If you look at the by-elections that have happened in the last one year, you will see that as a country, we have a reason to get serious and put things in order.
What we are witnessing in the by-elections are crimes under the Election Offences Act that ought to be punished.
If we continue to allow such shenanigans to go on untamed, then clearly people will not respect the rule of law and the will of the people.
That is very dangerous. We see people storming a polling station, kidnapping presiding officers and doing all manner of ills.
Clearly, if we continue with this trend, we will for sure carry it over to the 2022 General Election and a repeat of the 2007 PEV will be inevitable.
We just need to follow the law.
The law is clear that campaigns should stop 48 hours to the election date. We have witnessed candidates and the political class violating this.
The IEBC should take note of and curb this mess that could swell into a huge crisis.
We must also tackle voter bribery.
IEBC needs to crack down on law violations to build public confidence.
In Kiambaa, for instance, we have seen a lot of disinformation, fake news and propaganda which can easily fan tensions.
IEBC needs to protect the sanctity of elections by ensuring stakeholders are adhering to the rules of the game.
The commission should not appear helpless.
The security apparatus too has a responsibility to protect the election process and not to interfere with the democratic rights of Kenyans. Candidates and voters should be allowed equal opportunity to exercise their democratic right as enshrined in our Constitution.
We have seen a worrying trend in which police and the provincial administration are overstepping their mandate. This needs to be rectified, otherwise, it will trigger violence.
We should let voters exercise their rights without being intimidated or coerced to vote a certain way.
Anything short of a free and fair election is an ingredient for suspicion and chaos.
Candidates, agents and voters must maintain order and those unaccredited as observers or agents must not be allowed anywhere near the tallying centres.
The governance expert spoke to the Star
(Edited by V. Graham)
