Election 2007:No election in 11 Constuency

From: Nicholas Mireri

Wanekenya wenzangu,could this be the beginning of rigging ? Does it mean we will not have a New President by new Year 2008 ?

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ECK may put off polls in 11 constituencies
By Emmanuel Onyango and M’bolo Bulemi

Voting in at least 11 parliamentary seats and unspecified number of civic wards countrywide risk being postponed to next year owing to errors in the printing of ballot papers.

The ballot papers in question either contain mis spelt surnames of the candidates or candidates being assigned to parties they do not subscribe to. The names of at least 4,000 civic candidates are embroiled in the anomaly. The fears were raised as the Commonwealth appointed former Sierra Leone President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah to head its team of observers for the December 27, General Election.

Commonwealth Secretary-Generals Don McKinnon who announced Kabbah’s appointment, said the Observers Group (COG) will be made up of 13 eminent people drawn from 11 Commonwealth countries.

The shocking anomaly in the ballot papers, the first of its kind in the country’s election history, seemed to have passed the scrutiny of both the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) and the printer, Smith and Ouzman Ltd, during the printing process.

The affected constituencies and wards are not yet known but respective voters will now only vote for presidential candidates in the December 27 general election.

ECK Chairman Samuel Kivuitu, who disclosed the anomaly, explained that the Commission will postpone elections in the affected wards and constituencies rather than proceed and then be faced with numerous court petitions nullifying the elections.

Kivuitu said information would be passed over to the candidates and voters in the affected areas so as to stop them from wasting their time and resources on campaigning. “There were wards where the wrong parties were assigned to candidates. Though worrying, this has happened and the ballot papers are considered invalid. But the final report will be prepared this week and we share the details with the media,” said Kivuitu.

“We are going to cancel some civic elections and I am told 11 parliamentary seats are also likely to be affected. It is something we have never done before,” Kivuitu added.

Kivuitu made the revelations while attending the release of the fourth media monitoring report by the Strategic Public Relations and Research Ltd. He was accompanied by Commissioner Jack Tumwa. Kivuitu and his team were locked up in a meeting the whole of yesterday afternoon deliberating on the issue.

Details of the irregularity coincided with yesterday’s arrival of the first batch of parliamentary and civic ballot papers at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) from the United Kingdom.

ECK had early this week published in the Kenya Gazette all the names of presidential, parliamentary and civic candidates. There are a total of nine presidential candidates, 2,548 parliamentary candidates and 15,332 civic candidates drawn from 108 political parties.

Though Kivuitu refrained from identifying the cause of the hitch, it is believed the high numbers of candidates and political parties contesting for the elections played a significant role. A total of 14.2 million parliamentary and 14.2 million civic ballot papers were to be printed.

Because of the large number of candidates, with some constituencies registering as many as 38 parliamentary candidates, a ballot is said to be the size of an A4 paper.

And in his statement, McKinnon said the observers will report to Kenya on Tuesday next week and will stay until January 1, 2008.

While announcing the composition of the COG, the Secretary-General said the mandate of the group will be to “determine, in its own judgment, whether the elections have been conducted according to the standards for democratic elections to which Kenya has committed itself.”

McKinnon further said this will be in reference to national election related legislations and relevant regional, Commonwealth and other international commitments, to which Kenya is also a signatory.

McKinnon announced that the COG had been constituted at the invitation of the Government of Kenya. He said this also followed an assessment mission that was conducted by the Commonwealth in October 2007.

“The mission also concluded that there is full freedom of movement for observers and that they will enjoy access to all stages of the electoral process--which is vital if they are to make judgments on its credibility,” he said.

He said the team will be supported by a staff team from the Commonwealth Secretariat that will be led by a Ayodele Oke, who will shortly take up the position of the Head of African Section in the Political Affairs Division. Other than Mr Kabbah , other members of the team are Mrs Mabel Andinya, the National Co-ordinator of Transnational Monityoring Group of Naigeria, Mr Calvin Benn, the Deputy Chief Elections Officer, Guyana.

Also in the team are Mr Marx Caller, Electoral Commissioner, United Kingdom, Paul East, Barrister, Newzeland, Mr Ewan Nigel Hare, former Deputy Secretary- General of the Commonwealth Secretariat in Canada and Mr Feroz Hassan, chairman of the Coalition for Good Governance of Bangladesh. Other members are Justice Irene Chirwa Mambilima chairman, the Electoral Commission of Zambia, Mr Pierrie Paul Martin, Election expert from Canada, Ms Marie Nelson, Electoral Officer, Australia, and Dr Ana Rita Geremia who is a Member of Parliament in Mozambique.

The COG will also have a Commonwealth youth representative from the UK Ms Barbara Morunrayo Soetan and Mrs Margaret Rita Vagi, of the Electoral Commission of Papua New Guinea.

According to Mr McKinnon, the team of observers will be expected to act impartially and independently and shall conduct itself according to the standards as expressed in the International Declaration of Principles to which the Commonwealth is a signatory.