Kenya: Report Says Kenyans Lost Faith in Elections
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The Nation (Nairobi)
9 October 2008
Posted to the web 10 October 2008
Muchemi Wachira
Nairobi
A number of Kenyans have lost confidence in elections after witnessing ugly incidents during the post-election violence early this year.
According to the Kenya Elections Domestic Observation Forum (Kedof), a network of civil society and faith-based organisations which released its report on the December elections Thursday, some voters may have thrown away their voters cards following discontentment with the mayhem they witnessed during the period.
Thrown away
"We urge those who have thrown away their voters cards to replace them and participate in future elections," a Kedof official, Ms Koki Muli said as she highlighted issues contained in the 360-page report "Kenyans Are Watching".
The report was prepared from information gathered by their 16,000 poll monitors.
Its recommendations are largely similar to those of the Independent Review Commission chaired by retired South African judge Johann Kriegler.
It says the post-election violence was not spontaneous, but organised.
It says Kalenjin youths attacked Kikuyu settlements in their localities in the Rift Valley Province minutes after President Kibaki was announced the winner.
In retaliation, the report says, a group of the Kikuyu elite mobilised members of the Mungiki sect to fight back.
The report says that because of the magnitude of the violence, it may not be enough to put in place legislation and measures to prevent a repeat of such violence.
It says people must be ready to change attitudes. "A lot of change is going to come from a change in attitude rather than an elaborate system of laws," the report says.
Deal with
Like the Kriegler report, the Kedof document recommended that the Electoral Commission of Kenya be empowered with greater autonomy to deal with perpetrators of electoral violence.
Mr Oliver Simiyu, a Kedof official, said the report had not been released earlier as "we could not compile our report when peace in our country hung in the balance."
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He said copies of the report had been given to the Kriegler and Waki commissions.
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