Our country has a shaky foundation on many issues.Such issues include Management (corruption,tribalism, resource allocation etc),Elections and many others.
As this week’s protests come to an end tomorrow,I hope the ground is now equalized,at least each side has proved they do what they say.It is my prayer no politician will talk nonsense so as to allow settlement of various issues.
If an idiot politician vomits nonsense,the other side will be forced to prove they too can.And it will go on and on.
Whenever issues are being settled,some common sense details get left out and you wonder how?Below are my thoughts on some issues concerning elections.
First, their was a time the register of voters was a hot potato,we could here terms like red book,black book etc,then we agreed to have a single electronic register, it’s not perfect or devoid of duplicates or dead voters,but it at least set the journey to a verifiable election.I think the suggestions on having a date beyond which one cannot register as a voter must be implemented,it can be 3 months to elections.This is because of the logistical headache,if you get an id a day to elections and claim your rights,the printer has to be notified to add one more ballot.This being kenya,all manner of accusations arise.
Second,all the materials needed to conduct the election are always known,iebc must be required to furnish all candidates or political parties these information so that they can later on be able to audit,or know what they are actually looking for in polling centers.E.g,let it be out there we shall have x number of ballots for tharaka nithi mp seat,even supply the serial numbers.So those contesting mp seat in tharaka can know nothing less, nothing more than that, anything else should be enough to declare that election null and void as it fails the verification.Downloading pictures from iebc portal should be for other voters not political parties and candidates.
Third, transmission of results was a great idea,but it seems cyber security and integrity of people in the process is wanting,so iebc must be compelled to fill the tally forms and other required documents in duplicates and hand over the original duplicates to agents at the polling station before transmission,if it is a presidential election,each candidate must have an agent to collect the duplicate, collecting that duplicate does not mean endorsement,another form from iebc must be equally handed over when suggestions in my second point above are being implemented.This form should be filled by party agents Incase they are disputing a certain polling center,this way, disputing a result can be formally persecuted without looking like a matter of life and death or a criminal activity.Since an original copy has been given to the party at the polling station,the party already had received necessary details and numbers from iebc as seen in point two above,the court then can clearly see and if it orders say a recount,if the numbers tally,good.if they don’t it rectifys,if other new things come up other than those iebc had told the party before elections,that particular polling station result becomes null and void and must be repeated to avert monkey games.
To add,no presidential candidate has any right to want to lead Kenyans in a particular area if he can’t have an agent in that area!!!The law must compelle iebc and the police to protect them so that they can survive in hostile areas.
The current system of transmission should happen in parallel with this suggestions.
All parties and candidates must be compelled to release an audit of the elections to the public to ensure they actually consumed the details handed to them,this can ensure disputing unnecessarily as a form of grieving is contained.Their should be a period of audits without requiring court orders or whatever.
About boundaries,I think iebc should strive to adhere to the law in ensuring almost equal number of people per constituency,but we should not split constituencies and keep increasing them just to have an equal number.What we must ensure is a higher number must be matched with higher resource allocation.
Those mps who claim they represent more people so they should have more voting rights I think are myopic, voting rights should remain as they are in parliament since those people they represent are not just confined to that constituency,they have freedom of movement and they move to other constituencies too,and any law coming out of parliament should be canvassed enough to be good to all constituencies, giving more voting rights undermines that plus it defeats freedom of movement in subtle ways.
I know some of this things are already their,but I think they must be emphasized.