The elections are 31 days away but due to budget constraints, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission is unlikely to conduct any civic education.
In an election year, journalists apart from just reporting, interrogating and analysing issues can equally undertake public service journalism.
In this article, the Public Editor strives to educate voters on their rights, duties and obligations as stipulated by the constitution, electoral laws and the various election guidelines.
There are several laws, policies and regulations governing elections in Kenya but all draw from the Constitution of Kenya 2010.
The constitution however just provides the framework, which the laws and regulations that derive from it spell out in clear detail.
These include Elections Act 2011, Election Offences Act 2016, Political Parties Act 2011 and Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commissions Act, 2013.
Others are the Leadership and Integrity Act, 2012, The National Cohesion and Integration Act, 2008, The Publication of Electoral Opinion Polls Act, 2012 and the Election Campaigns Financing Act, 2013.
The regulations currently in place are the Elections (General) Regulations 2012, The Elections (Voter Registration) Regulations 2012, The Elections (Voter Education) Regulations 2012 and the Supreme Court (Presidential Petitions) Rules, 2013.
Overall, the Constitution grants four rights in relation to the elections. They are the right to be registered as a voter, right to vote by secret ballot in any election or referendum, right to be a candidate and, if elected, to hold public office, and the right to join or participate in a political party.
The rights are, however, not absolute. They are subject to meeting various conditions stipulated in the laws governing elections earlier mentioned.
The Elections Act is the primary law that guides the conduct of elections in Kenya.
It spells out how the registration of voters should be conducted, election offences and penalties, the formulation of a question and choice of symbols in case of a referendum and the resolution of election disputes.
For instance, it is an offence for a journalist, election official, agent or voter to take a picture of someone marking their ballot paper as it breaches secrecy.
It should also be noted that a voter who is unable to read or has a visual challenge can be assisted by a person of their choice, so long as that person is above the age of 18 and has an ID or passport for ease of identification.
The person assisting the voter must sign an oath of secrecy to ensure they don’t go about broadcasting whom the person they assisted voted for.
In the event that a voter has no one to assist them, then the Presiding Officer can step in, but this must be done in the presence of all the agents present in the room.
Those assisting voters can only do it once and not offer the service to multiple voters.
In case a voter spoils a ballot paper, they may be given another ballot paper but not more than twice. The Presiding Officer must then stamp it as SPOILT and place it in an envelope marked spoilt for accountability purposes.
Agents must be keen on all the serial numbers on all the ballot paper, ballot boxes, seals and forms used as it is only through this that they can raise any issues in a petition.
The Elections Act also spells out the electoral code of conduct, nomination of candidates by political parties, nomination of party list members, determination and declaration of results, accreditation of journalists, agents and observers.
The law gives the IEBC powers to settle disputes relating to or arising from nominations but excludes election petitions, which are solely the mandate of the court.
The Political Parties Dispute Tribunal, on the other hand, is the first stop for disputes arising from party nominations, but if unsatisfied, the petitioners can move to the High Court.
Under the Election Offences Act, it is a crime to register more than once, have more than one voter’s card, use someone else’s voter’s card, sell or buy voters card, deliberate destruction of a voter's card, vote more than once and campaign on election day.
It is also an offence to destroy election material belonging to your opponent, propagating hate speech, preventing, obstructing or barring a person from voting, soliciting or receiving bribes to encourage voting for a candidate and use of threats, force or violence to compel someone to vote.
These have been used before in court as grounds for filing election petitions and some elections have been nullified, by-elections ordered and some candidates barred from taking part in the by-elections.
The Election Campaign Financing Act 2013, a key legislation in governing campaign expenditure, has met resistance and even this time around, MPs blocked the gazetting of the rules giving them a free hand on how much they can spend on the campaigns.
Under the Leadership and Integrity Act, state officers are expected to carry out their duties efficiently and with honesty, use the powers bestowed upon them in the interest of Kenyans, abide by the Constitution and the law and not use their offices to unlawfully enrich themselves or any other person.
This has been a problematic piece of legislation to enforce, and many candidates who do not pass the Chapter Six test easily found their way onto the ballot.
Despite the many challenges in our democracy, come August 9, step out and cast your vote.
To quote former US President Barack Obama: “There’s no such thing as a vote that doesn’t matter. It all matters.”
