AFRICANEWS

Kenya

Churches conduct an election postmortem

Elections

Was the just ended general elections in Kenya "Free and Fair," ? Ask Kenyans and the answer will come straight. "It was not free and fair alright but people made it free. Inspite of the irregularities, there was dignity.

"Wherever we went we were respected". That was the comment from one of the local election observers seconded by the National Council of Christian Churches of Kenya to monitor the just ended second multi-party election.

Perhaps one of the most distinct features of the elections was the presence of the swelling number of local observers, especially from the National Christian Church organizations.

The National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK had trained 7,000 poll Watchers which accounted for 26% of the task force. The Catholic church contributed 15,000 poll watchers for the same purpose working in conjunction and comparing notes with NCCK.

During a post mortem meeting at an extraordinary meeting by the NCCK held in Nairobi on 8th January 1998, a few days after the swearing Ceremony to the triumphant President Moi (on his last term and 18 years on the saddle), the assembled church leaders pointed out that the elections were not free and fair.

Many irregularities during the just ended elections were narrated by leaders among the audience, a majority of whom took part in the elections as observers, contestants or election officers.

Nearly all the delegates and observers from different parts of the country complained about the elaborate use of money and bribery even on polling day. Another general complaint was that not all stations started work at 6.a m as had been announced by the country's electoral Commission headed by Mr. Samuel Kivuiti whose appointment by the incumbent President Moi shortly before the elections had raised eyebrows especially from the country's 15 plus presidential hopefuls, the Non governmental organizations, the churches and other interested voices.

Many delegates complained of ballot books getting mysteriously lost from polling stations causing confusions and even stamped in some cases. Notable was a report by a poll observer from one of the provinces who narrated on how she saw police officers acting as agents for KANU. A representative from Changamwe Constituency in the Coast Province reported that seven ballot boxes marked for KANU were discovered in one of the polling stations. Also a voter from Safina party in Central Province made the same claim but that the boxes "mysteriously disappeared" when the voters confronted the election officials. Campaign posters for President Daniel Arap Moi - the eventual winner were glued to houses, walls and cars by government officials.

Other complains by the observers included the questioning as to why the votes had to be counted far away from the polling stations. Many saw this as a way of effecting some rigging plans since transport from the polling station to the counting stations was made difficult due to poor infrastructure, lack of vans and other logistics, "Why not count where voting had been done?"; asked a lady delegate.

"The observers also require more education", pointed out a church leader. "many voters did not know what to do and many election observers also appeared confused. We need to get the church to train our people", he said.

The extension of the polling day from 29th December 1997 to 30th confused many voters who went to vote the next day only to come back to realize that the ballot boxes had been sealed the previous night. (The Kenyan electoral Commission rule stipulates that once the boxes are sealed they cannot be opened until counting). Many officers seemed not to have been aware of this.

Inspite of the above logistical and administrative irregularities most leaders felt this second multi-party election in Kenya was maturer than the first one in 1992. Church leaders therefore were urged to pray for healing and peace. Among the leaders who expressed such sentiments was Archbishop Njeru Wambugu who represented the organization of African Instituted Churches (OAIC). "Let us appreciate the determination of the common people who had an opportunity to decide what was bad or good by overwhelmingly voting out incumbents and electing people of their choice inspite of all the difficulties" he observed.

"The hand of the church was been felt. We were everywhere" he said referring to the church Commissioned poll - watchers who were present in more than 80% of the polling stations countrywide. Archbishop however decried the state media bias against the opposition. More airtime was given to the incumbent president than all the 15 presidential hopefuls combined.

A former permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign affairs and a senior church elder Mr. Bethwel Kiplagat while decrying the lack of enthusiasm by the Kenyans to vote women leaders in parliamentary positions said emphatically, "God was with us. Let us not be overly pessimistic. Let us highlight the mistakes which occurred during the just-ended elections, but this is great", he said referring to the results. Mr. Kiplagat observed that it was CIVIC EDUCATION that had "saved this country from bloodshed".

The delegates agreed that the government be petitioned so that future elections be not held in late December as this interferes with the Christmas festivities - Kenya being largely a Christian nation this point was unanimously adopted by the clergy and other Christians .(President Moi is a professed "born again" Christian as his Zambian counterpart, President Chiluba). Many delegates felt that it was now time for Kenyans to discuss economic issues. "Management of the economy in this country has been tribalised. We Kenyans are indebted to loans not properly used", cried an elder.

A lady, Agness Abuon chided church leaders whose sermons were less than partisan She decried the unleashing of violence on women during pre and election period which hindered the full participation of women. In the end she said, "politics must come to an end. We love politics. But people have to eat, our children have to go to school and people lack housing among other busy issues. We are faced with health problem, street children and much more."

Perhaps what best sums the post-election mood in Kenya were the remarks by an elderly church leader. "If asked to comment on the just-ended elections", he said, "I will say outright that they were not free and fair. But people made it free. There was dignity inspite of the anomalies".

| CONTENTS | AFRICANEWS HOMEPAGE |

AFRICANEWS - Koinonia Media Centre, P.O. Box 8034, Nairobi, Kenya
tel.: +254.2.560385 - fax: +254.2.576175 - e-mail: [email protected]
AFRICANEWS on line is by Koinonia Media Centre