10 lessons from Kenya Elections 2017

The 10 lessons from the Kenyan elections 2017

In August the elections were held in Kenya. Kenya has known violent elections in 2008 and after a power sharing, other elections were held in 2013. As in 2008 and 2013, the opposition cried foul about allegations of polls rigging.  What was special about 2017 elections? While in 2013 the supreme court decided not to consider the allegations, people were surprised in 2017 when presidential elections were annulled by the supreme court of Kenya because of the illegalities and irregularities of the process.  I have drawn 10 lessons as elections have been held in Africa where fraud is often alleged. 

1.In fact the allegation seems strong when a large number of voters must choose one candidate. In party-list proportional representation like in South Africa, seats get allocated according to the number of votes obtained by each party. In Kenya however for presidential election it was direct vote. The candidate that has majority vote (50%+1) is voted on the first round. If there is no majority, a second round had to be organized.  

2.Furthermore the Kenyan elections were almost electronic. For almost 19.2 millions voters, Kenyatta was credited with 54% while Odinga got almost 45%. Manual forms were required to verify the electronic votes.  This sets a debate about election mode safety. Is manual election safer or less safe than the electronic mode? Frankly, it depends on the transparency at each level. Any loophole can be exploited. 

3.The elections caught my attention when the IT specialist of the IEBC, the election organization committee, got killed almost 2 weeks before elections. The specialist was in charge of database. So elections can be decided by database. Whoever controls database controls elections. Whoever controls the electoral process controls its outcome. In this regard questioning the organizing committee of the elections becomes a logical move. In the case of Kenya it appears that the IEBC has been highly politicized. So this becomes critical as the people will can be taken into jeopardy. 

In fact the votes of between 5 millions and 7 millions people were put in jeopardy.  The process was not duly followed. The final results were announced before the evidence was collected. Some evidence carried forgery. The full access to IEBC servers was blocked despite a court order. 

4.Surprisingly though, the day before elections, Barack Obama had called on parties to accept the results. But which results should have been accepted? Does the voice of Obama have priority over 7 millions Kenyan? Obama's position was also echoed by most obervers. African Union was led by Thabo Mbeki. This time he failed to be "An African". He forgot thT he was the architect of the power sharing scheme of 2008. He came and left as if he were rushing. 

John Kerry represented Center Carter. According to him, initially, all went well.

All observers made a wrong analysis. In fact they made the observation as if they were following a set script. But who had written the script? Or why are observers required in an election process? While they are supposed to make assessment for transparency so as to allow the development of democratic culture, international observers come to Africa purposelessly. They come on the eve of the election's day and leave the day after. In fact these international observers sometimes work side by aide with freelanced observers. These freelanced observers often certify electoral process from their hotel rooms. Governments contract their services to give credibility to elections. They can get paid up to 50 000$ depending on the weight of the observer on the international arena. The Kenyan elections helped me understand that some Africans that are acclaimed may be those who destroy the continent. 

Former South African president Thabo Mbeki claimed back in 1996 that he was an African. How can an African be careless in observance on the continent? It is just unbelievable. He should have been more engaged on the Kenyan elections. Another personality that must be scrutinized. Prof Patrick Lumumba has become popular these days in Africa for his stance against corruption. Surprisingly he was defending the IEBC. He suggested to the judges of the supreme court that the case of NASA should be rejected. Could an intellectual the caliber of Patrick Lumumba defend such nonsense when it was later found that illegalities and irregularities concerned around 5 millions to 7 millions of votes. Salary can corrupt. Patrick Lumumba was corrupted by the wages from IEBC. 

5.The loser of this drama is the Kenyan people to a certain extent as the taxpayers' money was used for stupidity. And this is no joke. It is worth to mention that The turnout was very high at 79.51%. In the last 5 years , only Belgian and Swedish 2014 elections have a higher turnout (87.2% and 82.6%).The Kenyan elections cost each voter US $25.40. This means almost US $ 500 million. But for both private and public expenses, reports were mentioning US $1 billion. The rerun will cost almost US $ 120 millions. This cost excludes the 24 people who were killed after the announcement of the results by the chairman of IEBC. The loser is also the African people in general.  How many elections are stolen from the people of Africa because the quality of judges of the supreme court is poor? Former President Omar Bongo of Gabon used to say that " One can't organise elections to lose them".  Who decides on the votes? It is those who count the votes, not those who vote, Joseph Stalin had suggested. Another inefficiency of western democracies is that a few unelected people of the supreme court decide on the fate of elections.  Even president Kenyatta had expressed his negative stance on the judges of the supreme court. 

6.Africans can't choose freely their leaders. There are many African leaders who have been ousted from decisions taken overseas. Laurent Gbagbo "lost" the elections because some powerful countries in the so called international Community decided so. Recently in Côte d'Ivoire where Gbagbo was ousted after the French army intervened. And he has been detained in the ICC's Hagues while the winner according to France is Ouatarra. In fact back then, it was suggested that votes be recounted but with a set script, Jean Ping the then commissionner of African Union, refused to allow such possibility. Just like in Kenya IEBC blocked the access of the servers despite a court order. Elections are so crucial in African because the democracy is not participatory democracy. And this tends to justify why presidents in Africa are not accountable to their people. If external forces decide who wins and who does not, these external forces become those controlling power. Presidents become then accountable to these external powers. This explains why African leaders take decisions without even consulting their people. For neoliberal policies to be adopted in many African countries (Nigeria, DR Congo, South Africa,...), no people were ever consulted. After 30 years of neoliberalism in countries like DR Congo and Nigeria, no accountability scheme has been framed to the attention of the people. Only one thing prevents people from rallying true revolution: lack of true information and education. 

7. Some presidents must be cautioned. When the results were published by IEBC, some Presidents congratulated Uhuru Kenyatta already. Yoweri Museveni as president of East African community sent his congratulatory message to Kenyatta. Kagame greeted a successful election and the trust of Kenyan people in Kenyatta. It is strange that people who change their countries' constitution can congratulate someone whose election was not finalised then. Magufuli and Nkuruzinza were not silent in this regards. And it turns out that elections were irregular and illegal. This means our countries do not necessarily consider that election process is often finalised at the Supreme court. 

8.The independence of the supreme courts or of the judiciary should be one of the cornerstones of democracy. But in many democracies, the independence is questionable. 

The same independence of the electoral commission is in deep waters especially in Africa. Independence in general can be questioned. What makes an entity to be really independent? 

9. Independance is actually when there is no dependance. Now in the Kenyan elections elections, dependance on French technology has been verified. Safran Morpho is the French company in charge of the electoral system KIEMS. Amazingly, the self claimed technology leader like Safran Morpho is doubtful about its readiness in the election rerun by the deadline. 

Safran Morpho has a history of controversies: fraud and deceit by Morphotrack,Inc (O.T Morpho's company in the USA) was sued for deceit and fraud in Louisianna, US around March 2012. 6 months later, Safran Morpho was fined US $ 630 000 by a Paris court for having bribed Nigerian public officials in order to win a $170 m identity cards production tender. In 2016 Safran was involved again in the US Russia hacking scandal. This may mean that Safran Morpho was not duly chosen. In fact the 2017 Kenyan elections are the most expansive per capita elections. 

10.Finally Kenyan elections show us another fallacy of democracy. Uhuru and Raila or better Kenyatta and Odinga are not mere contenders of 2013 and 2017 presidential elections. They are the continuation of a long history that started between Kenyatta and Odinga in the late 1940-late 1950 with Kenya Africa Union (KANU). Simply expressed, the 2 are synonymous of the Kenyan establishment. The establishment exists in Africa and explains why some families have monopolised political and economic powers for long. If Africa strives for real democracy not the propagandistic democracy that came to Africa in the early to late 1990s, establishments must be fought against by the people. In fact only real popular revolutions can overcome the status quo!