Who tied the hands of the electoral officials?

Jan 03, 2008

MISS Njoroge of Uganda is raging mad with President Kibaki who she voted for defiantly. She is livid because ordinary Kenyans are dying as the President she voted for disappeared into State House as soon as he was sworn in. And she is not alone. Mrs. Njoroge, her mother, is equally fuming.

Jerry Okungu

MISS Njoroge of Uganda is raging mad with President Kibaki who she voted for defiantly. She is livid because ordinary Kenyans are dying as the President she voted for disappeared into State House as soon as he was sworn in. And she is not alone. Mrs. Njoroge, her mother, is equally fuming.

Mr. Gichuhi, a resident of Nairobi feels extremely scandalised. He does not believe that the kind of democratic elections just concluded are the same rights Kenyans died for in the 1950s under colonialism and again in 1980s under Daniel arap Moi. He feels betrayed by his own community; people he had begun to trust with power.

Charles Mutua of Mbooni wonders aloud why the old man from his village called Samuel Kivuitu, whom he had come to admire for his wit and defiance had all of a sudden turned jelly when Kenyans needed him most! For a community that has in the past produced Kenya’s Army Chiefs of Staff, the first Chief Justice, an Attorney General and even a Governor of the Central Bank, he feels embarrassed on behalf of his entire Kamba community at this moment in time.

On December 30, 2007 in the late hours of the evening, Mr. Kivuitu, the Chairman of the Electoral Commission of Kenya, declared President Mwai Kibaki winner of Kenya’s presidential elections.

He performed this national ceremony in the privacy of his chambers at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre where only the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation was invited. A few minutes later he was seen at State House handing over the certificate of victory to Mwai Kibaki who in turn had come to the State House Gardens in the company of the Police Commissioner, the Army Chief of Staff and the Chief Justice ready to be sworn into office for a second term. Unlike other such ceremonies, the rush with which it was done made it impossible to invite the local diplomatic community, let alone neighbouring Heads of State.

Since then, this election has been condemned as fraudulent not only by Raila Odinga the main challenger and the ODM presidential candidate but by most Kenyans and a large chunk of the international community.

And to indicate how disappointed they are; no single foreign government has to date sent a congratulatory message to the victor as is always the case. New developments in the last three days have been as baffling as they have been worrying. First came four Electoral Commissioners who called a press conference to confess that they had noticed anomalies in the presidential vote tallies before the announcement but their hands were tied!

Who tied their hands to allow a crime to be committed? This confession came hot on the heels of an earlier one by one of the elections officials who publicly put his life on the line when he declared that the Molo votes were tampered with in favour of President Kibaki!

But the most damning indictment came from Samuel Kivuitu himself when he told the media that he had no idea who had won the elections. As if that was not bad enough, he alleged that he announced the results under undue influence and pressure from PNU and ODM Kenya politicians.

Kivuitu was categorical that despite several calls from the European Union Observer Team and the Chairman of the Kenya National Human Rights Commission asking him to delay announcing the results until anomalies were rectified, pressure from PNU and ODM Kenya became too much to bear.

Now that the cat is out of the bag, the world would like to know who planned to fraud. Was Kivuiti part of the plot all along? If so, was this the reason his heir apparent was sent packing earlier? If ODM K was part of the plot, could this be the reason Kalonzo Musyoka parted ways with the Orange family? Was Julia Ojiambo duped into following Kalonzo blindly?

What did Kivuitu stand to gain by accepting to commit this crime? Was Kalonzo promised the Vice Presidency once the deed was done? How many more commissioners were kept in the loop and possibly rewarded to deliver the prize?

Now that the Chairman of the Electoral Commission has confessed to the world that he did not know who had won the presidential race, that he was coerced by PNU and ODMK into announcing Kibaki the winner, can President Kibaki vacate the office in protest and apologise to Kenyans publicly for having been duped into this scum?

Is there a way by which these fraudulent politicians and commissioners can be charged in a court of law? Can they be charged with abuse of office and negligence in discharging their duties resulting in the deaths of 300 innocent Kenyans and destruction of property worth billions of shillings?

jerrykokungu@yahoo.com

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