Friday, December 28, 2007
Matokeo ya Uchaguzi Kenya
Fuatilia matokeo ya Uchaguzi Mkuu wa Kenya 2007 hapa. Inaeleka wenzetu wameamua kufanya 'mapinduzi ya awali ya uongozi.' Hadi sasa Raila Odinga wa ODM anaongoza; Mwai Kibaki wa PNU anafuata nyuma. Kalonzo Musyoka wa ODM-Kenya yuko mbali sana. Muujiza alioutarajia haujatokea! Umebaki kanisani! KANU kimeanza kupotea katika historia ya utawala wa Kenya. Endelea. Linganisha na hii pia.
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- Ansbert Ngurumo
- Nimechongwa na mambo haya: Falsafa, Fasihi, Muziki, Habari na Harakati. Sifuati mkumbo. Napenda kuhoji na kudadisi - hulka ya kifalsafa ya kuusaka ukweli - 'UKWELI ULIO UCHI.'
36 comments:
Nimeanza kuwashtukia watu wa Nation Media. Saa mbili zilizopita, walikuwa na takwimu zinazoonyesha kwamba zimeshahesabiwa kura 3,671189, na Raila alikuwa anaongoza kwa 2,165,741; Kibaki anafuata kwa 1,288,992; Kalonzo anasndikiza kwa 216,456.
Sasa baada ya kuwa wameingia mitini kwa muda (walivuruga takwimu zisipatikane kwa muda, wakafanya marekebisho) wamerejea na takwimu mpya, pungufu ya zile za awali.
Eti Raila ana 1,730,195; Kibaki ana 1,489895; Kalonzo 200,563. Kuna mchezo hapa? Wameonywa?
Ngurumo, wasome hata Daily Mail:
President Kibaki could be usurped by Odinga in the presidential elections taking place in Kenya
If Odinga won, Kibaki would be the first of Kenya's three post-independence presidents to be ousted by the ballot box.
At 1.30 pm (10.30am GMT), unofficial TV results by KTN, compiled from tallies at counting centres, gave Odinga 2,141,126 votes compared with 1,414,599 for Kibaki - representing over a third of the ballots thought to have been cast.
Some 14 million Kenyans were eligible to vote, although turnout is expected to have been between 8 and 10 million.
As official counts slowly reached a Nairobi conference centre ringed by armed guards, the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) said provisional results would be announced throughout the day, but that the process could stretch into tomorrow.
Officials earlier gave the outcome from just two of Kenya's 210 constituencies. One chose Odinga and the other picked the president, both by vast majorities in a reflection of deeply entrenched tribalism.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=504891&in_page_id=1811
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Napenda sana kivumbi hiki kiamine Tanzania na kutoa upinzani wa nguvu kama huu pia kuona serikali inakuwa na nidhani na watu pamoja kuwa wao ndio wanajifanya kuwa watawala milele, Hivyo hao media kama wanatunga data hizo Sio Kenya watu wanatanza kuhoji na kuuliza direct toka Kenya.
Josh Michael
PATA na hii kutoka The Standard:
Electoral Commission of Kenya sorts out poll fiasco
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After a bad day with party leaders, ECK decides to audit votes cast in 210 constituencies and report findings on Sunday...
By Sunday Standard Team
The Electoral Commission is the focal point, particularly over how it will try to wriggle itself out of the quagmire and poll fiasco witnessed in the last three days.
Last evening it gave itself just a little over 12 hours to tell the nation how it would try and stabilise the situation by addressing the grievances raised by one of the parties to the unfolding dispute on the presidential vote tally.
The searchlight for answers out of the vote wrangle and rising tension turned onto ECK as its final results for the day, announced before the decision for an audit of the total votes cast, cast President Kibaki reducing the gap between him and ODM candidate Mr Raila Odinga to under 100,000. There were 18 constituencies yet to be tallied at 6.30 pm when ECK list showed Raila had moved to 3,880, 053 as Kibaki closed in with 3,842,051. At 2:30 pm Raila, who had led from when counting started, had 3,726,247 and Kibaki 3,416139.
Results from 183 constituencies showed ODM had won 95 seats. The number was expected to rise since there were another 24 constituencies where tallying of results had not been completed by last night. PNU had secured 36 seats while Mr Kalonzo Musyoka’s ODM-Kenya managed 15 seats. Kanu, led by Mr Uhuru Kenyatta who is in partnership with PNU, had won 10 seats in the hotly contested elections ever.
The standoff at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre, Nairobi, progressed as skirmishes broke out in Kisumu, Eldoret, Kakamega and other areas perceived to be ODM’s strongholds in the western belt.
The task before ECK is monumental, and Commissioner Jack Tumwa said after 21 ECK members met following the chaotic standoff, they decided to do an audit of the votes cast throughout 210 constituencies.
The standoff between the two groups dramatically and chaotically played itself out before Chairman Samuel Kivuitu and his team. On the one hand was the Orange Democratic Movement team, claiming manipulation of votes in the Central and Eastern bloc. Here stood ODM Pentagon leaders Mr William Ruto, Mrs Charity Ngilu, Mr Joe Nyagah and Mr Najib Balala, as well Chairman Mr Henry Kosgey.
Also in the loop, which cast the picture of an electoral body literally under siege, to the point armed GSU personnel had to be called into the meeting room, was the Party of National Unity team led by Justice minister Ms Martha Karua and national coordinator Mr George Nyamweya.
ODM Director of Elections Justice Richard Kwach told Kivuitu the party was not demanding a recount of all the presidential votes cast but verification in specific areas.
"What we are asking for is not a recount but verification and only for specific areas," said Kwach.
He told Kivuitu: "This process is so important that Kenyans can wait for an hour. Let me put it this way; it is a matter of life and death Mr Chairman."
Kivuitu described himself as a patriot who is "ready to burn with this country.’’
The heat and the frustration of the moment was discernible from Kivuitu’s advice to ODM to seek legal redress. In his oft-times witty style he added: "If you doubt me you know where to go. If you do not accept the result, the country is yours...’’ Failure to trace some of his returning officers, and his admission they had switched off the phones on him, he said, forced him to use the police to try and trace them.
It was the day the resilience of Kenyans carried yet another day as the results of Kamukunji were cancelled as those of Maragwa were rejected because the returns were more than the number of the registered voters in the constituency.
Tense and angry party officials buried Kivuitu under a barrage of inquiries before at least one or two direct attempts were made to stop him from announcing results.
This was after the mistrust between the two fiercely competing parties for the presidency—ODM and PNU — boiled over and degenerated into a standoff of an unprecedented scale.
The polls boss also appeared to cast aspersions on the credibility of the exercise itself, when he insinuated some of his officers could be working for people he did not name. "This is where cooking could be taking place, but when they bring it to us, we shall ask them to return them to the person who asked them to cook,’’ he said.
Kivuitu was drawn into a heated exchange with party agents and the situation got out of control as Ugenya MP-elect Mr James Orengo took Kivuitu head-on, moving to the chairman’s table demanding to be heard.
All order broke loose as Kivuitu attempted to continue reading the tallies but Orengo moved to inches of him shouting "Mr Chairman I must be heard! You cannot treat us like children here, I must be heard!"
Kivuitu responded: "When will you get tired?" to which Orengo retorted: "I will not get tired!"
The chaos unfolded as two of top envoys accredited to Kenya — UK’s Mr Adam Wood and America’s Mr Michael Ranneberger — watched. The US ambassador later said his government was "keenly’’ following the progress and that observers had confidence in Kivuitu.
PNU’s Karua, Nyamweya, Mr Danson Mungatana and ODM-Kenya’s Mr Mutula Kilonzo countered the objections raised by the ODM team.
Trouble had started at 4.15pm as commissioner Riunga Raiji started reading part of the remaining results in the absence of Kivuitu.
Raiji was halted in mid-sentence by ODM chairman Henry Kosgey, who protested that the figure he had just read for Nithi constituency, 95,000 for President Kibaki, was not real.
Kosgey demanded that Raiji halts the reading and calls chairman Kivuitu. Kosgey was joined in the protest by Ruto, Balala, Nyagah, Ngilu and other agents.
Kivuitu scolded the politicians: "Do you want us to read results which are not there? If you are not satisfied with what we read, the courts are not very far."
Kivuitu was put to task by ODM presidential research team member Mr Miguna Miguna. The ECK boss threatened to kick out of the hall. "I don’t care how big you are, you are not an agent," he told Miguna.
Kivuitu persisted and read the results for Nithi but he was halted again by Ruto, who told him the ODM agent had a different set of results from the ground.
As Kivuitu argued with Ruto, who said he could make the agent available, he was interrupted by Karua who said that if one constituency was to be verified, then all the 210 should be subjected to the same process.
Kivuitu gave the chance to Mutula who argued that the reading of the results could not be interrupted at that stage.
"The law is very clear, that the mandate of the electoral commission cannot be halted by protests at this session," said Mutula.
As the dint of noise rose a presidential candidate, Bishop Pius Muiru, turned into prayer. "Lord you know who it will be. Be it Raila or Kibaki, Father we pray for peace and unity in our country," his prayer went.
Another presidential candidate Ms Nazlin Umar protested about irregularities in the Kamukunji election to which Kivuitu said the ECK had cancelled the results and the election would be repeated next year.
Kivuitu was then asked by Balala to tell the agents the latest presidential tally before he went back ‘upstairs’ to continue adding up for the remaining 18 constituencies.
Trouble started soon after ECK commissioners, led by Mr Muturi Kigano, in the absence of Kivuitu, read results at 8am in the morning that still left over 50 seats unannounced.
"We demand that the chairman himself comes here to read the results," said Ruto. Kigano abandoned the reading to await Kivuitu who showed up at 11.57am.
Kivuitu still had part of the results of the previous press briefing of Kigano.
Agents protested as Kivuitu gave the explanation some of the vote tallies from remaining constituencies were as a result of agents who had gone missing. "Some may have gone to bars, others may have taken a nap. We do not know where they are," said Kivuitu.
Kivuitu said that instead of the politicians camping at the KICC, they should instead help the commission in looking for the missing returning officers. "Some of these clerks are reported to have disappeared, some have not been found, others were in the bar yet others at their houses sleeping and they have not released the results," said Kivuitu.
Kosgey questioned if the delay in the release was a plot to ‘manufacture’ votes.
Kivuitu said: "We will inquire from other officers, including the police, what led to the delay. They are no secrets," he added.
Nyagah and Ruto wondered why results from as far afield as Kitui in Eastern Province had reached ECK but those from within the city were yet to be received. They said that the long delay in releasing the outcome of the polls was a matter that should be ironed out without delay.
When they were told by Commissioner Daniel Wambua that the issue would be addressed , they complained they had written officially to the ECK in the course of the day (Friday) and that by the time they were raising the issue verbally, way past midnight, nothing had been done.
Ruto said that he and other party officials had been informed by their agents that lights had been switched off during counting and that results from 11 constituencies had not been received.
He further claimed that their agents had been denied the opportunity to sign forms 16A and 18, "which form the basis of acceptability and integrity of the election results".
Posed Ruto: "Can the commission explain why our agents have been barred from signing these forms? What is the commission doing about lights that have been switched off? Is the commission satisfied with what is going on?"
He told the commission to explain the delays in releasing the poll results, saying this was causing concern.
Wambua said the ECK was satisfied with the way the results were being released. He said part of the delay was caused by candidates and their agents. "We are waiting for the results from our presiding officers but in the meantime, we will look at the matter and respond in the next two hours when we have our next briefing", said the official.
This drew even more ire from Ruto and Nyagah, with the former rising again to retort that two hours was a long time in the middle of a counting process for a general election as a lot could happen.
ECK officials explained that polling stations and tallying centres were equipped with lanterns which were turned on low and it was therefore not clear what happened if it was true the lights were switched off.
At this juncture, a PNU official in charge of its foreign desk, Mr John Kamama, rose to chide Ruto and Nyagah, saying the release of poll results was not the appropriate forum to issue such a protest.
Kamama explained that PNU supporters had been attacked, some even killed, yet they were satisfied that the matter had to be raised at the correct forum. "Does the commission know these things? What has it done?"
Editorial ya Sunday Nation:
Announcing election results no laughing matter
Publication Date: 12/30/2007
The Electoral Commission of Kenya has in the past acquitted itself reasonably well in the competent and timely management of elections and the release of results.
On many occasions in the past candidates and political parties, with or without reason–losing politicians will always talk about sour grapes, have complained about the team led by Mr Samuel Kivuitu. But on the whole, ECK has done a fairly satisfactory job of shepherding elections, making it one of the envied electoral bodies in Africa and protecting the stability of the nation.
One of the memorable occasions when the commission asserted itself in the face of a perceived attempt at interference was when it resisted attempts to put it under the Justice and Constitutional Affairs ministry.
Although its handling of this year’s General Election has by and large been credible, the commission could have done better, especially with regard to releasing results of the presidential vote.
Kenyans appreciate that this year’s elections presented a formidable challenge because there were more than 100 parties contesting, not to mention the exceedingly high number of civic and parliamentary candidates. Given such a scenario, one could have anticipated hiccups in the process, especially bearing in mind the low morale of some of the election staff. Just hours to the election, some polling clerks and other officers were protesting over alleged poor pay.
To its credit, Mr Kivuitu’s team did a commendable job of dispatching ballot papers and other voting materials to the right stations in reasonably good time. And in instances where there were mix-ups, it used a helicopter to dispatch the ballots to the right stations. In fact, all was going well until the delay in announcing the presidential results from parts of Central, Coast and Eastern provinces.
As angry mobs set up barricades and took to the streets, instead of getting to the root of the matter and giving Kenyans answers, Mr Kivuitu chose flippancy and digression. When he had the opportunity to provide leadership at a time when the country was verging on a nervous breakdown after two days of anxious waiting for results, the commission chairman went off on a tangent, portraying himself as a man who did not entirely appreciate the delicate state in which the nation was and what an enormous responsibility rested on his shoulders.
The pace and pattern of releasing results opened the ECK’s competence and preparedness to question at a particularly tense time in the history of the nation.
The commission appeared to be hours behind the media which had sent observers to polling centres countrywide.
True, the commission had to verify the results after receiving them from the returning officers, but the delays put the country on tenterhooks as voters anxiously awaited the officials results.
But rather than rise to the occasion and seize the moment of greatness, Mr Kivuitu appeared to admit that he had little or no control over returning officers whom he accused of delaying results from some of the constituencies. He sounded helpless, yet he was the man the nation was looking to for leadership and answers. Instead, he dwelt at length on non-issues and sideshows. At one point, he jocularly accused some of his officers of switching off their phones, alluding to an attempt to “cook” the poll results. Yet, Mr Kivuitu did not attempt to delve into the possible causes of the delays or take decisive action, including dispatching an emergency team to investigate the matter.
It may be argued that the competence of the commission could have been affected by the appointment of new commissioners early this year to replace those whose terms had expired. But the challenge appeared not to be at the helm of the commission per se but with its foot soldiers who failed to deliver results as expected. It is also likely that part of the problem was the high voter turnout in some regions, coupled with the wide array of parties and candidates from which voters in those areas had to choose.
But ECK should have found a way to overcome the challenge in good time since it had sufficient resources at its disposal, not to mention an excess of willing hands that could have been co-opted to speed up counting and tallying.
That, however, is water under the bridge, and the ECK must now seize the moment and reform and modernize itself.
In addition to announcing the winners and losers, ECK must appreciate that it holds in its hands the key to Kenya’s future, and its handling of the electoral process will determine whether Kenya survives as united nation.
The ECK must immediately invest in a state-of-the-art communications system that would allow headquarters to receive results the minute they are tallied at the polling station.
It must also invest in a system of announcing the results that does not involve the ridiculous process of reading out of every constituency and its results.
Also requiring serious and urgent attention is a secure and reliable system of communication between headquarters and the field. It is a joke for commissioners to tell anxious public that they are unable to reach their staff on the ground.
In the meantime, it is paramount for Kenyans to remain peaceful and for politicians to resolve their grievances through the established legal and peaceful mechanisms.
For it to uphold the faith of Kenyans in ECK as an institution and in the importance of voting, Mr Kivuitu’s must accept that it is merely a vessel. It does not create election results. It only conveys the voice of the people. And since the people of Kenya spoke on December 27, ECK must give only the correct verdict, the preferences of interested parties notwithstanding.
Sijui nimefikaje hapa lakini sina majuto. Jamani Kenya kunawaka moto. Mie natoka nchi hiyo jirani ambayo sasa ni kama inasambaratika kwani polisi na FFU wanatandika watu risasi kama vile ni fimbo!
Kibaki kashindwa lakini kakataa kukubali. Ndiyo maana kaapishwa usiku saa moja tu baada ya kutangazwa mshindi na tume ya uchaguzi.
Ndugu zanguni, twahitaji maombi Kenya!
Hebu tazameni mambo yalivyo kwa wakati huu!!
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Death and chaos after Kibaki win
Violence continues to rock several parts of the country following the swearing in of President Kibaki for a second five-year term.
Armed Police officers watch as a fire razes houses in Magongo area of Mombasa during the night. Scores were seriously injured and are admitted at different hospitals in Mombasa after police shot at them with live bullets.
At least 19 people have been shot dead in Kisumu, while violence has persisted in Mombasa, Nairobi, Nakuru, Kuresoi, Molo, Eldoret, Kakamega, Busia, Kisumu, Ahero, Migori, Kericho, Kitale, Lugari and Homabay.
At the same time, Police commissioner Hussein Ali has denied claims that ODM party leader Raila Odinga has been arrested. The commissioner also declared ODM's rally at Nairobi's Uhuru Park illegal.
In a statement faxed to the Nation, the commissioner said contrary to alarming SMS messages being sent around, police do not have custody of either Langata MP-elect Raila Odinga or Eldoret North MP-elect William Ruto.
The grounds have since early morning been surrounded by a heavily armed detachment from the paramilitary General Service Unit.
The police chief asked those aggrieved over the election process to seek redress in the courts, and cease any acts that would incite the public to violence.
Mr Odinga, in a brief comment to reporters this morning, ruled out any negotiation with President Kibaki.
“I don’t recognise Mwai Kibaki as President. The country is in a state of mourning because ODM has been robbed of leadership. Kibaki can only hope to remain in power with the support of the military,” said Mr Odinga.
The ODM leaders are currently locked in a meeting after the police declared their planned rally this afternoon illegal.
Meanwhile, violence continues unabated in several Nairobi estates, including Dandora, Mathare, Kariobangi, Kawangware and Kibera.
Police have cordoned off Uhuru Park. Nobody is allowed inside the park, including news reporters. The GSU and regular police are also stationed on all roads leading to the Kibera slums.
Nairobi city centre is deserted as several shops remain closed. There is heavy police presence and gun shots were heard in parts of the central business district shortly after 11am. In some areas, police are turning away pedestrians from entering the town.
In Kisumu, reporters counted 19 bodies with bullet wounds at the Nyanza Provincial General Hospital’s mortuary. Violence has rocked the lakeside city for the third day in a row.
“The mortuary attendant has confirmed to our reporters that the bodies were brought in from last night,” the Nation bureau chief in Kisumu Julius Bosire said.
Nation staff at the Kisumu Bureau offices spent the night in the office as it was unsafe to move around.
In Narok, residents woke up to find the open air market torched. Foodstuff worth thousands of shillings was destroyed and 50 stalls torched.
A truck was set ablaze and at least four people injured.
The Narok Divisional Police Commander Mr Patrick Wambani said that the injured were admitted to the Narok District Hospital.
Police have arrested two people who are being questioned at the Narok Police Station.
In Mombasa, it is chaos as looters continue to raid shops while police watch helplessly.
Mengi zaidi kwa http://politics.nationmedia.com/
Dear bloggers and readers,
Once again Africa has proved her mendacity. What a shame and sacrilege so to speak?
How can a do-nothing sort of seating duck like Kibaki win if the word still retains its true meaning.
He has been declared by the commission not won as it would have been.
He is but the president of the commission just like Museveni and Kagame in Rwanda respectively. He indeed is the product of bovine politics and politricks perpetuated by our political winos. Shame shame on you Kibaki.
Tanzanians should take a leaf in that these rump-fed ronyons still have the muscle to commit sacrilegious bulimia as usual. As of now Kikwete and his gang of goons is smiling heartedly for this mockery to democracy.
Nkwazi Nkuzi Mhango of Freethinking blog.
HAKUNA KIBAKI WIN. Hakushinda uchaguzi balialitangazwa na Tume ya Uchaguzi kwa shinikizo, kama wajumbe wa tume na mwenyekiti wa tume hiyo alivyoeleza baadaye Jumanne. No KIbaki WIN but RIGGING!
REUTERS:
By Peter Apps
LONDON, Jan 2 (Reuters) - While eager to stem violence after Kenya's disputed election, the international community has few immediate options beyond simply trying to persuade the government and opposition to talk to lower tensions.
Only last week, Kenya was talked of as a beacon of political and economic stability in a volatile region as it went to the polls in the tightest election since independence.
Now, rights groups put the death toll from ethnic clashes at more than 300, with the government accusing the opposition of planning "genocide" and both sides saying the vote that put President Mwai Kibaki in power was rife with rigging.
European Union election monitors have said the poll lacked credibility, but experts say while some sanctions are possible they would lack impact and not stem immediate violence.
And they would focus blame on the government, in a situation where it is difficult to assign blame to one side or the other in the mix of apparent fraud and ethnic violence.
The United States initially congratulated Kibaki, but later joined Britain in raising concerns over the result. Experts say serious talk is the best next step forward.
"The first thing is to reduce the violence and the second is to address issues around the election," said Sally Healy, associate fellow at London's Royal Institute of International Affairs.
"It is not so much about pressure as simply helping them to get to the stage where they can resolve the situation. Countries like Britain always want to be seen as doing something -- but the African way is to do things much more behind closed doors."
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has been on the phone to both Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga, while African Union chairman and Ghanian President John Kufuor was due to fly to Nairobi shortly to mediate.
"It is very important that the international community supports the efforts of President Kufuor," said Brown. "He is trying very hard with other people to bring an end to the violence, and we will give whatever support we can."
Analysts say what is needed is more calls from both sides to stop the violence, followed by an interim government of national unity and then either a poll recount or, if that proved impossible, potentially an agreement for new elections.
AID OPTIONS
"There needs to be a home-grown response to the unrest with buy-in from the main players in Kenya," said Razia Khan, head of African economics for Standard Chartered bank.
"Pressure from outside powers -- for example in reducing aid -- is unlikely to bring about an immediate halt to violence. It seems there is little the international community can do at this stage."
Aid cuts would have almost no effect on Kenya, since one of Kibaki's undisputed achievements has been improving tax collection so that the upcoming budget is funded entirely by government revenue.
Aid does come to Kenya, but it is usually humanitarian assistance aimed at helping the government boost programmes aimed at the poor or to deal with temporary crises.
And with China and other Asian powers willing to invest in governments without the usual Western regard to human rights and democratic benchmarks, Western sanctions would have narrow impact, since Africa now often banks in the Middle East.
"These days a lot of the money goes to Dubai and putting targeted sanctions on money there is simply not on the agenda," said Richard Dowden, executive director of the Royal African Society. "India and China have purely commercial interests."
The scene of a major al Qaeda attack on the U.S. embassy in Nairobi in 1998, Kenya is seen as an important U.S. ally -- and a reduction in military aid is regarded as unlikely.
But any ongoing violence will unquestionably weaken the previously well-performing economy, primarily by hitting both local and international investor sentiment. This would have a much greater impact than any international sanctions or aid cut.
It could also block key road transport links essential to many east and central African countries currently dependent on the Kenyan port of Mombasa, as well as possibly undermining global confidence in Africa just at a time when it was seen emerging from decades of stagnation and instability.
"There are elections in other parts of Africa over the next 18 months, in Angola, in Ghana, in Malawi," said British Foreign Secretary David Miliband. "Kenya is very, very important in and of itself and it is important for what it says about the rest of Africa and its approach to democracy." (Additional reporting by C. Bryson Hull in Nairobi; editing by Philippa Fletcher)
Kenya: Unpacking Election Rigging Allegations
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STORI NZURI HII
allAfrica.com
ALLAFRICA BLOG
3 January 2008
Posted to the web 3 January 2008
Brian Kennedy
While the international media has mostly focused on the continuing post-election violence in Kenya, what triggered it has gone largely ignored. The election is often simply described as "disputed." What exactly happened and how credible are the rigging allegations?
Kenya's finance minister, Amos Kimunya denied the allegations on Monday, telling the BBC, "I have no evidence that they were rigged." In a press conference Wednesday, government representatives almost got into a fight with members of the press who questioned them on the allegations, The East African Standard reported.
In the past couple of days, however, international leaders, election monitors and even Kenya's election chief have openly questioned the legitimacy of the election. In a joint statement Wednesday,
United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and and United Kingdom Foreign Secretary David Miliband said "there are independent reports of serious irregularities in the counting process."
In Thursday's Nation, one of Kenya's leading dailies and an allAfrica publishing partner, the head of the Electoral Commission of Kenya, Samuel Kivuitu admitted that he thinks there were problems with the tallying.
Putting together the pieces is difficult because of the lack of publicly-available data (especially vote totals by polling station), but the allegations specifically focus on the tallying. The process of voting and the lead-up to the election has largely been described as free and fair, but not the final count.
The European Union Election Observation Mission said in its preliminary statement, "the elections were competitive and generally well administered prior to tabulation," but "they were marred by a lack of transparency in the processing and tallying of the presidential results, which raises concerns about the the accuracy of the final result of this election."
The International Republican Institute (IRI), a United States-based organization that monitored the election, wrote in its preliminary statement that there are "serious questions" with the vote tabulation.
So how were the tallies supposedly tampered? The BBC has posted an example of what an opposition member claims is a tampered tallying sheet.
According to the opposition member, a "0" was added to President Mwai Kibaki's total, inflating the initial total he got at this particular polling station.
In its 15-page report, the EU observer team singled out Central Province, a Kibaki stronghold, for the worst abuses. It writes that observer teams had problems obtaining results from polling stations in numerous constituencies, and in one the results were signed by a member of Kibaki's party. Additionally, some people disappeared with the results after the tallying was complete.
The EU was equally critical of the process at the national level, writing that "the lack of transparency throughout this process undermined the confidence in the process and subsequently the results."
In another newspaper piece published Thursday, Kampala's Monitor reports that in 72 constituencies differences exist between the count reported nationally and initial local results. For example, in Molu, Kibaki's vote count changed from 50,145 to 75,261, and in Kiene something similar happened, with Kibaki's total going from 54,337 to 72,054. In these disputed constituencies, the Monitor reports that the ECK actually obtained some results by phone.
Kivuitu's claims seem to provide supporting evidence for the Monitor's reporting. He said on Wednesday that he had not yet seen results forms from four constituencies. He also revealed that in two constituencies, including Kiene, he saw the changed results on a tally sheet and asked for the original results to be included. But for some reason this was not done.
The Monitor also published this fascinating piece of reporting:
Daily Monitor investigations also indicate that ECK officials overlooked the fact that Kenyan police personnel deployed to guard all the 36,000 polling stations countrywide also kept a record of the voting and compiled an accurate record of the results, so that even if something happened to the ECK structures, the Kenya Police is in position to give the nation correct results of the polls. Sources say that the Kenya Police tally indicates a major difference from what the ECK announced.
As the evidence of rigging mounts, some in the international press are beginning to pay attention to the angle of the story. The Economist, an opinionated news magazine, called the election a "civilian coup" organized by a group of hardliners.
Amid Kenya clashes, growing calls for calm
Johannesburg, South Africa
- In the center of Kenya's capital, Nairobi, police dispersed opposition protesters Thursday with water cannons and tear gas.
Out in the suburbs, a growing number of newly arrived African statesmen – from Archbishop Desmond Tutu to Sierra Leone's President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah – met with Kenya's two top leaders to help find a peaceful resolution to the ethnic violence that has killed more than 300 people since last week's disputed presidential vote.
And in their respective headquarters, populist opposition leader Raila Odinga and incumbent President Mwai Kibaki continue to dig in their heels and demand that their rival step aside.
Yet, amid the ethnic clashes, there are a few signs of hope that the crisis that followed Kenya's Dec. 27 national elections might be moving toward resolution.
The very fact that police used water cannons, rather than live ammunition as in the past, shows a restraint in the government's use of force. And the presence of potential mediators gives both leaders a face-saving way to soften their positions and seek middle ground, experts say.
"We want [Mr. Kibaki] to own up to the fact that the elections were not right, they were rigged, and even the chairman of the Election Commission Samuel Kivuitu [said] that they were rigged," says Najib Balala, an opposition member of Parliament. "So we must sit down and negotiate. We are ready to negotiate, if Kibaki and his people can admit the elections were rigged. So far they refuse."
This might seem like an impasse, but François Grignon, director of the Africa program for the International Crisis Group in Nairobi, sees them as a "display of strength" on the way to the negotiation table.
Signs of cooperation
"The government is on the defensive," says Mr. Grignon, and the fact that they used water cannons and tear gas and fired in the air shows that "the government knows it is being watched and it doesn't want to lose all political legitimacy. They don't want to be shown on international TV shooting at crowds holding green branches."
The opposition, despite its tough words, "has made a very strong appeal for mediation," says Grignon, and has even given up its previous demand that the president resign his post before beginning negotiations.
Both sides, in short, seem to realize the limits of their power, he says. "There is a growing feeling of a need for a caretaker government that could rule the country."
Kibaki appealed for calm Thursday, saying: "I am ready to have dialogue with the concerned parties once the nation is calm and the political temperatures are lowered enough for constructive and productive engagement."
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called Odinga Wednesday night and Kibaki Thursday, urging both of them to work toward a political solution.
Mr. Tutu met with Odinga Thursday and announced that the fiery leader was ready for the "possibility of mediation." Tutu also said he hopes to meet Kibaki.
Meanwhile, African Union (AU) chair Ghana worked the phones for a consensus among key African nations on a basis for mediation.
Working on a path to peace
It is still too early to tell what any negotiations will produce, but experts say that past political impasses give lessons for a possible path out of the present violence.
Ayesha Kajee, an elections expert and head of the International Human Rights Exchange at Witwatersrand University in Johannesburg, South Africa, says that a road map to peace might look like this: Since parliamentary elections seem largely to have been carried off with fewer irregularities, the largest party in Parliament could be allowed to form an interim government for a limited period of time, in order to carry out the necessary tasks of government, such as running schools and health programs, and paying government salaries and contracts.
Will the African Union intervene?
In the meantime, Ms. Kajee says, the AU could be invited to send a fact-finding mission to study the Kenyan election results – a procedure that every AU member except Egypt has agreed to in the AU's new charter on elections and governance. Then the AU mission could be allowed to recommend whether to retally voter counts in disputed areas, hold new elections in disputed areas, or the most expensive option, hold new elections nationwide.
"Kenya is a country that can be an indicator for the political health of the entire region, so why not use this election as a test case," says Ms. Kajee. "It is certainly within the AU's interest and its mission to intervene in a case like this, especially in the name of ending ethnic conflict before it spreads."
Kenya's attorney general called Thursday for an independent body to verify the vote tally. But Wafula Okumu, an African security analyst for the Institute for Security Studies in Pretoria, South Africa, says that conducting a retally of the Dec. 27 results will be time-consuming and difficult, given that much of the documentation has either been doctored or has disappeared since election night.
"Just to tally one constituency would take a month, and to do it for the whole country would take 2-1/2 years," says Mr. Okumu. "We are far from the solution, but we are also running out of time.
"What is happening in Kenya is now affecting Uganda, southern Sudan, Burundi, and Rwanda," says Okumu, noting that arms are now starting to flow into Kenya from its neighbors, as ethnic communities and mere gangs prepare for the next round of fighting.
Tensions are also rising for Kenya's neighbors, who depend on Kenya's port of Mombasa to obtain fuel. The UN World Food Programme said Thursday that the violence was delaying key humanitarian supplies to war-torn countries in the region. "It is time for the AU, the East African Community, and the European Union to come in," Okumu says. "They have a stake."
• Muchiri Kioi contributed to this report. The Christian Science Monitor
Kenya: AG Calls for Probe Into Poll Result
The Nation (Nairobi)
3 January 2008
Posted to the web 3 January 2008
Nairobi
Kenya's chief legal adviser has urged for an independent investigation into the disputed presidential election result that has thrown the country into days of chaos and death.
Attorney General Amos Wako said serious doubt had been established over the presidential election result as announced by the Electoral Commission.
Mr Wako, breaking days of silence, said: "A proper tally of the valid certificates returned and confirmed should be undertaken immediately and on a priority basis by an agreed and independent person or body."
The AG said his position took into consideration the allegations by the rival parties that their votes had been rigged and the fact that some electoral commissioners, including the polls chief Samuel Kivuitu, have questioned the veracity of the result.
Here is the full statement by the AG:
I wish to make the following 5 points:
The level of and nature of the violent protest has never before been witnessed in our country and is quickly degenerating into a catastrophe of unimaginable proportions and if left unchecked will be uncontrollable and will tear apart the economic and social fabric of our Kenyan nationhood. It is therefore absolutely vital that as our law enforcement agencies are restoring law and order that immediate steps be taken on other fronts to address the grievances which gave rise to the unacceptable situation in which we are in.
Hon. Mwai Kibaki having been declared duly elected as President of Kenya, only the election court can nullify the election if a case is made out in the petition filed by the petitioner. However, in view of the allegations on either side that their votes have been rigged, the fact that some Commissioners, including the Chairman of the Electoral Commission of Kenya questioning the accuracy of the number of votes declared and taking into account that this crisis has arisen because of the perceptions that the presidential results were rigged, it is necessary, and here I agree with the Catholic Bishops and others, that a proper tally of the valid certificates returned and confirmed should be undertaken immediately and on a priority basis by an agreed and independent person or body. In as much as under Regulation 42(2) of the Presidential and Parliamentary Election Regulations the relevant Forms 16 and 16A are documents that can be made available for inspection by any member of the public, such an exercise can be undertaken without a court order and without an election petition having been filed. Such an exercise will go a long way in assuaging the inflamed passions of people.
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The foregoing will also assist any mediation or negotiation or constructive dialogue entered into in arriving at legal, policy or political decisions. It is of necessity that the PNU, ODM, ODM(K) and other parliamentary political parties enter into a constructive dialogue for a political solution. Such political decisions can include for example the formation by the President of a Government of ALL parliamentary political parties anchored on an agreement to be made public.
The law enforcement agencies, and in particular, the Police are using and will use all lawful means to ensure that law and order is maintained. Peace is restored, and the right to life and property is respected and secured. Grave and serious offences are being committed and prosecution will ensue. Targeting communities or tribes can also ultimately result in serious crimes under international law such as crimes against humanity can attract accountability at the international level.
My appeal is therefore to all of us to ensure that we speak or act in a matter that contributes positively to peace; recognises that we are all equal as Kenyans; that we support all efforts aimed at reaching a solution to the problem based on justice and peace and that we put our beloved nation first as our individual interests are best served in a united, democratic and thriving nation.
Kenya and the future of African democracy
By David Blair
Last Updated: 12:01am GMT 03/01/2008
Can it be worth the price? As children suffer death by fire inside a village church and hundreds of people are butchered in slums across Kenya, one profoundly disturbing question arises from their suffering: is Africa's democratic experiment worth the cost in blood?
David Blair: Why democracy is crippled in Kenya
Daniel Hannan: Can democracy work in Africa?
Three Line Whip: Kenyan silence
Kenya's general election has not given the country a chance to hold President Mwai Kibaki accountable for his performance in office. Instead, all the evidence suggests that Mr Kibaki lost the poll, but his officials cheerfully faked the results and he blithely decided to risk chaos by staying in power regardless.
advertisementThis is a familiar story. In 2005, Ethiopia held a bitterly disputed election, denounced by European Union observers, and the security forces responded to violent protests by killing 193 people in the streets and arresting tens of thousands.
Last April, Nigeria held polls which cost scores of lives and were marred by every known variety of trickery and rigging.
There have, of course, been peaceful elections in Africa: recent contests in Botswana, Namibia and Mozambique come to mind. But all of these countries have a dominant ruling party. Holding a clean election is easy when you know you are going to win.
The acid test comes when the outcome is in doubt. From Kenya to Nigeria to the ghastly example of Zimbabwe, experience shows that closely fought elections in Africa usually tip into bloodshed.
Why is this? Democracy in Africa does not work in a way that we might find familiar. Despite all the focus on personalities and trivia, questions of policy still matter in British elections. Votes are won and lost on the performance of the economy or the management of the NHS.
In Africa, politicians rarely bother to campaign on policy or ideology. The president's performance in office, his ideas for running the country, his handling of the economy - all these are often irrelevant.
In countries like Kenya, tribal loyalties are by far the most important determinant of voting behaviour. Put bluntly, you vote according to who you are, not what you believe.
So Mr Kibaki could rely on most of his fellow Kikuyus to back him, no matter how useless and corrupt his government happened to be. If, as all the evidence suggests, he did lose the election, what finished him is that Kikuyus account for only 22 per cent of Kenya's population and enough of the other tribes united behind his opponent, Raila Odinga.
In other words, elections in Kenya and elsewhere in Africa are nothing more than a disguised national census. All they do is disclose the latest balance between the tribes.
There is a still deeper problem. In the end, democracy's only purpose is to allow a president to be removed without bloodshed. Yet with blinkered and selfish obduracy, many African leaders will not relinquish power for any price.
Mr Kibaki has now joined the Robert Mugabe Club - namely the dismal circle of African leaders who are utterly convinced of their own indispensability. This dishonourable clique will cling to office even when this tips their countries into chaos.
Mr Kibaki is an unlikely recruit to this gang. A quiet, softly spoken 76-year-old, with a first-class degree from the London School of Economics, he is no caricature African tyrant. When he became Kenya's president in 2002, his old friend Lord Steel, the former Liberal leader, was quick to sing his praises.
If Mr Kibaki, of all leaders, is determined to hold power regardless of the cost in lives, the harsh lesson is clear: scarcely any African president is willing to step down in the wake of an election defeat.
If the Mugabe Club contains the worst of Africa, there is another clique of politicians at the opposite end of the moral spectrum. This select group consists of the African leaders who have gone quietly after losing a clean election.
Sadly, it has only two members - Abdou Diouf, the former president of Senegal, who stepped down in 2000, and Kenneth Kaunda, the retired Zambian leader who lost an election and resigned in 1991.
For all their many blunders in office, Messrs Diouf and Kaunda deserve to have their names carved in marble for setting such an honourable example.
Democracy in Africa is often a sham and, tragically, Kenyans are paying for their election with their lives. Yet would they prefer to forget about regular polls and revert to straightforward despotism? The violence is appalling but many more died during the authoritarian rule of Mr Kibaki's predecessor, Daniel arap Moi.
There are some silver linings. Today, Kenya has a free press and a degree of freedom of expression that would have been inconceivable a decade ago.
Moreover, the rise of an urban and articulate middle class is slowly reducing the grip of tribalism on politics. Whether the president is any good at his job might actually matter in future elections.
But first, Mr Kibaki and every other African leader will have to learn a hard lesson: when your people show you the door, it is time to leave.
This is a shame for East Africa countries, Africa, has a diseases in her democrancy process, What will be in Tanzania 2010??.
Joshua Michael
Colorado
Huu ndio aina nyingine ya Maditeta kwa kiaafrika na hivyo kuna haja ya kubadilisha mifumo yetu ya uchanguzi na kuona kuwa watu wote na kama watu wakichangua viongozi wao bila kikwazo
John masawe
KIBAKI AMESHAHRIBU MAMBO. ONA SASA!
I’m not surprised, says Kalonzo amid mixed reactions
Published on January 9, 2008,
By Standard Team
ODM-K leader Mr Kalonzo Musyoka took up his appointment with a reconciliatory message to the nation. He said he was not surprised by the appointment, saying he had been consulting before the announcement.
"We have been consulting, we have been in touch with other parties," he said. Kalonzo, who was on Tuesday evening appointed the Vice-President, said he would use his position to reconcile the country, which has been rocked by political upheaval since the announcement of presidential results.
"As a VP I want to take a lead to reconcile this nation to ensure we have a safe and prosperous country," he told The Standard at his Karen home. Thanking President Kibaki for the appointment, Kalonzo said his party’s position has not changed, saying he has been on record for a coalition government with any party.
Accompanied by former Kitui West MP Nyiva Mwendwa and the party’s chairman Daniel Maanzo, Kalonzo said his party would be open to dialogue even in the event that Kibaki reshuffles the Cabinet to accommodate ODM.
ODM said Kibaki’s appointment of a half-Cabinet would undermine the peace mission of President John Kufour. Party Secretary-General, Prof Anyang’ Nyongo’, said people were anxious to see the mediation end the crisis.
Nyongo said: "Much more, the President’s action is making a mockery of his statement to undertake negotiation through a mediator." He said ODM would treat the new Cabinet with contempt, adding that the appointment had no legal standing as Kibaki was in office illegally. "President Kibaki was illegitimately sworn-in office in violation of the Constitution," he said. The Law Society of Kenya and the Civil Society have said Kibaki’s Cabinet line-up will not resolve the national crisis.
LSK chairman, Mr Okong’o Omogeni said by naming the Cabinet, the President was sending message that he is no longer interested in mediation. Instead, Omogeni said Kibaki should have waited for mediation by Ghanaian President John Kufuor before making such a move.
"I expected the President to look at an amicable way of resolving the crisis but this does not help because people will still question the legitimacy of his Government. He regretted that the President does not understand the magnanimity of the national situation.
Mr Mwalimu Mati, the director of Mars Group said it was bizarre that the President would name a Cabinet before talks to end the crisis. "It is more bizarre that he has appointed a Cabinet that excludes a large part of the country. This will not address the question of whether he is occupying an illegitimate position," he noted.
Following the illegal swearing-in, Mati said, this new Cabinet announcement is another act of corruption and an abuse of power for private gain. He said the country is burning and instead of aiming at reducing tension, the President is fuelling it.
The Chairman of Kituo cha Sheria, Mr Harun Ndubi, said he was disappointed that Kibaki rushed to naming a Cabinet instead of waiting for mediation. The new cabinet named by President Kibaki last evening was missing new faces from his Mt Kenya backyard. The President opted to retain his trusted lieutenants, disregarding the new crop of MPs who triumphed in the elections.
In Central Province, apart from Kanu Chairman, Mr Uhuru Kenyatta, who is a new entrant in the Government, Gichugu MP, Ms Martha Karua, Kipipiri’s Mr Amos Kimunya and Mr John Michuki of Kangema got their old jobs back. In the larger Meru region where Kibaki got a huge chunk of votes, only South Imenti MP, Mr Kiraitu Murungi, was re-appointed to the cabinet. Newly elected Mathira MP, Mr Ephraim Maina, was touted to be among the beneficiaries of a Cabinet position due to his perceived closeness to the President’s inner circle. Another surprise exclusion from the Kibaki’s cabinet was the larger Embu district, which was previously represented by vanquished Co-operative Development Minister, Mr Njeru Ndwiga.
Kibaki did not name any minister from Maragua and Kiambu districts while Nyandarua and Kirinyaga districts had one each. There were loud protests in Nanyuki Town as Energy assistant Minister, Mr Mwangi Kiunjuri, failed to make the early list of the cabinet.
But clerics dismissed the Cabinet named by President Kibaki, terming it a big blunder. Bishop Mwai Abiero and the Reverend Kenneth Wachianga of the Anglican Church of Kenya (ACK) said Kibaki had betrayed the country. They said the announcement on television last evening might plunge the country into further chaos.
"It is now clear that Kibaki had no intention of negotiating with ODM," Abiero said. He said Kibaki should have maintained his former Cabinet as the country charted a way forward out of the national stalemate.
"Kibaki knows he is in office illegally and has no authority to name a Cabinet. We are perplexed with the direction the country is headed," Wachianga said. But Education Minister, Prof Sam Ongeri, welcomed his new post, saying it did not surprise him.
"I am not surprised. I thank the President for including me in his Cabinet. I will strive to improve the standards of education," he said. The Name and Shame Corruption Networks (Nascon) has termed President Kibaki’s naming of Cabinet as "shutting the door on dialogue." Nascon co-ordinator, Mr Geoffrey Birundu, said the move had gone against the international community’s calls to give peace and dialogue a chance.
"ODM called off country rallies to give peace a chance. Why has the President not done the same by delaying naming of the Cabinet?" he asked. He said the President action was a let down for Kenyans and a threat to peace. "We have already seen people reacting violently. We cannot afford another week like the past one. The President has lost touch with the ground,’ he added. The International Commission of Jurists Kenya (ICJ) chapter has said that the naming of the Cabinet by President Kibaki was a sign of lack of commitment to dialogue to resolve political standoff. ICJ executive director, Mr George Kegoro, said the naming of the Cabinet was in bad taste.
"This is confirmation of business as usual without touching on pertinent issues affecting the country in the search for peace," he added.
Mr Kegoro said Kenya was bigger than political interests and accused the President of acting in bad faith. He observed that Kibaki should have waited and engaged in dialogue before naming the Cabinet
Kenya's dubious election
Did the results reflect the votes cast?
Kenya's opposition Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) claims that last month's election was rigged in favour of President Mwai Kibaki.
Protests have led to some 600 deaths nationwide and 250,000 people have fled their homes.
International and domestic observers have also raised their concerns.
There are several reasons to be suspicious about the official results:
The results were delayed for more than a day, at a time when ODM candidate Raila Odinga was leading
Many thousands of people seem to have only voted in the presidential election but not the parliamentary or local polls held at the same time
Some of these results came from areas known to be pro-Kibaki
In the parliamentary race, Mr Odinga's ODM won twice as many seats as Mr Kibaki's Party of National Unity (PNU)
Results in some constituencies were different when announced nationally, to when they had previously been announced locally
The head of the election commission has admitted that turnout in one constituency was 115%.
According to the official results, Mr Kibaki won with a tiny margin of 230,000 votes out of a total cast of some 10 million.
This means that the alleged malpractices could easily have changed the outcome.
The PNU has urged anyone with proof of rigging to go to court and has in turn accused the ODM of rigging in Mr Odinga's home province of Nyanza.
ELECTION RESULTS
Presidential:
Mwai Kibaki: 4,584,721
Raila Odinga: 4,352,993
Parliamentary:
ODM: 99
PNU: 43
Pro-ODM: 4
Pro-PNU: 24
Top US official for Africa, Jendayi Frazer, has also suggested that both sides could have been responsible for rigging.
But some of the most glaring discrepancies seem to have come from Central Province, Mr Kibaki's home region and known as a stronghold of his Kikuyu community.
The Law Society of Kenya has condemned the results as "not credible" and said Mr Kibaki, who was sworn in straight after the official results were declared, should step down.
Even Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) head Samuel Kivuitu has admitted that he could not say for sure if Mr Kibaki had won fairly until he saw the original records.
Under cover of dark
The head of one Kenyan organisation which monitored the poll told the BBC News website she suspects that people broke into some counting centres and added tens of thousands of votes while counters slept.
Koki Muli, the executive director of the Institute for Education and Democracy (IED), says she thinks that the counting of the presidential ballots was deliberately delayed by election officials until late into the night.
An Odinga supporter sent the BBC a ballot paper that allegedly shows vote rigging
Enlarge Image
Many regional tally stations then ran out of kerosene for lamps, and counters went to bed - intending to finish the job the next day.
On their return to work, they found ballots for the presidential election outnumbered those cast for the local and parliamentary elections.
"In past elections, the presidential ballot was counted first, but this time counters were ordered to start with the parliamentary and civic elections.
"As a result many places ran out of kerosene for their lamps. Something then happened overnight," Mrs Muli said.
In some constituencies there were as many as 50,000 more votes in the presidential ballot than in the local civic and parliamentary elections, Mrs Muli said.
"People vote for their local representative, because it's the office that has a direct impact on their lives. People just don't turn up and vote for the president only," she said.
The IED is part of a 13-member partnership of domestic election monitors who put 17,000 observers into the field during the elections.
'Suspicious delays'
Mrs Muli's observations are backed up by the European Union observer mission who say that results in at least three districts were inflated by the time they were announced in the capital, Nairobi.
Their interim report says there were "serious inconsistencies" in the results collected by observers in Molo in Rift Valley and Kieni in Central Province.
Africog's Gladwell Otieno says the violence could have been worse
Results forms for Lari and Kandara constituencies in Central Province were changed, they say.
"It was unclear by whom, where and especially when these changes were made," the report said.
In Kerugoya, also in Central Province, EU observers found there were 10,000 more votes than the official turnout recorded.
Gladwell Otieno of the African Centre for Open Governance (Africog) says some of these dubious results in the Central province were announced after "suspicious delays".
"Even the head of the ECK said he could not get through to people collating the votes in many regions. These places then returned results for the government," she said.
Criminal charges
There were also problems in the Nairobi constituency represented in parliament by Mr Odinga.
Here, thousands of people, whose surnames begin with "O" were missed off the voters register, including Mr Odinga himself.
The surnames of many members of Mr Odinga's Luo community start with O.
Mr Odinga complained to the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) and the problem was rectified but he suggested it may have been a deliberate ploy to disenfranchise his supporters.
Polling stations opened late with too few ballots all across the country. In some cases polling stations received the wrong ballot papers, further delaying the vote, Mrs Otieno said.
Although protests have descended into violence, in which at least 600 people have died, she says the violence could have been far worse.
Her group plans to lobby the police to bring criminal charges against those they believe are responsible.
Both the IED and Africog are planning to bring out detailed reports on the elections in the next few days.
Now Kivuitu disowns results
By DAVID MUGONYI
Thursady January 10, 2008
A new storm broke out over the presidential elections Thursday after polls boss Samuel Kivuitu disowned results published in the media by his office, saying he had not approved them.
And he blamed “outside forces” for making public the controversial presidential tallies, which appeared in three pages of paid-for advertising in Daily Nation and The Standard Thursday.
“I did not submit this report or authorise my name to be used for its publication. The use of my name is a falsification,” the besieged Electoral Commission chairman said in statement.
His complaint will once again raise questions over who really is in charge of the commission, which has been accused of doctoring presidential results in President Kibaki’s favour and announcing figures different from those read out at the constituencies, plunging Kenya into a political crisis.
Mr Kivuitu has previously complained that individuals at ECK were altering presidential tallies at the commission’s Kenyatta International Conference Centre headquarters even after President Kibaki had been declared winner and sworn-in.
Thursday's protest was prompted by the publication in the dailies of presidential result tables purported to be the official ones from the ECK. They showed President Kibaki had received 4,584,721 against ODM’s Raila Odinga 4,352,993, restating the figures read out on December 30 on the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation, which led to violent protests that have claimed more than 486 lives and displaced thousands.
The notice was booked and paid for by the commission secretary Joel Tsola, who also presented a CD of the results to newspaper advertising agents.
The division within the commission was highlighted by the fact Mr Tsola reports to Mr Kivuitu.
Mr Kivuitu’s frustration at the goings-on in the commission first emerged two weeks ago when he complained to the media that fresh versions of Form 16 (A) documents, which he had previously seen with alteration marks had popped up. They looked suspiciously new and had the disputed inflated presidential result figures from Kieni and Juja.
On Thursday, he publicly asked why the “complete” presidential results from 209 constituencies had been rushed to the media yet he had asked for clarification on “a few areas” and was awaiting a reply.
“I do not know why the ECK should rush to publish this data at time when serious discussion involving eminent world leaders are ongoing as a result of the ECK’s announcement of the election results based on the data,” he said.
Their release could be viewed as a “defensive tactic by a guilty party to the dispute”, he added. He did not name the “guilty party” but similar copies of the purported results had been sent to the media the day before by a Government official.
Yet again, Mr Kivuitu called for an inquiry by an “independent and competent team into the commission he heads so that “the respectable persons” could “come out with the truth”.
Mr Kivuitu’s remarks will add to the confusion caused by his admission in a television interview that he did not know whether Mr Kibaki had won the presidential election, and that this could only be established by scrutinising the commission’s records.
Results released by the commission at KICC on December 30 are at the centre of the national crisis which has attracted mediation from Ghana’s President John Kufuor and keen attention from the UK and US government and the EU.
It started when the ECK declared Mr Kibaki winner of the presidential election, but admitted flaws in the tallying of the results. ODM and election observers have complained of differences in some of the final results announced by commissioners and those read out at the constituencies.
Before he announced on television, Mr Kivuitu complained that some of the returning officers who had handed in their results had switched off their mobile phones or simply disappeared.
On Thursday he said that although he had seen the data on the results published in the newspapers when it was being verified, he had sought some clarification on a few areas but had not received a reply.
“It seems like some outside force has pushed for its publication otherwise whoever published it would have sought my consent for the use of my name,” he said and described the action as “imprudent”.
EU could cut aid to Kenya - senior official
By REUTERS
15/Jan/2008
The European Union could cut its aid to Kenya over concerns about disputed elections, the EU's top aid official said on Monday.
Another EU official said the 27-nation bloc was considering suspending all aid and imposing sanctions if mediation efforts to resolve the crisis failed.
"It's difficult to continue the same level of budgetary support if we see that the election has not been fully respected," EU Development Commissioner Louis Michel told a meeting of the European Parliament's development committee.
The crisis has dented Kenya's democratic credentials and rattled Western donors. Post-election turmoil, in which hundreds have been killed, has hit the country's economy as well as supplies to east and central African neighbours.
"We are not in a situation we can call business as usual by any means," Michel said. "We have to adapt our relations."
The EU provided 290 million euros ($431.1 million) in aid to Kenya between 2002 and 2007. A further 383 million euros are planned for 2008-2013.
Leading a group of "Eminent Africans", former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan was due in the east African nation later today to try to kick-start dialogue between President Kibaki and his rival Raila Odinga, who have not met since the disputed December 27 election.
The second EU official said that if Annan's mediation failed the European Union would consider tougher steps.
"We are working on an options paper, all the possible scenarios are on the table, including the possibility of suspending aid and of taking sanctions," said the official, who requested anonymity.
EU ambassadors would work on these options on Tuesday, the official said.
The EU and the United States have urged Kenya's rival political parties to work to form a government. Michel said he had been unable to reach Kibaki for talks.
"I have attempted to contact him in vain for days on end. I get to his front office but am never transferred to the president - either the line goes dead or he does not pick up the phone," he told the lawmakers.
Michel said Kenya was vital for regional stability and its crisis had implications for countries such as Uganda and Rwanda.
Kenya's ambassador to Belgium, Marx Kahende, told the same meeting that a negotiated solution was possible.
"We remain optimistic that ongoing efforts, including the engagement by Kofi Annan ... will yield an acceptable solution to all parties," Kahende said. "Democracy can't be built in a void ... Maybe NATO forces are required, I don't know," he said.
EU observers reiterated concerns over the election. "The accuracy of the result is in doubt," said Liberal lawmaker Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, who was the European Parliament's chief observer at the Kenyan election.
Speaker election: Round one counting on
By NATION Reporter
15/Jan/2008
Kenya’s new MPs are at Parliament Buildings all set to elect of new Speaker in the first major test of strength between the Government and the Opposition since the elections two weeks ago.
A total of 207 MPs-elect are in Parliament ready to elect the speaker of the National Assembly.
- Soon after the MPs-elect are called to order and prayers are said, Ugenya MP-elect James Orengo seeks clarification from the Clerk Samuel Ndindiri on the basis of voting through secret ballot as that was not provided for in the standing orders. Mr Ndindiri answers that the orders talk of ‘a ballot’.
- Voting begins and ODM MPs-elect mark their ballots and show them to their colleagues. This draws several interventions from the Government side who argue that it is against the procedures. The opposition side answers that it is their choice and that there is no provision in law against them showing each other marked ballots.
- Attorney General Amos Wako says that while it may not be explicit in the rules that voting be by secret ballot, they can borrow from the House of Commons where the practice is on.
- The Clerk asks that the ballots already in the box be removed and the voting to start all over again. The ballot box is moved to the dispatch area.
- 3.57pm – Voting resumes.
- 4.25pm – ODM-Kenya chairman and Minister for Information and Communication claims that ODM’s George Khaniri and Joshua Orwa Ojode keep checking how MPs-elect are marking their votes. The clerk directs that the ballots be marked away from the two members
- 4.31pm – Opposition members make hissing sounds as Kangema MP-elect John Michuki casts his ballot, apparently in reference to Mr Michuki‘s remark two years ago that he who rattles a snake should be ready for to be bitten when police raided the Standard Newspaper Group offices.
- 5.03pm – Round one voting complete. Counting starts.
continues from previous comment
4.25pm – ODM-Kenya chairman and Minister for Information and Communication claims that ODM’s George Khaniri and Joshua Orwa Ojode keep checking how MPs-elect are marking their votes. The clerk directs that the ballots be marked away from the two members
· 4.31pm – Opposition members make hissing sounds as Kangema MP-elect John Michuki casts his ballot, apparently in reference to Mr Michuki‘s remark two years ago that he who rattles a snake should be ready for to be bitten when police raided the Standard Newspaper Group offices.
· 5.03pm – Round one voting complete. Counting starts.
· 5.19pm – ODM’s Kenneth Marende declared winner of round one with 104 votes. PNU’s Francis ole Kaparo gets 99, Kalembe Ndile got two votes while the other two candidates, Njoki Ndung’u and Wanyiri Kihoro got zero.
Uchambuzi mzuri sana huu wa Gazeti la Mwananchi
Posted Date::1/14/2008
Kenya: Mapambano mapya ya ODM, Kibaki kuhamia Bungeni
Andrew Msechu na Mashirika ya Habari
MAPAMBANO makali baina ya wabunge wa vyama vya ODM na PNU yanatarajiwa kuanza rasmi bungeni leo, kufuatia Bunge hilo kukutana kwa mara ya kwanza huku ODM ikiwa imejipanga kukaa upande wa wabunge wa chama tawala kwa madai kuwa walishinda uchaguzi huo.
Huo unaonekana kuwa mtihani mwingine mgumu kwa wabunge waliopo chini ya PNU ya Rais Kibaki, ambao wamekuwa wakipingana na wale wa ODM waliopo chini ya Raila Odinga.
Mvutano mkali unatarajiwa kuiumba ndani ya Bunge hilo hasa katika hatua ya uchaguzi wa Spika na Naibu Spika wa Bunge, huku wabunge wa ODM wakiwa wameshatoa msimamo wao wa kukaa upande wa kulia wa Spika kwa madai kuwa ndiyo wanaostahili kuunda serikali ya nchi hiyo, pia wabunge wa PNU na washirika wao wakiripotiwa kuwa na kikao cha siri juzi kupanga mikakati ya kuzinyakua nafasi hizo na kutetea kukaa upande huo wa wabunge wa chama tawala.
Mkutano huo wa Bunge hilo unatarajiwa kuwa na msisimko na mapambano ya aina yake na kuwa kwenye kipindi chenye mijadala migumu tangu Kenya ipate uhuru wake.
Inaelezwa na wachambuzi wa masuala ya kisiasa kuwa iwapo ODM itafanikiwa katika mpango wake wa kukaa kwenye upande wa serikali kutaibua upinzani mkali kwa upande wa wabunge wa PNU na washirika wake ambao ndiyo wanaodai kuwa wenye serikali halali, lakini pia kuwaweka kwenye wakati mgumu zaidi kwenye uchaguzi wa viongozi watakaiosimamia shughuli mbali mbali za bunge hilo.
ODM inajivunia nafasi yao na ushirikiano wake na NARC kupitia kwa Charity Ngilu ambao hadi sasa wana uhakika wa kupata kura 103 na matarajio ya wabunge wengine sita wa kuteuliwa kulingana na sheria za mwaka 1997 ya muunganiko wa vyama.
Tayari nafasi ya ODM ambayo pekee itakuwa na uwezo wa kuwa na wabunge 108 inaiweka pabaya PNU ambayo iwapo itajipanga na washirika wake itakuwa na uwezo wa kuvishikilia viti 114 iwapo itaweza kuvishawishi vyama vingine vidogo, ambavyo pia havitaweza kufikisha theluthi mbili ya wabunge wanaotakiwa kuruhusu hoja kupitishwa.
Kulingana na Bunge la Kenya, theluthi mbili ya wabunge 222 ni wabunge 148 ukiomuondoa Spika na Mwanasheria Mkuu wa Serikali, idadi inayowawezesha wabunge wa chama tawala kuliendesha Bunge watakavyo dhidi ya wapinzani.
ODM inaelezwa kumuunga mkono Mbunge wa Emuhaya, Kenneth Marende kwa nafasi ya Spika, huku PNU ikiwa na makakati wa kumrejesha Spika aliyemaliza muda wake Francis Kaparo.
Hata hivyo, baada ya uchaguzi wa Spika ODM na PNU zitakuwa na wakati mgumu wa kufikia makubaliano ya ushirikiano na baadhi ya wabunge hasa ili kuweza kudhibiti hoja za kila upande zitakazotakiwa kupitishwa kupitia Bunge hilo.
Msimamo wa vyama hivyo juu ya nani atakayekuwa na nguvu zaidi kwenye Bunge hilo utakuwa kwenye nafasi nzuri kufuatia mchakato wa uchaguzi wa Spika na Naibu Spika leo.
Vita hiyo inaelekezwa pia kwenye utauzi wa wajumbe wa Kamati Muhimu za Bunge hilo.
Wakati hayo yakiendelea, tayari kiongozi wa ODM, Odinga amesema kamwe hatolazimishwa kumtambua Rais Kibaki kama mkuu wa nchi iwapo juhudi za upatanishi zinazofanywa hivi sasa hazitaainisha kukiukwa kwa taratibu kwa kuibiwa kwa kura na kupindishwa matokeo.
Hatua hiyo ya Odinga aliyoiweka wazi juzi alipokuwa kwenye ibada ya maombezi kwenye Kanisa la Jesus Alive Ministry chini ya Mbunge kupitia Chama cha Starehe, Mchungaji Magreth Wanjiru, imekuja huku mpatanishi wa Kimataifa Katibu Mkuu mstaafu wa Umoja wa Mataifa, Kofi Annan akitarajiwa kufika nchini humo leo.
"Ninawashukuru kwa kunichagua mimi kuwa Rais wa Kenya pia kwa kupinga ukiukwaji wa sheria na ninaendelea kusisitiza kuwa hatuwezi kuzungumza amani ya Kenya bila kumshinikiza Kibaki kuondoka madarakani, iwe wazi kuwa tunataka airejeshe nafasi yetu," alisema Odinga.
Aliongeza kuwa yuko tayari kushirikiana na timu ya wapatanishi inayotarajiwa kuongozwa na Annan, ambaye tayari Katibu Mkuu wa Umoja wa Mataifa, Ban Ki Moon ameelezea kuwa yuko tayari kushirikiana naye kwa karibu.
Odinga alisema kwua ODM iko tayari kwa mazungumzo, lakini si kwa misingi ya kumtambua Kibaki kuwa Rais kupitia matokeo yasiyoelezeka yaliyotangazwa na ECK kwenye ukumbi wa KICC.
"Inawezekanaje mtu aibe ng'ombe wako, halafu kabla hajakubali kumrudisha uanze kumsifu kuwa mshindi, hatuwezi kukubali wala kuabudu wizi wa namna hii," alisema.
Hatua hiyo ya Odinga imepingwa vikali na baadhi ya mawaziri wa Serikali ya Kibaki, wakiwemo Moses Wetang'ula na John Michuki ambao walisema kuwa Kibaki yuko madarakani kihalali.
"Mtizamo huo wa Odinga hauwezi kumsaidia, Kibaki amechaguliwa kihalali na wananchi wa Kenya, ametangazwa mshindi na Tume ya Uchaguzi, ameshaapishwa na kuunda serikali yake, kama kuna malalamiko yoyote kuhusu hilo ni mahakama pekee yenye uwezo wa kutoa maamuzi, madai ya Odinga hayana msingi na ni kinyume cha sheria," alisema Waziri wa Mambo ya Nje Mosea Wetang'ula.
Aliongeza kuwa tayari ofisi yake imeshawasiliana na Annan kumweleza uhalali wa Rais kibaki kutambulika kama mkuu wa nchi na hatua zinazotakiwa kufuatwa na yeyote anayepinga uwepo wake kwenye nafasi hiyo.
Aliongeza kuwa anachotambua kwa sasa ni ahadi ya viongozi wa ODM kwa Rais wa Ghana John Kufuor aliyeondoka nchini humo wiki iliyopita kuwa wako tayari kufanya mazungumzo bila masharti.
"Matarajio yetu ni kuwa Annan anakuja kuendeleza mazungumzo pale alipoishia Kufuor, lakini itambulike kuwa mazungumzo haya hayapo kwa ajili ya kutimiza matakwa ya ODM," alisisitiza.
Mtizamo huo wa Odinga umekuja huku juhudi za upatanishi zikiendelea kwa mpatanishi Kofi Annan akitarajwia kuwasili nchini humo leo kusimamia kikosi kipya cha upatanishi, kinachiwajumuisha Rais Mstaafu wa Awamu ya Tatu nchini Tanzania, Benjamin Mkapa na mke wa Rais Mstaafu wa Afrika Kusini Graca Machel.
Hata hivyo, Odinga ameendeleza msimamo wake kwa kusema kuwa Wakenya hawatakata tamaa kwa kuwa tayari ameshaona mwanga wa mafanikio katika kurejesha haki yao iliyoporwa, akiwataka viongozi wa dunia kuweka mbele suala la msingi ambalo ni kukubali wizi wa kura iwapo wana nia ya kufikia hatma ya mazungumzo hayo.
Alisema kuwa hatua zinazochukuliwa za upatanishi kwao wao ni kuhakikisha wanathibitisha Kibaki kutokuwa mshindi la sivyo Wakenya hawana sababu ya kupiga kura tena kwa mwaka 2012.
Odinga alisema iwapo taratibu za uchaguzi zinasimamiwa na wezi ambao wanapika matokeo kwa faida yao binafsi au makundi fulani ya watu, demokrasia nchini humo itaendelea kuwa kitendawili hivyo ni lazima watu wajitokeze kuhakikisha kuwa wanafuata dhana hiyo na kuwafanya watu wote kuwa kitu kimoja kwa misingi ya haki.
Hata hivyo, msemaji wa ODM, Salim Lone, alisema kuwa maandamano yaliyopangwa kuendelea nchi nzima kesho yatafanyika kwa kuwa serikali inaonekna kutokuwa na haja ya kuutanzua mgogoro wa kisiasa nchini humo.
"Kwa hiyo maandamano ambayo yalikuwa yamesitishwa yataanza tena kote nchini, huku Kofi Annan akiendelea na juhudi za upatanishi," alisema Lone.
Kufuatia kutangazwa kuendelea kwa maandamano hayo, tayari maelfu ya wakazi wa maeneo ya Eldoret wameripotiwa kuhama makazi yao.
Wakati huo huo, Timu ya waangalizi wa Uchaguzi wa Kenya kutoka Jumuia ya Afrika Mashariki imeweka wazi taarifa yake, ikieleza kuwa haukuwa wa huru na haki kutokana na kuvurugwa kwa taratibu za uchaguzi, na kutaka kufanyika kwa uchunguzi na kuwafikisha kwenye vyombo vya dola maafisa wote wa ECK watakaobainika kusimamia uvurugaji huo.
Katika taarifa hiyo iliyokuwa ikisubiriwa kwa muda mrefu, timu hiyo iliyoundwa na wajumbe wa Bunge la Afrika Mashariki kutoka Kenya, Uganda na Tanzania wakisaidiana na wanataaluma wengine ilieleza juzi kuwa uchaguzi huo uliohitimishwa kwa kumtangaza Rais Kibaki kuwa mshindi haukusimamiwa vizuri, hivyo kusababisha kuharibika kabisa kwa uchaguzi huo katika hatua za mwisho.
"Matukio yaliyoonekana wazi yanaonyesha kuwa Mwneyekiti wa ECK Samuel Kivuitu alishindwa kudhibiti mchakato mzima wa upigaji kura, hivyo kupoteza imani ya tume hiyo, lakini pia alionyesha udhaifu mkubwa katika kusimamia hatua ya mwisho ya utangazaji wa matokeo," ilisema sehemu ya taarifa hiyo.
· 5.19pm – ODM’s Kenneth Marende declared winner of Round One with 104 votes. PNU’s Francis ole Kaparo gets 99, Kalembe Ndile got two votes while the other two candidates, Njoki Ndung’u and Wanyiri Kihoro got zero. Marende’s votes do not add up to a two-thirds majority so the clerk orders a Round Two.
ROUND TWO:
· 5.26pm – Round Two of voting starts with President Kibaki casting his ballot followed by ODM’s Raila Odinga.
· 6.00pm – Voting goes on relatively smoothly. Lots of movement on the Government side. Security Minister Prof Saitoti retreats with a few colleagues to the empty benches where they consult for a few minutes. Justice Minister Martha Karua talks to Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka while fiddling with her mobile phone.
· 6.29pm – Voting ends and counting begins.
· 6.44pm – Marende is declared winner of round two with 104 votes against his closest rival Kaparo’s 102. Mr Kihoro gets one vote, while Ms Ndung’u and Mr Ndile get none. The last three fall out of the race.
ROUND THREE:
· 6.49pm – Round Three voting begins, with only Marende and Kaparo in the race.
· 7.01pm – The clerk, Mr Ndindiri alerts the House that some television stations are showing how MPs-elect are marking their ballots. He warns that such journalists and media houses will be penalised.
· 7.44pm – Round Three voting ends, counting underway.
· 7.49pm – MPs-elect crowd the dispatch area to witness counting of ballots, but the clerk rules that only two members from each side should be allowed to observe the exercise.
· 8.07pm – Marende declared new Speaker after getting 105 votes to Mr Kaparo’s 101. One vote is spoilt.
Kibaki, Raila avoid talking
Published on January 16, 2008, 12:00 am
By Maina Muiruri
The first session of the Tenth Parliament brought bitter political rivals, President Kibaki and ODM leader, Mr Raila Odinga, face-to-face.
Raging undercurrents were evident between their opposing sides. Kibaki and Raila, who have not met since the disputed December 27 presidential election, sat within three metres of each other — Kibaki on the presidential chair and Raila on the seat of Leader of the Official Opposition.
None appeared to look at the other, despite the close distance, throughout the session that lasted all afternoon.
The two leaders came close to each other at the voting table every time the process was repeated. Kibaki would be the first to vote and Raila would follow. Raila entered Parliament shortly after 2.40pm, accompanied by Mvita MP, Mr Najib Balala, who beckoned the Opposition side to stand up as he shouted: "Mr President!"
The Opposition side rose and thumped the feet as Raila made it to his seat next to Pentagon members, Mr Musalia Mudavadi, Mr William Ruto, Balala and Mrs Charity Ngilu.
Kibaki entered shortly after to encounter an Opposition side that refused to stand in his honour. The Government side, however, stood and acknowledged his entry.
The defiance demonstrated by the Opposition was an echo from a similar session in1992, when then Opposition, the late Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, refused to acknowledge former President Moi’s entry and remained seated. Ironically, only Kibaki, then the leader of DP, and a few MPs stood for Moi.
Among those with Kibaki then in the Opposition were Raila, Cabinet ministers, Ms Martha Karua, Mr John Michuki and Mr Kiraitu Murungi. They took part in dressing down Moi.
Kibaki on Monday had a taste of the stiff opposition his side could face. Ugenya MP, Mr James Orengo, asked why the President should be allowed to vote ahead of the queue in a system that followed the alphabetical order.
But National Assembly Clerk, Mr Samuel Ndindiri, ignored Orengo’s protest and allowed Kibaki to vote first. When Budalang’i MP-elect, Mr Ababu Namwamba, who was the first in the alphabetical order, was called to vote, he told the Clerk: "This is the people’s president. He must be respected, too."
He then called on Raila to vote before he did. Kibaki remained seated on the high chair after voting, occasionally consulting with some ministers.
Raila occasionally chatted with Mudavadi and Ruto and was mobbed by ODM MPs during voting. With the first two rounds gone to their candidate, Mr Kenneth Marende, ODM expected victory.
THE STANDARD ONLINE
Donors link future support to dialogue
Published on January 17, 2008, 12:00 am The Standard Online
By Ben Agina
Fourteen development partners have warned that future funding will depend on the achievement of "a political situation that reflects the will of the people".
Under the Development Co-operation Group, the donors said it was clear that Kenyans were "deeply divided politically and it remains incumbent on the leadership of all political parties to agree on a lasting political settlement".
The Danish Ambassador, Mr Bo Jensen, the acting chair of the Development Co-operation Group, who issued the statement on behalf of other members, said: "We urge all parties to refrain from actions that undermine these attempts and call for efforts at dialogue to reach a settlement, the outcome of which meets the will of the Kenyan people."
The Group includes the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, the European Commission Delegation to Kenya, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Spain and Denmark.
"We are ready to lend support to a process that leads to a political settlement and reconciliation," said Jensen.
The international community, Jensen said, expressed grave concern over the political crisis following the disputed presidential election on December 27.
"The vote tallying process was flawed and cast doubt over the outcome of the presidential election," he said.
The group said if an acceptable solution were not found soon, there would be an adverse effect on the confidence in democratic institutions, investment, growth and poverty reduction. They condemned violence and intimidation and said there was need for respect for human rights.
The donors said the Kenya Joint Assistance Strategy, agreed between the Government and development partners, developed three financing plans to guide financial support and the choice of aid.
However, they warned that if the commitment of the Government to good governance, democracy, the rule of law and human rights weakened, donors would reconsider direct or sector budget support and give assistance through community organisations and the private sector.
Diplomatic warning
US Assistant Secretary for State for African Affairs, Dr Jendayi Frazer, said Kenyans had recognised that the post-election crisis had disclosed long-standing problems that cannot be ignored.
"We stand behind the statements of the US Assistant Secretary of State and EU presidency and support the African eminent persons’ mission this week," said the Group.
Earlier in the week, the US fired a diplomatic warning shot to Kenya, saying it would no longer conduct "business as usual" if the political crisis persisted.
"The generally peaceful and orderly voting process and record voter turnout was a triumph for Kenyans, but serious flaws in vote tallying damaged the credibility of the process," Frazer said in a statement.
She said it was imperative that President Kibaki and ODM leader, Mr Raila Odinga, acknowledge that there were irregularities in vote tallying.
The IMF has raised a red flag over the effects of the political standoff on the economy.
The Fund’s Senior Resident Representative, Mr Scott Rogers, said the crisis has dealt a blow to one of Kenya’s strong fundamentals — relative political stability.
He said this was likely to affect investor confidence. The IMF has downgraded its economic growth projections for the country from between six and eight per cent for this year to five and seven per cent.
It has warned that the new rates could only be achieved if the deadlock was resolved in the next two weeks.
6 killed in second day of ODM protests
By NATION Reporter
Last updated: 3 hours ago
Six people have been shot dead in the second day of clashes between the Orange Democratic Movement supporters and riot police.
One person was shot in Nairobi’s Mathare slums while five others were killed in Kisumu. All of them died from gunshot wounds.
The protests entered the second day as the ODM leadership said the party would not relent in its calls for
mass action until they get justice following electoral flaws that saw President Kibaki declared winner of the December 27 presidential poll.
Several supporters have come out to join the ODM demonstrations across towns in Nyanza, Western, Rift Valley, Nairobi and Coast provinces.
Running battles between mobs and the police were witnessed in Nairobi, Kisumu, Voi, Mwatate, Narok and Eldoret.
In Nairobi, riot police lobbed tear gas at any group of people gathered in the streets after some ODM leaders, including Najib Balala, Charity Ngilu, James Orengo and Omingo Magara were seen at a city hotel along Kenyatta Avenue.
At a Press conference earlier today, ODM leader Raila Odinga said the ongoing mass action across the country would go on until the President Kibaki agrees to talks to resolve the dispute.
The ODM leader blamed the increase in the number of deaths during the unrest to the use of brutal force and live bullets on ODM supporters on trigger happy policemen.
Video footage of a riot policeman shooting at two unarmed youth in Kisumu yesterday was played to journalists at the Press conference. The youths later died.
Said Mr Odinga: “The Government and the police have turned this country into killing fields of the innocent, executing at will in unprecedented blood thirst that began long before elections took place.
Nation Media 17/1/2008
Four killed as police clash with ODM protesters
Published on January 17, 2008, 12:00 am
By Standard Team
Members of the ODM Pentagon were tear-gassed in central Nairobi, riot police killed four people including a 10-year-old boy in Kisumu, and several others were seriously injured as the three-day countrywide mass protests began on Wednesday.
In Nairobi, Bungoma, Kisumu, Migori and Eldoret, police used live bullets to break up crowds protesting against the declaration of President Kibaki as the winner of December 27 presidential elections, in rallies banned by the Government.
Journalists watched as a lone policeman pursued and shot two youths in the chest and shoulder at close range in the volatile Kondele area of Kisumu. The 10-year-old boy was shot dead at Arina Estate in Kisumu. One of the two victims died moments after being taken to the Nyanza Provincial Hospital, where his colleague was also admitted in critical condition.
The officer kicked one of his prostrate victims thrice on the ribs before casually walking away. TV footage captured the events.
Tension also reigned in Nairobi, where armed GSU personnel and riot police patrolled the streets. The armed men had sealed off Uhuru Park, the venue of ODM’s Nairobi protest rally as early as 5am, braving a chilly, rainy morning.
When the shooting began, it was again Kibera — the shattered battle-weary slum — where the first shots were fired.
Here, police shot three protesters. Three others were shot in Huruma and Mathare slums as demonstrators clashed with the law enforcers.
From Kibera slums, protesters had started marching to the city centre peacefully. But police reacted by lobbing several teargas canisters, forcing them to flee for dear life.
Organised by the Orange party to bring pressure to bear on President Kibaki over the disputed presidential vote, the protests quickly returned the country to the brink.
The protests started only hours after perhaps the most acrimonious session the country’s Parliament has ever witnessed.
Mercifully, the two protagonists won’t be coming face-to-face soon again after President Kibaki prorogued Parliament yesterday.
A special issue of the Kenya Gazette released yesterday stated: "In exercise of the powers conferred by Section 59 (1) of the Constitution of Kenya, the President has prorogued Parliament with effect from the 16th January, 2008".
This is a routine exercise, marking the end of the first session and prepares the stage for the official opening of the Tenth Parliament.
The full force of yesterday’s protests were felt in Mombasa, Kisumu, Eldoret, Kakamega, Bungoma, Nakuru, Kapsabet, Mumias, Homa-Bay and Busia.
Demanded justice and rights
In Eldoret, protesters carried placards, some of which read: "We voted Raila and you stole our vote. We demand justice and our rights. No Raila, no peace".
Where police kept off, the demonstrations went on peacefully, but violence reigned where police blocked, clobbered and tear-gassed the marchers.
"Mass action is on and will continue as scheduled," Mr Raila Odinga, the ODM leader and Lang’ata MP, said moments after he and Pentagon members Mr William Ruto, Mr Joe Nyagah, Mr Musalia Mudavadi, Mrs Charity Ngilu and Mr Najib Balala were tear-gassed and chased out of the city centre by riot police.
Kisauni MP Mr Ali Hassan Joho, his Hamisi counterpart Mr George Khaniri and veteran politician Mr Martin Shikuku were in the company of the ODM leaders when the entourage was tear-gassed.
Raila and the Pentagon, along with about 500 supporters, had gathered in front of The Stanley Hotel and started marching on Kenyatta Avenue towards Uhuru Park.
But as the crowd approached 680 Hotel some 400m from Uhuru Park, a convoy of riot policemen who were following them lobbed teargas canisters and charged at them.
Ahead at the Nyayo House roundabout were other armed policemen and GSU officers wielding batons ready for the protesters, who were now forced to disperse in different directions as police fired in the air.
At around 2pm, the leaders had driven into the city centre in separate cars to evade police roadblocks and later regrouped before attempting to force their way into Uhuru Park.
Few people were injured in the ensuing stampede.
After the melee, the leaders regrouped again at Serena Hotel, a stone-throw away from Uhuru Park where a contingent of over 2,000 GSU personnel stood guard with a water canon. They did not attempt to force their way to the grounds.
When police found that the Pentagon had made their way into town, a reinforcement of more GSU personnel in four lorries were dispatched to Kenyatta Avenue.
On Wednesday, Raila said he was aware of a silent shoot-to-kill order against demonstrators but vowed that nothing would stop them from fighting for justice.
"They are shooting at our supporters, but this will not intimidate us from carrying on with our protests. It is an illegal government using brute force on unarmed people," said Raila.
He added: "Wasifikirie kwamba simba akinyeshewa anakuwa paka (They should not mistake a rain-drenched lion for a cat)," he warned adding that mass action and support will not dry up and will instead build up from time to time.
Pentagon praise demos
Mudavadi and Ruto termed Wednesday’s protests in Nairobi a success despite the team failing to access Uhuru Park and address a rally as planned.
"Yesterday’s protests were a success and we expect a large turnout today. They thought they had blocked everybody in the estates. The fact that we managed to reach town despite the police cordon means Kenyans are determined to reclaim what rightfully belongs to them," said Ruto.
He said thousands of protesters went to the streets countrywide yesterday. He predicted that the number would double today.
Mudavadi said ODM had advised its supporters to be peaceful and accused police of trying to turn the mass protests into riots by employing unorthodox means.
"We know that police planned to turn the protests into riots so that we can be blamed but our supporters have been peaceful because what they want is justice. By the sheer number of police, one would imagine Kenya was in a state of emergency," he said.
Mudavadi said ODM was not after positions of leadership for the sake of it but the party advocated for a framework, through a mediator, that would see the establishment of a transitional Government.
The drama unfolded outside the Stanley Hotel, where the leaders had assembled shortly after 1pm.
Balala, Joho and Nyagah had earlier been tear-gassed outside the Hilton Hotel where they had met to strategise on the way forward. They then escaped towards Stanley Hotel where Raila and Ruto joined them. But minutes later, all hell broke loose.
Caught out of their vehicles, Balala and Joho fled on foot on Kenyatta Avenue with police in hot pursuit. But the politicians quickly regrouped near Teleposta Towers before driving to Serena Hotel, where they remained holed-in.
Shortly after the assault on the leaders, police started ordering businesses in the CBD to close. People were then ordered out of town. Hundreds had to walk several miles to the periphery of the city to catch means back home after public service vehicles were barred from entering town.
By 5pm, central Nairobi was a ghost town.
Effectively, the planned mass action rally scheduled for Uhuru Park, Nairobi, aborted. The rally was to start at 10am but rains that pounded the city kept supporters and organisers indoors.
The Pentagon, however, vowed to carry on with their planned three-day of peaceful mass protests terming yesterday’s protests a success.
The Standard 17/1/2008
Anger at police shooting
Published on January 18, 2008, 12:00 am
By Harold Ayodo
Television footage of a police officer shooting and kicking a demonstrator in Kisumu has infuriated religious and civil society leaders.
The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) chairman, Mr Maina Kiai, said they were collecting more evidence on the Wednesday incident.
"We are viewing and reviewing the clips of the shootings as we gather more evidence before taking our next step," Kiai said.
Many people also called The Standard to condemn the action, and demanded the arrest of the policeman.
The exclusive clip showed a police officer trailing two protesters before shooting them and kicking one of them twice as he lay on the ground.
About 100 people have died of gunshot wounds as police fired shots to allegedly contain post-election protests in Kisumu.
The incident occurred barely two days after Kiai and three other commissioners toured Kisumu and appealed to police to stop extrajudicial killings.
Bishop Mwayi Abiero and the Reverend Kenneth Wachianga of the Anglican Church said the killings were inhuman.
"The clip aired on KTN on Wednesday night was the tip of the iceberg on the indiscriminate killing by police in Kisumu," said Abiero.
Bishop Isaac Obiero of the Future Life Church said the police actions were tyrannical and a gross abuse of democratic and human rights.
The clerics and the Western chapter of the Law Society of Kenya called on the Commissioner of Police, Maj-Gen Hussein Ali, to arrest the officer captured on camera.
They urged the Government to let ODM hold mass action rallies.
Kiai took bullets removed from patients at the New Nyanza Provincial General Hospital for ballistic analysis.
"We are concerned with the force used by police to quell riots…Many have been shot from the back," Kiai said.
Western Law Society chairman, Mr James Mwamu, said they would sue the Government and the police officer.
The standard
Police shoot dead more protesters in day two of demos
Published on January 18, 2008, 12:00 am
By Standard Team
The toll of those whose lives were brutally brought to an end by police rose to more than 10, on another day of mass protests coupled with a drastic international response to the post-election crisis.
For the second day running, members of the ODM Pentagon protesting against the December 27 presidential election they say was rigged were dispersed with teargas and gunfire in Nairobi as police again resorted to force to subdue demonstrators.
Scenes of vicious police action were enacted in Kibera and Mathare slums in Nairobi, Kisumu, Narok, Homa Bay and Eldoret towns.
Protesters block a road leading to Kibera slums, in Nairobi, on Thursday.
Other places rocked by demonstrations included Voi, Mwatate, Taveta, Nakuru, Molo, Keringet and Litein, while Mombasa and Kakamega were relatively calm.
On Thursday, police again chased ODM leaders from central Nairobi and maintained a tight ring of officers around Uhuru Park to bar them from entering.
The officers teargassed members of the public in Nairobi streets, and clobbered people randomly — including lone passersby who seemingly posed no threat at all.
As police heightened their crackdown on demonstrators, the Government faced international pressure as the European Parliament said all European budgetary aid to Kenya should be frozen until the crisis over President Kibaki’s disputed election is solved.
Police condemned
In Nairobi, the Government faced severe censure and criticism from ODM leaders led by Mr Raila Odinga and from various groups for the brutality employed by police in dealing with the riots.
ODM accused police of arbitrary execution of peaceful demonstrators across the country and alleged that the party politicians were being targeted for assassination.
But Police Spokesman Eric Kiraithe, while denying that the force was using excessive force to quell mass protests, declined to comment on the assassination claims.
The accusations’ came in the wake of the mysterious murder of a driver for the Kasarani MP, Ms Elizabeth Ongoro, on Thursday.
And Police barred journalists from entering Kibera where more than 100 GSU officers descended into the slum’s alleys, firing bullets and teargas.
Journalists saw police officers beating up protesters with gun butts, kicking down doors and hurling teargas into houses.
Witnesses said they saw four bodies lying in the slum’s alleys.
In Mathare slums, two more people were shot dead.
The bodies were collected by police moments after the shooting, amid shouting from locals who accused them of extra-judicial killings.
Police shot dead another youth in Kisumu in a fresh flare-up, bringing the death toll in the battered lakeside town to six in under 24 hours.
Master Bernard Ochieng was shot dead next to the Kisumu Molasses Plant, where protesters used tyres and electricity poles to light bonfires barricading the
Kisumu–Busia Highway.
Kiraithe also confirmed that two more people had been shot in Kisumu as they reportedly tried to set ablaze oil tankers.
Tear gas in hospital
In Homa Bay, police chasing protesters threw teargas canisters into the district hospital while in Eldoret, a similar police attack was mounted against Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital.
Thick teargas smoke wafted through wards and offices at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, choking patients.
A contingent of the GSU also opened fire from G3 rifles, sending over 500 patients, nurses, doctors and members of staff into panic.
Nurses and security staff also said the invading force was in GSU uniform but they did not communicate in Kiswahili and were also asking staff to identify their tribes.
Violent drama similar to that of Wednesday was re-enacted in Nairobi as anti-riot police teargassed some members of the ODM Pentagon and chased them out of town.
Fumes of teargas pervaded the CBD and gunfire rattled the centre of town as police chased away pedestrians caught unawares by the arrival in town of the ODM team.
ODM MPs Mr William Ruto, Mr Najib Balala, Mr Ayiecho Olweny and Mr Omingo Magara managed to drive up to Kimathi Street at about 2pm before tens of anti-riot police spotted them.
The four walked up to Wabera Street as a crowd started building up behind them, but were intercepted by Central Police Station OCPD Mr Titus Kilonzi, who saw them and shouted into his walkie talkie: "They are here!"
Anti-riot officers went running at them and hurled teargas at their feet. They also shot several rounds of live bullets over the MPs’ heads, with one empty catridge falling just by Ruto’s shoes.
The leaders ran towards City Hall Way where they hopped into their vehicles. They were driven round to Kenyatta Avenue where Balala alighted, but he was met with a cloud of teargas hurled at him.
The ODM team drove back and alighted again near the Hilton Hotel, where they were joined by MPs Mrs Charity Ngilu, Mr Reuben Ndolo, Mr James Orengo and Mr Joe Nyagah.
Police charged at them again and dispersed a crowd that was milling around them. They jumped back into their cars and headed back to Pentagon House.
Chaos ensued in downtown Nairobi as anti-riot officers turned on crowds and chased them towards River Road.
Nairobi streets remained deserted as pedestrians scampered into buildings or ran to safety out town.
Activist arrested
At a press conference where the ODM leaders joined Raila, they showed television footage of an anti-riot policeman stalking two youths and shooting them from close range, killing one.
They also displayed to the media graphic pictures of bodies of fallen protesters bearing bullet wounds. Some of these are still lying in various mortuaries.
There was more outrage from religious leaders, rights groups and civil society against the police for using brutal force against demonstrators.
The anger was summed up dramatically by a civil society activist, Mr Okoiti Omtatah, who shocked police and Nairobians when he chained himself to the rails of Police Headquarters at Vigilance House to protest.
Police later managed to cut the thick chain that went round his waist and arrested him.
The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) chairman, Mr Maina Kiai, said the Commission was gathering more evidence on Wednesday’s shootings in Kisumu.
"We are viewing and reviewing the clips of the shootings as we gather more evidence before taking our next step," Kiai said.
In Mombasa, a human rights umbrella group said it would move to court within seven days to institute private prosecutions against the police for brutality and violence.
Speaking to the press in Mombasa, the Kenya Movement for Peace and Justice, Coast Chapter, condemned the police killings and called for an immediate inquiry into the shootings.
In a press statement read on their behalf by the Council of Imams and Preachers of Kenya Secretary-General, Sheikh Mohammed Dor, the society said they were infuriated by the manner in which the police were handling protesters countrywide.
In Narok, a daughter of Narok North MP, Mr William ole Ntimama, Ms Lydia Ntimama, was among 15 people who sustained injuries when pro-ODM protesters clashed with police.
In Taita and Taveta districts, tension ran high as police lobbed teargas canisters to disperse two ODM MPs and party supporters from holding peaceful demonstration to press for justice over the alleged flawed Presidential elections.
In Mwatate and Voi constituencies, area MPs Mr Calist Mwatela and Mr Danson Mwazo led hundreds of the party supporters in peaceful demonstrations but police broke up the march terming it illegal and detrimental to security.
In Taveta, ODM supporters also held a protest march but police dispersed the group.
Police fired several teargas canisters and engaged ODM supporters in running battles as business people hurriedly closed their business for fear of looting.
At the same time 15 Party of National Union MPs condemned the mass action, saying ODM’s call for the protests was aimed at attracting sympathy and the attention of the international community and donors for political expediency.
They accused the ODM leadership of being insensitive and not caring for Kenyans.
8 more killed in chaos
By NATION Team
Last updated: 4 hours ago
Eight more people were killed in Nairobi and Kisumu as police battled with demonstrators on the second day of rallies called by ODM to protest at the disputed results of the December Presidential election.
Police shot a man identified by relatives as Felix Okong’o in Nairobi’s Mathare North area in what they said was a confrontation between them and demonstrators.
Another man was killed in Kibera while a third was burnt to death in a house in Nairobi’s Ruaraka area.
Meanwhile, the European Union Parliament Thursday passed a resolution to freeze aid to Kenya until the election dispute is resolved.
Anti-riot police were engaged in running battles in the city’s Mathare, Kibera and Dagoretti areas in an effort to stop ODM supporters from making their way to Uhuru Park, the venue of the rally, which was sealed off by GSU officers.
Calm was reported in other parts of the country as the ODM protest rallies entered a second day.
The party claims its Presidential candidate Raila Odinga won the elections but the polls were rigged in favour of President Kibaki.
ODM rallies
Violence also broke out in Narok Town, Mwatate and Voi as police fought with protesters to stop the rallies.
Business was disrupted in the city centre in the afternoon as police battled demonstrators.
In Kisumu, three people were shot on Wednesday night in Manyatta, Arina and Nubian estates while a fourth one was shot on the Kisumu-Busia highway as they staged a demonstration.
And a bullet tore through a tin-walled dwelling in Bandani estate killing a single mother inside identified as Judith Namukuru.
The deaths brought to six, the number of people killed in Kisumu since Wednesday. The shooting of a man on Wednesday captured on television camera sparked an uproar by Nyanza MPs who called for the officer’s prosecution.
Tension remained high in the town as police patrolled the central business district and the estates.
Nyanza PPO Grace Kaindi said the victims were killed when demonstrators clashed with security personnel at Kondele, Manyatta and Arina estates.
She said two others were shot last night after they broke into an abandoned house at Arina estate.
In Nairobi, a sudden appearance of Pentagon members Najib Balala and Mrs Charity Ngilu forced riot police to throw tear gas on Kenyatta Avenue and Banda Street to disperse people.
The two MPs scampered in different directions later regrouping at the Serena Hotel where they were denied entry. At the hotel, Foreign minister Moses Wetang’ula met former Mozambique President Joachim Chisano and former Botswana President Ketumile Masire. The minister told the Press he was briefing the leaders on the current situation in the country.
Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka also went to the hotel in the afternoon, but journalists were barred from entering the venue. Government spokesman Alfred Mutua played down the rallies and instead appealed to civil servants to report to work as usual.
In Eldoret, road blocks were set up at four points on the main roads leading to the town despite the tight security by the GSU personnel, regular and Administration police.
Those closed included the Eldoret-Nakuru highway, Iten-Eldoret-road, Kapsabet-Eldoret and Eldoret-Webuye roads.
Five workers at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital were injured when police fought demonstrators in the town.
They were hurt as police dispersed demonstrators who appeared to have taken cover in the hospital’s compound.
Kaparo asks leaders to put out fire
Thur, January 17, 2008
By BERNARD NAMUNANE
Last updated: 4 hours ago
The reigns at Parliament changed hands Thursday with an appeal to President Kibaki and ODM leader Raila Odinga to start talks to end the ongoing violence.
Outgoing Speaker Francis ole Kaparo transferred the tools of power to his successor, Mr Kenneth Marende, pledging to stand by his side in time of need.
“Mr Speaker, you won the election and you won it fairly. I congratulate you from the bottom of my heart and I have no doubt, in my mind, that you are up to the task,” he said as he handed over the office he held for the past 15 years to Mr Marende at Parliament Buildings.
On a light note, he promised his successor: “I assure you that I will not gather mobs on the streets to protest against your victory. This (handing over) shouldn’t be if you lose fairly.”
Accepting his new role, Speaker Marende said violence should not be part of any transition. He stated that he was aware of the task ahead, leading the House after disputed elections.
“I am conscious that I am taking over the leadership of the House on the heat of disputed elections and I promise to do my best.
“I will ensure that Parliament provides the leadership, steers the country towards the right direction and acts in the interest of Kenyans,” he said.
The two expressed concern about the political crisis and warned that politics of brinkmanship would drive the country to abyss.
They described the violence in which more than 500 people have been killed, as critical, saddening and turmoil.
Mr Kaparo and Mr Marende then focused their eyes on President Kibaki and Mr Odinga who are at the centre of the political impasse and urged them to meet and save the country further killings.
“My appeal to President Kibaki and Mr Raila is: please talk to one another for the sake of Kenyans who are killing each other.
“I know it is difficult; I know the stakes are very high; and I know eminent people have been invited to come.
However, it is only us who can sort out the problem,” said Mr Kaparo.
He asked President Kibaki and Mr Odinga to engage in sincere talks and be honest as they seek to iron out the crisis.
“We cannot sort it out if we are not sincere; if we are not honest. We must learn to respect the two virtues,” he said and asked Kenyans who have lived together to stop killing each other while the elite they support are relating cordially.
He said that Kenyans had resorted to street demonstrations because they lacked confidence in institutions such as law courts.
“They could not be seeking justice in the streets if they had confidence in courts. Justice should be sought in the courts; not on the streets,” he said.
Parties trade blame over deaths
Thur, January 17, 2008
By NATION Team
Last updated: 4 hours ago
ODM and the Government Thursday threatened to move to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague to prosecute each other over atrocities committed in the political stand-off.
ODM, through party spokesman Salim Lone, condemned what it said was cold-blooded execution of a youth who was protesting in Kisumu on Wednesday. Olago Junior was fleeing when he was shot twice.
“This will be part of the case we are filing in the ICC,” said Mr Lone.
On its part, the Government wrote to the chairman of its human rights watchdog (Kenya National Commission on Human Rights) asking for evidence against ODM leaders to take them to the ICC.
Government spokesman Alfred Mutua says in the letter to Mr Maina Kiai: “Because yours is the Government of Kenya office mandated to, among many other duties, investigate crimes against human rights, I write to request you to provide me with information on how far your investigations have reached, any initial assessments and any recommendations that would see justice brought.”
Trigger-happy policeman
Mr Lone said the footage of the inhuman act by the trigger-happy policeman will be pursued to the logical conclusion and asked the international community not to ignore the matter since the culprits were known and the officer is their servant.
He said before the December 27 General Election, police commissioner Hussein Ali was captured on TV issuing shoot-to-kill order.
The Kenya Movement for Peace and Justice also condemned the brutal manner in which the police had been ordered to treat protesters in some parts of the country, adding that the officers must respect the democratic rights of all citizens.
The movement’s secretary-general, Sheikh Mohammed Dor, and chairman R. Anyenda condemned the arrest and prosecution of ODM activists across the country, saying processions were being conducted in a peaceful manner.
They said in a statement that the actions of the Government would not cow them into respecting the results of flawed presidential elections.
But contacted, Mr Kiai said the commission did not report to Dr Mutua.
“We report to Parliament. Once we finish our investigations, we will report our findings to the relevant authorities. We can also make the report public,” he said.
Mr Kiai said he would treat Dr Mutua’s letter as a “normal complaint.”
The National Convention Executive Council has also condemned police brutality and extra-judicial killing of unarmed and peaceful demonstrators.
“It is unbelievable that a police officer can open fire and execute a demonstrator and walk away without remorse or regret,” the lobby said.
It termed the killings sadistic and called for the sacking and prosecution of police officers who commit human rights abuses.
“It is shocking and awesome watching police literally and shameless committing extrajudicial executions,” it said. The police brutality and killings, NCEC said, was only going to worsen and escalate the violence. It, however, urged Kenyans to conduct their protests with decorum and respect other people’s rights as well.
The lobby called on international community to restrain the Government from “carrying out further violations.”
NCEC further asked the Government to prosecute anyone found responsible for organising or encouraging the skirmishes.
On Thursday, Lang’ata MP Raila Odinga’s sister Ruth Adhiambo claimed police had shot dead three people and injured others in Kibera.
Ms Adhiambo told the Nation that police took advantage of alleged looting of a train at Makina to shoot innocent people.
Reports by Kenneth Ogosia, Stephen Mburu and Lucas Barasa
NGOs say poll winner uncertain
Published on January 19, 2008, 12:00 am
By Amos Kareithi
A new report by 50 civil society organisations details how the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) bungled the presidential poll.
The report dubbed, ‘Countdown to Deception: 30 hours that destroyed Kenya’, further shows there were discrepancies in 130 out of 210 constituencies.
The report was released on Friday, amid tight security, by Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) Executive Director, Mr Maina Kiai, at Panafric Hotel.
The report says 130 constituencies had a higher presidential tally than parliamentary tallies.
This was contrary to what happened in 2002 when the parliamentary voter turnout was higher than the presidential.
"The evidence shows it is impossible to know who won the elections," Kiai said.
He argued: "The whole world cannot be wrong about the presidential results."
He was referring to assertions by the European Union, African Union, the United States and international observers.
The EU Parliament has already resolved to suspend financial aid to Kenya over the political impasse created by the poll results.
Kiai added that since it was not clear how President Kibaki was declared the winner, only a handful of countries had sent congratulatory messages.
The electoral malpractices, according to the report, rendered the presidential election illegal.
Another civil society leader, Mr David Ndii, said: "The 230,000 margin President Kibaki is said to have won with is consistent with allegations that rigging was done in his favour."
Ndii said the anomalies were sufficient to alter the results of the election.
Ndii explained that the margin of error would have reduced the margin of President Kibaki’s lead to 200,000 votes.
Ms Muthoni Wanyeki, a civil society leader, said the current crisis in the country was purely political and should not be sorted out in courts.
"What happens if the court rules that you can not know who won the elections? There will be a vacuum in Kenya," Wanyeki said.
She added: "It is imperative to get President Kibaki and Raila to meet to resolve the situation. For 44 years we have buried our heads in the sand. There is deep resentment in the country and it must be addressed."
The report gives an account of what went wrong with the December 27 poll, whose results caused widespread violence leading to the death of more than 500 people.
It claims that militia groups are currently operating in parts of Rift Valley, Nyanza and Central provinces.
The report traces the genesis of the problem to attempts by some ECK commissioners and employees to close the gap between President Kibaki and ODM presidential candidate, Raila Odinga.
The report was compiled from statements collected from the five domestic election observers who were allowed to witness the verification of the process by ECK a night before it announced the results.
It reads: "Domestic observers who monitored the final hours of the presidential ballot tallying and announcements noticed transgressions that were brazen and shocking."
Tallying tampered with
The report claims Institute of Education in Democracy director, Ms Koki Muli, while sitting on the second floor of KICC, witnessed ECK chairman, Samuel Kivuitu, receive results, which narrowed the gap between President Kibaki and Raila to a mere 107,779.
The results saw the PNU tally reach 3,697,768, while Raila’s count was 3,805,547 and ODM-Kenya’s, Mr Kalonzo Musyoka, had 498,361.
It was at this point that the nail biting delays started, leading to fears that if the results were not announced, this would heighten the tension among Kenyans, reads the report.
When the night shift started, tensions were already high and the results being received did not have statutory documents such as Form 16A.
The results without documents were from Lamu East, Lamu West, Wundanyi and Dujis.
The report says that the deputy team leader of the night shift, Mr Kipkemoi Kirui, refused to accept results that were not accompanied by the mandatory documents.
At some point that night, the report states, some observers were denied access to the tallying centre at KICC and had to seek Kivuitu’s intervention.
According to the report, agents were unable to sign the Form 16A in parts of Eastern and Central Provinces while others felt insecure in Nyanza.
It sums up that in 44 constituencies, ECK commissioners announced results without any primary or supporting documents and that some of the results were phoned in.
The constituencies cited are Bondo, Kisumu, Kasipul Kabondo, Nyaribari Chache, Kisumu Rural, Galole, Kitutu Masaba, Gatundu South, Makadara, Likoni, Kaloleni, Nithi, Kitui West, Baringo Central, Laikipia West, Nakuru Town, Mukurweini and Juja. Others are Dujis Rongai, Kimilili, Mwala, Kinangop and Igembe.
"Results for these constituencies were thus announced in contravention of the law. In addition, results for Dagoreti were found to have been announced while vote tallying was in progress," the report says.
The report says when the anomalies were reported to ECK legal officer, Ms Jemimah Keli, she allegedly said rechecking would slow everyone down.
One of the most glaring anomalies cited by the report is where the returning officers who had voter turnout exceeding 100 percent were allowed to correct them.
"Maragwa constituency had given results amounting to 115 percent voter turnout but the returning officer was allowed to reduce it to 85.24 per cent at KICC and these results were accepted for the final tally," reads the report.
Also included is an index of the 48 constituencies and the varying number of presidential votes as announced by ECK, KTN and Kenya Election Domestic Observers Forum.
the standard
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