IEBC officials count ballots on August 8, 2017 at the Victoria Primary School polling station in Kisumu. PHOTO | FREDRIK LERNERYD | AFP
The Supreme Court’s nullification of the August 8, 2017 presidential election result triggered a chain of events that laid bare the Kenyan elite’s contempt for free and fair polls.
The President, who should be the beacon of the rule of law, went around the country calling the judges “crooks”.
The government machinery activated a system that would assure the President victory in the repeat election, at whatever cost.
Stunned by the sheer criminalities of the nullified election, the opposition undertook an incoherent campaign for electoral reforms.
When its demands were not met, it boycotted the repeat election, which turned out more farcical than the nullified one.
Not a single safeguard for credible elections existed for the October 26 repeat election. The IEBC, facing violence, could not deploy throughout the country.
LOW TURNOUT
No election was held in four of the 47 counties, while in 20 others the turnout was as low as ten percent of registered voters. Returning officers were hired in a most opaque manner.
The results transmission system was deliberately subverted. Fake result declaration Forms abounded, including from constituencies where the election had not taken place.
While the Supreme Court upheld the result of the election, dissatisfied Kenyans embarked on a campaign of resistance to salvage electoral justice for themselves, culminating in Raila Odinga’s swearing-in as the ‘People’s President’ on January 30, 2018.
In the research for my book, ‘Kenya: The Failed Quest for Electoral Justice’, I learnt that the event was initially opposed by most opposition strategists and Raila himself.
However, the uncompromising rejection of Uhuru Kenyatta’s legitimacy by their core base forced them to go ahead with it.
HANDSHAKE
Seeing the mammoth crowds that risked their lives to attend Raila’s swearing-in, the Jubilee government manoeuvred to co-opt Raila through the now famous ‘’handshake’’ which is fashioning an elite consensus to address instabilities around the 2017 elections.
It is fascinating to watch how the handshake will pan out, but its success will most likely be at the expense of electoral justice.
As the main opposition leader for two decades, Raila has done his best to fight for free and fair presidential elections.
But there are signs that he is tired and could be ready to compromise with his tormentors in exchange for ceremonial political leadership and a decent pension.
The struggle for electoral justice should never have been one man’s. In any event, while he has been the victim of rigging, Raila’s compulsion is to triage the impact of electoral fraud on Kenyans rather than reinforce measures that give effective power to the people. His party, ODM, is one of the least democratic in its internal processes.
NATIONAL POLITICS
While stabilising national politics, an Uhuru-Raila alliance will stand in the way of a movement to give political power to the people, an indispensable effort in addressing the myriad challenges that Kenya faces.
Indeed, readers of my book will learn that Uhuru, in his bid to forge political elite consensus, reached out to Raila at two crucial points during his first term.
The peace brought about by the handshake is enough evidence that the Jubilee government was built on the Kikuyu and Kalenjin domination of the state rather than electoral mandate.
Insecure to the core, Jubilee negated gains in governance and economy of the preceding 10 years. Poverty and unemployment are rising even as Kenya gobbles up huge foreign loans.
National institutions are collapsing. After the Supreme Court was widely praised for nullifying the August election, it seems to have succumbed to the intimidation that followed the judgment.
FINANCIAL STARVATION
While the Chief Justice has publicly complained about financial starvation, some of the Judiciary’s actions in the supposedly revamped war on corruption have caused worries.
For example, when the NYS suspects were arrested, there were reports that the Chief Justice held a meeting with the magistrates handling the cases and urged them to be firm on the suspects.
The magistrates then declined to give bail to the suspects.
Against constitutional provisions for the independence of the police service and other oversight institutions, Jubilee has brought these organs under direct presidential control and neutered their power.
Non-state institutions like the civil society and media have also been targeted through repressive tactics, and some of their leaders compromised through state-sanctioned bribery.
The international community, which historically was the last line of defence for democracy in times of crises, is fully synced with the national elite, notwithstanding the efforts of progressive Scandinavian missions.
ELECTORAL JUSTICE
The confluence of odds against electoral justice has never been greater. Yet, to seriously address the pervasive corruption and inequality, Kenyans will require that election results fully reflects their will, both at the national executive level and in other races within the dominant parties.
Kenyans themselves must fight for electoral justice, through a progressive movement unifying the poor across ethnic, gender, age and religious lines.
To do so requires political competence, which encompasses not only skills but also values.
The handshake provides a good space for reformers to tap the energy of those riled up for change by supporting pragmatic alliances resisting the William Ruto gravy train and the handshake’s short-term goals.
The writer is the author of Kenya: The Failed Quest for Electoral Justice, which was launched by Ugandan opposition leader Dr Kizza Besigye in Nairobi last month.
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