[kca-info] Kenyans Abroad's Voting Rights Should Be Honored

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Statement of the Kenyan Community Abroad: Kenyans Abroad's Voting
Rights Should Be Honored

Released: Tuesday, August 15, 2006

The Kenyan Community Abroad (KCA) notes with guarded optimism the Electoral Commission of Kenya's early efforts to register disenfranchised voters ahead of the 2007 ballot. The recent developments and changes in the socio-political climate in our country strongly suggest that the upcoming elections might be the most significant in Kenya's history since democratic space for self expression has never been freer.

It is with this in mind that KCA urges the ECK not to ignore the voice of Kenyans who are not resident at home but who are eligible to participate in the general elections. We are particularly encouraged by recent pronouncements by the Vice President Moody Awori that would allow prisoners to participate in the general elections (Daily Nation, February 21st 2005). It is our considered opinion that if indeed we can consider extending this democratic right to vote to the previously disenfranchised, then this right must equally be extended to all Kenyan citizens living abroad

Surely, all law abiding citizens ought to be extended all possible avenues to vote, despite they not being physically in Kenya.

Absentee voting is not a new phenomenon. It is a voting method that involves voting on a day earlier than the actual Election Day.

To vote as an early voter, a registered voter may vote without giving a reason during the established early voting period. The early voting period typically begins twenty (20) days before an election and ends five (5) days before an election. In those instances in a situation where there is not any opposition on the ballot, early voting begins ten (10) days before the election.

Most governments provide facilities that allow its citizens resident abroad, whether they are posted in foreign missions, military deployments, students or working abroad, to participate in this most fundamental of public duties. We strongly believe that our high commissions and embassies strewn around the world have the necessary facilities to enable us to vote in the constituencies of our origin.

All that would be required is for us to register with them so as to be provided with ballots. At the designated time period, we would cast our choices and return the ballots to the missions for tallying. For examples on how this is done in the USA, please visit
http://www.fvap.gov/. .

We urge for a system that is going to be suitable to the Kenyan
situation and provide voting rights equally to all Kenyan citizens.

The Kenyan Community Abroad calls on Mr. Samuel Kivuitu and the ECK to
ensure that this time around, Kenyans abroad are allowed to exercise their civic duty to elect leaders of their choice. We know that Kenya appreciates the role that we play, in whatever small way, in supporting our families and the Kenyan economy in general.

Kind regards,
Frank Mwaniki,

For the Kenyan Community Abroad (KCA),
http://www.Kenyansabroad.org
mailto:info@kenyansabroaf.org