the University of London. She receives her doctorate from Oxford University later this year. Although some media reports have referred to her as Dr Koki, in her modesty, she maintains that she is not yet one until she is awarded her doctorate.
"I may have completed my PhD but I am yet to be awarded the degree. I am a bit tickled when the media refers to me by that title. I am not one of those people who want to be referred thus until I have the doctorate in my pocket," she says.
Her focus on election processes peaked in the early 1990s when she worked with the International Commission of Jurists — Kenya section, and together with the Federation of Women Lawyers, they established the National Elections Monitoring Unit. This would later monitor the country’s first multi-party elections in 1992.
Muli reads widely and she intends to write a book on her pet subject — elections. |
"That was a difficult task given the amount of work that had to be ploughed in educating voters and polling agents," she says. "Our focus was not just on election monitoring but also on identifying gaps in voter education considering that this was the advent of multi-party elections. It was imperative that people understood the new procedures of voting, polling, counting and of announcing votes."
That was not the end. A stint in the UK afterwards saw her return to observe the 1997 elections where she was stationed in Kilome constituency. This served to horn her skills further. Koki has since trained election administrators in many African countries including South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, DRC, Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya. She has also monitored elections in several others, including the United Kingdom.
Horning her skills
In order to improve her skills and internalise elements of elections in her work, she sometimes watches videos of different electoral processes. One such video is on the 2002 General Election of Papua New Guinea where her input has helped draw valuable lessons. The elections were largely irregular that year. "Ballot boxes were burnt. People were beaten to death. It was the worst elections there. It was terrible," she says.
But in just five years, however, she is glad that the electoral commission had been completely transformed. "It turned out to be the most impressive in the history of the island country," says Koki.
Her message in providing this example is that it is about political commitment and will.
"If you are interested in something, you can do miracles, and that is what Papua New Guinea has done."
Kenya is now facing a similar predicament. The Electoral Commission of Kenya was disbanded early in the year following accusations of massive irregularities in the 2007 polls that left about 1,500 people dead and 350,000 others displaced.
Muli has been vocal in her push for the democratic space in Kenya and has said as much in various forums. Photos: Boniface Okendo/Standard |
Last month, reigning controversy saw Parliament reject the candidate who had been picked by the Parliamentary Select Committee on Constitutional Review mandated with the selection of chair of the interim electoral commission. Koki, among other high-ranking personalities had applied for the job.
Through her experience, Koki asserts that the new electoral head must be committed to restoring confidence in the electoral process.
"I do not have to be that person, but it is critical that whoever takes over understands what needs to be done, how it should be done, with who in terms of stakeholders, and with what resources," she advises.
Having trodden on a unique career path, the warm-hearted woman is passionate about women making a difference in society. Her take to women: "We can influence reforms from our positions, no matter how small they are. At home, you can guide your children. You can provide leadership that teaches people the value of gender equality and equity, and the language of respect for women. As women, we set the stage for our children and the next generation," she says.
too few women in parliament
For this reason, she takes issue with Kenya’s Parliament for having only 21 women legislators out of 222 parliamentarians.
"If you were a foreigner and you walked into Parliament, which is the face of this country, you would think that if it were representative of the population of Kenya, then there must be very few women in the country," she observes.
As a mother of two girls, and married to a Frenchman, Koki feels she has more time on her hands to bond with her family after going into consultancy work following her departure from IED 11 months ago. She reveals IED required a lot of hard work and time because it involved mobilisation of funds and managing human resource while providing strategic leadership. This meant that she was bogged down with details of managing people as well as an institution.
Finds pleasure in gardening
But now, things have changed for the better since she can afford to spend more time with her loved ones.
"In being a consultant, you do not have to deal with so many logistics; it is like drinking a pint of milk without having to take care of the cow. It has given me a lot of time on the side to spend with my children," she says.
Koki says she now has time for other things she enjoys as well such as cooking and looking after her four dogs. She also finds pleasure in gardening, as is exemplified from the well tendered strawberry plants and tree nursery at a corner of her neatly manicured compound. She has planted several trees including one called Obama, which was sowed on the day Barack Obama won the American presidential elections last November.
"I usually plant a tree to commemorate an extraordinary event," she discloses, pointing at another, which she planted when Prof Wangari Maathai was named the 2004 Nobel Peace Laureate. It stands prominently in the company of indigenous trees that typify the compound.
The skills of planting trees, she says, were acquired when she was a young girl growing up in different parts of the country. She schooled in Mombasa, Meru, Kitui and Murang’a, up to her A’ levels, where she learnt to live like the natives of those areas, speaking their languages including Luhya so fluently. And she points out confidently, "I speak many languages so it is difficult for me to see myself as a Kamba. Instead I consider myself a Kenyan."
