Kenya continues to slide perilously down a self-destructive path wrought by political grandstanding of the three major parties; Uhuru Kenyatta, William Ruto (JUBILEE) and IEBC on one hand and NASA on the other. Since the Supreme Court overturned Kenyatta’s “reelection”. For all practical purposes Kenyatta’s Jubilee and the Independent Electoral Boundaries Commission (IEBC) are synonymous to each other, one and the same, IEBC is beholden to Jubilee and is doing Kenyatta and Ruto’s bidding, that is no secret. They have colluded and ganged up to frustrate the laws already in the books and to by-pass the Supreme Court ruling whose directive was clear, to conduct the repeat election according to the law, they have developed such uncanny spite and disdain for the Supreme Court it is hard to ignore. Both Jubilee and IEBC have mocked and ridiculed the Court’s ruling while consistently working in concert to bypass it. While Jubilee has a standing threat to fix the Court’s Justices for overturning Kenyatta’s election and have constantly taunted the public and the opposition with “Wembe ni ule ule”, IEBC’s CEO Ezra Chiloba has doubled down by mocking the Court and publicly invalidated its ruling saying the Justices relied on “forged documents” to overturn the elections. In short both Jubilee and IEBC have resolved to set aside the ruling and the law and arrogated themselves as the law unto themselves instead and that my friends is anarchy, by acting on their volitions to stay in power Jubilee/IEBC provoke countermeasures by the opposition that are likely to lead to a messy revolution in the country. So let’s not fool ourselves that it’s the opposition and its supporters stirring trouble in Kenya, far from it – it is the Jubilee regime that has intentionally and systematically torn down governance using public resources and apparatus of governance and purposely instituted anarchy.
BYPASSING THE SUPREME COURT RULINGS UNACCEPTABLE
Truth be told the Supreme Court invalidated the August 8 election in part because they faulted the process which they said was inundated with “irregularities” and “illegalities”. That means that the IEBC must conduct elections AFRESH, from start to finish – not pick up from where they left. In other words the IEBC is required to follow the laid down laws and procedures by the book, no short cuts or substitutions. They are to accept candidates afresh especially those that were not part of the court proceedings and who didn’t even apply to be included in the repeat poll, properly gazette all candidates and the ample timelines (not 12 days to elections), etc. Instead the IEBC appears discombobulated and has chosen a totally different path, they are making their own rules as they go and trying to jam the election as they see fit and with such level of arrogance and don’t care attitude that has left many Kenyans petrified. They have basically given Kenyans and the courts the middle finger. Compared to the last nullified election IEBC’s approach to the repeat election is worse off, it is the proverbial “from the frying pan straight into the fire”. Granted Kenya hasn’t been in this political state before but that’s reason to get it right this second time around. One faction of IEBC, i.e. four Commissioners and CEO Ezra Chiloba are controlled by Jubilee’s William Ruto and do Jubilee’s bidding. They are adamant that the law and rules are subordinate to Ruto’s interests and to them, forget about the Supreme Court ruling or even IEBC’s own rules, Jubilee’s interests reign supreme. So thank God for the brave men and women of the Supreme Court who vowed to overturn the election AGAIN if the IEBC fails to follow the law and it is almost inevitable that the October 26 election, if IEBC is foolish enough to proceed with it, will once again be OVERTURNED. In the meantime Raila Odinga was right to withdraw from the sham “election” and to resist the JUBILEE/IEBC draconian overreach. Their mess will invariably invoke resistance from the public and my hope is that JUBILEE/IEBC is not foolish enough to ignore half the country, 23 Million people is a big population.
RESISTANCE JUSTIFIED
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, here is what we know – Kenyans voted Jubilee’/IEBC doctored results and taunted NASA to go to court if they felt aggrieved, NASA went to court and won, Jubilee/IEBC responded by attacking the judges. NASA asked IEBC to follow the LAW and reform itself, Jubilee changes the law to suit their interests. NASA withdrew from the race but Jubilee/IEBC want to force them on the ballot, NASA supporters protested in the street but the Jubilee regime unleashed a reign of terror on protesters, especially those from the LUO tribe where the opposition leader Raila Odinga hails from. Jubilee/IEBC positions are untenable and unsustainable, their dysfunction is has created a toxic environment that resistance by the people is inevitable. Like in the Arab Spring where the governments of despots such as Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak, Libya’s Gaddafi, Gabon’s Gbagbo and so many others who underestimated their people’s resolve to fight back and learnt the hard way my hope is that Jubilee’s Kenyatta and Ruto don’t make similar mistakes. Jubilee has outlawed and frozen funds to Human Rights Civil Societies it considers evil and pejoratively refers to them as “Evil Society” and thereby leaving vulnerable population EXPOSED to police brutality without any safeguards, the situation is unsustainable.
ICC REVISITED:
Contrary to Kenyatta’s admonishment of “foreign powers” to stay off Kenya’s case, truth is Kenya is on the world powers radar and is a hub worth protecting. Kenyatta sounds like someone in panic but truth is he brought that upon himself. Kenyatta and Ruto already have one strike against them – they have the dubious distinction of being Africa’s most famous and hardened “ICC alumni”, they still have with unfinished business with the court and so it is clear there’s a lot of interest in how the two react to protesters. Some groups have already filed complaints with the ICC against Odinga but it is a misplaced attempt to deflect and misdirect the attention from where it really belongs, and that’s squarely on Kenyatta and Ruto. Almost all of the 40 plus people who have died protesting were killed by government bullets, majority of them, including women and children were not involved in demonstrations whatsoever – that’s NOT Raila Odinga’s fault but the Jubilee regime’s fault. They must be held accountable and in the coming weeks I expect ratcheted efforts to refer them to the ICC by various groups across the globe, I don’t blame them. The killings need to stop and perpetrators held responsible, that simple.
IEBC NEEDS TO GET ITS ACT TOGETHER
To IEBC I say don’t cut off your face to spite your face, do the right thing for a change, exercise your independence; don’t fall under the manipulative spell of William Ruto as Kenyatta has. I’m on the side of those Kenyans who maintain that those of you who messed up the last elections and continue to act with impunity and putting thousands of lives at risk needlessly should not only be surcharged for the cost of the mess you create but also prosecuted criminally for the deaths caused due to your actions. Have a conscience guys.
