This is worth preserving Kenya.
[Comment]
In Kenya we are witnessing a struggle between the past and the future; a contest between a type of government accustomed to brute force, and the re-awakening launched in September.
The future will ultimately prevail over the past in Kenya. This is the struggle for Africa’s future.
Kenya made global headlines when its Supreme Court on September 1, annulled the August presidential election and ordered a rerun. Victory had been awarded to incumbent Uhuru Kenyatta by the Independent Elections and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) the body that organizes and presides over the election.
In ordering a rerun, Kenya’s Supreme Court ruled that the election was compromised by “illegalities” and “irregularities.”
The Court did not take away a victory from Kenyatta and hand it to Raila Odinga candidate for the National Super Alliance (Nasa) coalition. It ordered a rerun to be properly conducted. Both Kenyatta and Odinga would get to prove who the rightful winner was.
The IEBC set an election date of October 17 which was unrealistic. It then set October 26. The impediments that led to the the annulment in September were not corrected. As a result challenger Odinga withdrew from the election. He’s also called for an election boycott and turnout has been reported as very low in some areas today.
The IEBC’s own chairman Wafula Chebukati last week said he could not “guarantee credible elections at the moment.
https://www.google.com/amp/mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKBN1CN0K3
Another IEBC commissioner, Roselyn Akombe, fled into exile to the U.S., citing death threats. She declared that the election body was not prepared for an October 26 vote and that she didn’t want to be part of a “mockery to electoral integrity.”
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/world/2017/oct/18/kenya-election-official-flees-country-and-claims-presidential-vote-will-not-be-free
Yesterday, five judges of the Supreme Court were prevented from reaching the court. Only two judges, including Chief Justice David Maraga who on September 1 made the historic announcement, made it. Lacking quorum, the Court couldn’t hear a petition challenging the October 26 vote. There’s a possibility the court could have halted it, allowing the IEBC to correct shortcomings and set another election date.
There are suggestions this was a velvet coup. Kenyatta insisted that the IEBC stick with today’s date.
So what’s Kenya left with?
Today’s contest in the sham election isn’t so much between Kenyatta and Odinga — it’s between an incumbent and the future of Kenya.
Many Kenyans and supporters all over Africa believed that the country had finally emerged onto the world stage as a modern African power with the September ruling. Kenya was now a country where the constitution was supreme and the courts would enforce the laws.
Now by muscling his way to retain power Kenyatta threatens to take Kenya backwards towards autocracy. Odinga has called for a campaign of defiance, resistance and boycotts.
Kenyans must preserve the peace, stability, and prosperity they enjoy relative to most African countries. In neighboring Uganda a ruthless, arrogant, decrepit dictator of 31 years, Gen. Yoweri Museveni, routinely steals elections and is affirmed by a court packed with acolytes. As a result, insurrection is brewing in Uganda and he’s shooting demonstrators dead. Museveni will likely be the first to congratulate Kenyatta.
But Kenyans must reject Musevenism. Ugandans have paid the price with rivers of blood and mountains of skulls.
Kenyatta knows credibility, legitimacy and stability are necessary for Kenya to leap from middle-income to high-income status.
This can’t happen should Kenyatta impose a militaristic regime. It won’t happen if he blocks future petitions blocking the legality of elections.
Kenyans deserve a free, fair and credible election–even if it takes a third vote to deliver that. Let either Kenyatta or Odinga win fairly. Let the loser concede with dignity so that their supporters can be reconciled.
Kenya’s re-awakening must continue.
