Kenya risks a repeat of the 2007 post-election violence, key institutions warn

Key institutions in the country have warned that it is likely the country will be hit by post-election violence in next year's General Election if the current political and electoral violence being experienced is not addressed.

The institutions, which include the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), the Judiciary, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) and the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) warned that failure to deal with the main sponsors of the electoral violence will likely plunge the country into post-election violence akin to the 2007 mayhem.

 The 2007 post-election violence left over 1000 people dead and hundreds of others homeless following the violence that ensued after the disputed presidential election results.

The institutions, which converged at Serena hotel to discuss the Electoral Security Arrangement Program (Esap) identified the political violence and goonism, hate speech and ethnic mobilization, voter bribery, misuse of public resources, cyber security, partisan conduct by security agencies as some of the key threats facing the 2027 general election.

Shoddy investigations by the security agencies were singled out as the main reasons leading to a collapse of the cases on the political and electoral violence with the investigating agencies being put on the spotlight over insufficient evidence to support the cases to their logical conclusions.

 Court of Appeal Judge Daniel Musinga who is also the Vice Chairperson of the Judiciary Committee of elections maintained that the election security encompasses the entire electoral cycle starting with the political environment preceding elections, the conduct of campaigns, protection of candidates and voters ,enforcement of electoral laws, investigation and prosecution of electoral offenses, resolution of electoral disputes, management of misinformation and disinformation, and the prevention of electoral and gender-based violence.

Justice Musinga who spoke at the forum said political gangs, political gangs, technologically facilitated electoral gender-based violence, misinformation and disinformation, hate speech, and the amplification of political propaganda through largely unregulated digital platforms remained emerging risks confronting the 2027 electoral cycle.

“To deal effectively with these challenges demands that we adopt a multi-agency approach encompassing prevention, early warning, investigation, prosecution, enforcement of electoral code of conduct, and where necessary, judicial intervention," he said.

According to the Judge, the Judiciary would approach the matter distinctly in a constitutional position saying the Judiciary’s role was to resolve electoral disputes independently, impartially, expeditiously, and in accordance with the constitution and the law.

“For the judiciary to do its work appropriately, there must be proper investigations which would lead to good evidence being adduced because we cannot determine matters in any other way, other than in accordance with the law and evidence. All these institutions that are represented in this room, each one of us must doour work appropriately, because as the judiciary, we come at the tail end,”Musinga said.

He maintained that the judicial role was an important component of peace building, where citizens, political parties and candidates have confidence that disputes will be heard fairly and determined promptly, there is less incentive to resort to violence, intimidation or other extralegal means of resolving political disagreements.

Additionally, the Judge challenged the IEBC to conduct transparent elections saying ‘a credible electoral justice system, provides a peaceful constitutional avenue through which political conversation can be channeled and resolved.’

He informed other stakeholders that the Judiciary committee on elections was liasing with the Chief Justice towards the appointment and gazettement of special magistrates who will handle the election offenses.

“Election offences can undermine the integrity of the electoral process long before an election petition ever reaches a court. Violence, intimidation, rivalry, destruction of electoral materials and other unlawful conduct must therefore be addressed through an effective criminal justice response,” he said.

On his part Director of Public Prosecutions Renson Igonga urged the investigating agencies to arrest for the financiers of the goonism saying the goons were only being used to advance politicians interests.

“Those who are involved in goonism, don't even know why they are doing it. They are used by the sponsors and we must find a way of getting them. Unfortunately, from where Istart as a prosecutor, we deal with evidence. We don't deal with the truth.  We use evidence to arrive at the truth. And I'll ask those of us who are here to help us in this,” he said.

He added: “If we don't get them (the financiers of goons), chances are that we may not stop it because at times, at times, arrests may not add much because most of these people who are involved in this are vulnerable people. People who have nothing. People who are not employed. People give you 200 shillings and it's a lot of money to them,” he added.

 IEBC chairperson Erustus Ethekon maintained that the event of 2007 were significant in making Kenyans learn that they were not immune to ethnic and political violence as well as the genocide that was experienced in Rwanda.

According to Ethekon, next year’s general election will test the country’s institutions' preparedness and their collective commitment to strengthening democracy.

“As we move forward, we must also learn from our past and respond to any warning signs before us and ensure that political competition remains peaceful and lawful.  We promote peace and we secure our electorate, the candidates who are competing, the personnel that are facilitating the elections, and ensure that we do things within the context of the rule of law,” he said.

He added: "In the context of elections, the work we do borders on national security. You've seen it before,2007, 2008, what happened. And if we misinform the public and inflame fears and passions that arel ikely to lead us into anarchy, then we must also be prepared to bear that responsibility, we must all be responsible in whatever we do to ensure that we have a conducive environment within which to conduct credible,  free and fair elections.”

He assured Kenyans that his commission would conduct free, fair and verifiable polls while dismissing claims that the commission was compromised saying the claims risked leading to distrust by Kenyans.

“These narratives that will lead us to certain risks such as the distrust in our institutions. As we move towards 2027, we need to be careful about these narratives that are being woven around institutions of governance that we gave to ourselves to help us discharge certain responsibilities and to guarantee us that peace and stability will not be lost,’ he added.

He maintained that the IEBC would guard its independence at all costs by calling out the political actors, the civic activists and the media who "without any justifiable reason whatsoever try to undermine the institution of IEBC and the electoral processes in the republic.”