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By:
NATION REPORTERS | |||||||||
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May,30-2016 12:12:26
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An African Union observer mission has called for urgent electoral and judicial reforms in Kenya to avert a crisis during 2017 General Election.
The strongly-worded draft report by two observers appointed by the AU will increase the pressure on top politicians, especially those from the government side, to engage in talks with various players to agree on a broadly acceptable roadmap to the elections.
The report, seen by the Sunday Nation, says lack of trust by the opposition in the electoral commission and the confusion over the fate of Supreme Court judges could potentially pave the way for chaos.
It calls for honest talks between the various parties and just stops short of prescribing an overhaul of the existing electoral commission.
"The call by the opposition Cord for an urgent roadmap to create a level playing ground for the 2017 elections cannot be dismissed," reads the draft statement, prepared by Mr Jibrin Ibrahim from Nigeria and Ms Titi Pitso from South Africa.
There has been a prolonged stalemate over the fate of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) with Cord declaring that it has no faith in the current commissioners who it describes as partisan, while the Jubilee coalition has labelled the opposition sore losers and asked them to take their case to existing channels including Parliament.
Three weeks of demonstrations by Cord supporters in parts of the country resulted in several deaths and drew in diplomats and the clergy, all of who called for talks between the political parties.
Cord leaders have suspended the demos for 10 days but said they will resume the protests if no accord is reached.
In the AU observers' report, the authors flag a number of issues, including the danger posed by a Supreme Court that is not fully constituted and which might not enjoy the level of trust it commanded in the 2013 election.
"The state of the Judiciary is very shaky. The Supreme Court is in dire straits," the observers note. The AU team calls on various stakeholders to move quickly to change the situation. "The Supreme Court will have a big arbitral (role) to play in the 2017 elections and it is imperative that it has the credibility to act with authority. It is, therefore, urgent that these issues be sorted out before the elections." The AU observer mission is part of a new approach by the African Union to "foster credible elections and promote Africa's democratisation and good governance" by not just focusing on the event of the election but by monitoring the situation leading up to voting day and after the poll. The report describes it as a move to a "methodological approach to election observation from one based on pre-election assessments and election-day observation to long-term election observation based on the electoral-cycle approach, which include post-election assessment missions". The observer team did not, however, meet with any government officials and primarily relied on representations by civil society. "The team would have liked to have met more people particularly from both the opposition and ruling party and from government but due to circumstances beyond the mission's control, this was not possible," the draft states. The draft does not also include the views of the IEBC, after the observers were caught up in the protests. PROTESTERS BRUTALISED "The writers of these reports were teargassed on May 9 for being near the vicinity of the IEBC during the protests. The world media carried distressing footage of Cord alliance protesters being brutalised by the police on May 16." The report, nonetheless, strongly notes the reservations that players within civil society have on the impartiality of IEBC commissioners and especially zeroes in on the chairman Issack Hassan and questions his ability to command the respect of both sides in a heated election contest. "The high stakes politics also affects the IEBC, which is seen by the opposition as an agent of the ruling party which, on its part, insists that the IEBC is a neutral arbiter. The chairman of IEBC making very uncomplimentary and aggressive comments has not helped things," it notes. The proceedings during the appeal at the Supreme Court relating to the 2013 elections are especially highlighted with civil society representatives raising concerns about "the contents of the affidavits by the chairman of the IEBC (during the hearings), which it was felt were very personal and disrespectful of the leader of the Opposition alliance.The contents of the affidavits by the chairman of the IEBC against one Raila Odinga were viewed as too personal and brought the integrity and impartiality of the Commission into question." Perhaps because the report is a draft, it features numerous mistakes including referring to speaking to experts from the "University of Kenya," an institution that does not exist, and other factual errors and misspelt names. In one passage, it misattributes the province in which the Luhya community is primarily settled, stating that Cord’s support comes mainly from "the Luo and Kamba ethnic groups but also about half of the Luhya ethnic community from the Coast". Nevertheless, the report will be seen as a significant morale booster for the opposition and civil society, especially considering that the AU rarely directly criticises member states. | |||||||||
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Source:
Nation
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