From: Judy Miriga
Folks,
Five years to be in power is more than enough for any responsible person to do and perform the work of Reform provision without complaining of any reason for inaction and there is no excuse to state there were no enough time to complete work assigned. If one fails to do what was obligated, then that is a sign of incompetency…….or reason to avoid to engage public mandate.
For the most part, however, Kenyan Politicians behaved like their last day in Public Office will never come to an end. They stayed at the extreme-right with business as usual as they continue to engage in corruption, impunity and graft as they struggled to build camps with inflamatory rhetorics like they dont care.
Internally displaced are left in such pathetic situation as time prolonged, organized terrorists with pockets of armed conflict continued without any serious measures taken or results fairly reported to public. Difficult humanitarian situations were unfolding right before our eyes, including health situation deteriorating with poverty aggrivating and politicians never cared like they are not earning salaries for public mandate. People are left hopelessly to wonder how the state of insecurity turned from bad to worse and these are some of the reasons why Kenyans must take stoke of Reform Mandate and consider if the people Coalition Government was able perform, if not what was the next course of action that should follow.
We understand that Voter registration kicked off since October, and because of threats and insecurities from Al-shabaab with other assumed organized terrorists there have been low low turnout, delays and malfunctioning of Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) kits. Now there are still problems with Diaspora voters locked out.
Kenyas coalition government served its term but failed to deliver and complete the peoples comprehensive new Constitutional mandate as accorded in the Reform provision. It is time to vacate Office at a time the Election when it is time for the next election and IEBC is busy doing shoddy voter registrations that are with mishaps and leaving out the very stimulating Diaspora network that participated and intervened to save Kenya when Kenya was burning during 2007/8 election gone bad; and when Kenya was bleeding from the worse stolen election.
At this juncture, Kenyans themselves must show conviction and committment to uphold the Law and put leaders in checks under scrutiny and review and make them honor their sworn responsibilities and be answerable for their actions with inactions.
Kenyans need to know The opportunities and challenges, gains and loses that were made during the Coalition tenure and the reason why they think they should be re-elected, the leaders should talk about issues that affect daily lives of Mwanainchi and be able to face the electorates why things did not follow the right course as agreed at the Reform Accord?
They must explain why Diaspora should loose voting rights and why they should not be taken to task and be charged for doing shoddy jobs after being paid hefty salaries from public kitty for doing nothing…….They must explain to people why they did not complete what they were sent to do by public mandate at the Referendum…….e.g.
Kenyans want to know who was responsible for killing 40 policemen and leaving their bodies to rot. Why there was a serious conflict with innocent killings starting from Tana River down to Lake Victoria in Nyanza – during their span of leadership. Kenyans want to know why the Al-Shabaab have not been driven out of Kenya; but are busy terrorizing people in Eastleigh with other parts of Kenya. We want to know why those who were issued with illegal Voter IDs have not been cleared. There are speculations that votes are going to be rigged by those assigned with fake Voter IDs from Somali and from Uganda and Rwanda. Diaspora are not satisfied why their rights to vote is blocked. Reasons given are not satisfying as this will be an infringment of Rights to Vote.
These fears must be addressed before the next election is declared free and fair. The population result have not been published…..people want to know how people will go for election with such anomalies. The votes that will be casted must tally balance with total voters registration in each region. Diaspora voter registration must also be made known.
While they are explaining themselves, the Chief Justice is mandated to set up a team to overseer the completion of the remaining core Constitutionalities including rectifying the Diaspora issues so that Kenyan are able to go for a free and fair electioneering…… This Team are better known as “The Transitional Caretaker Comeettee”….without which Kenya is bound to hit a snag and loose out to the Rich and Wealthy Unscrupulous and crooked Politicians who are simply selfish and greedy who are taking public wealth and and resources as their personal property to do as they wish with it…….
It is never too late to take stock people……….!!!
Judy Miriga
Diaspora Spokesperson
Executive Director
Confederation Council Foundation for Africa Inc.,
USA
http://socioeconomicforum50.blogspot.com
– – – – – – – – – – –
How can we trust these Registrations with the already misharps and insecurities
taking turn in the Country. Accepting to register some Diaspora and discriminating
on others………This is definately a wrong start……….
WESTERN
Bungoma+Busia=308,112 31% registered
Kakamega+Vihiga=357,755 35% registered
TOTAL 665867
CENTRAL and MT. KENYA
Meru+Tharaka Nithi+Embu=355,005 34% registered
Murang’a+Kiambu=523,993 44% registered
Nyandarua+Nyeri+Kirinyaga=369,373 44% registered
TOTAL: 1,248,571
NORTH EASTERN
Garissa=54,838 19% registered
Wajir+Mandera=114,262 15% registered
TOTAL: 169,100
EASTERN
Kitui+Machakos+Makueni=376,719 27% registered
Marsabit+Isiolo=24,294
TOTAL: 401013
Nairobi=632,145 43% registered
COAST
Kilifi+Tana River+Lamu=181,519 27% registered
Mombasa+Kwale+Taita Taveta=252,766 29% registered
TOTAL: 434,285
NYANZA
Siaya+Kisumu+Homabay=560,126 43% registered
Migori=114,744 27% registered
Kisii+Nyamira=289647 35% registered
TOTAL: 1,079,261
R.VALLEY
Narok+Kericho+Bomet=375,227 34% registered
Turkana+West Pokot+Trans Nzoia+Uasin Gishu+Elgeyo Marawet+Nandi=421,833 22% registered
Kajiado=128,389 40% registered
Samburu+Baringo+Laikipia+Nakuru=490,279 38% registered
TOTAL: 1,415,728
DIASPORA VOTE – THE END OF THE ROAD
Published on Dec 2, 2012 by Kenya360TV
After months of excitement and anticipation amongst Kenyans living abroad at the prospects of finally being able to vote come march 4th, the road to the voting booth came to an abrupt end following the governments decision to rule out the Diaspora vote.
The decision was communicated to parliament in a ministerial statement read out by the Justice Minister Eugene Wamalwa who stated that the governments decision was precipitated by the IEBC’s limitation both in terms of time and resources.
But even before the dust had settled on the announcement, the IEBC Chairman Issack Hassan cast some ray of hope on the issue, when he came out to insist that the final decision was an IEBC prerogative and that the Diaspora had not been locked out yet contrary to the ministers statements.
It was however a short-lived window of hope for the majority of the diaspora when the IEBC ruled that only Kenyans living in the East African region namely Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda and South Sudan would be facilitated to vote.
DIASPORA VOTE – THE QUAGMIRE CONTINUES
Published on Nov 24, 2012 by Kenya360TV
As the rest of the country registers to vote in the March 4th polls, the IEBC continues to kick the Diaspora Vote ball around with not even an effort to start the registration of eligible voters abroad.
In an interview with Jeff Koinange on Capital Talk -K24, the chairman of the IEBC Issack Hassan shrugged off the ‘notion’ that there are more than 3 million kenyans abroad and nonchalantly discounted the Diasporas efforts to force the IEBC to hear them quipping that “they wanted us to expand the voting locations and the high court dismissed the case stating that the IEBC has got the right to determine when and how they are going to conduct their business”.
Despite having personally visited the US on five different occasions (among other countries) purportedly to seek the diasporas input and to map out the voting logistics, Chairman Hassan seemed to blame the uncertainties on the Kenyan diaspora vote on the alleged non-availability of records on Kenyans living abroad.
Though the question was not asked, Mr. Hassan missed out on the opportunity to explain the delay in the diaspora voter registration. So far, no official communication has been forthcoming on the delivery of the BVR kits to the 47 missions, the status of the registration or how long the registration period will be (assuming that registration shall commence) since the ongoing registration in Kenya is set to end on December 19th.
Stay tuned for updates on this developing story.
Video courtesy of CAPITAL TALK – K24
we know Kenyans including the embassy don’t keep data. , we have interacted and we have registered in their websites as they have requested us to do , but we stall take the blame. this is Kenya for us. we are insignificant and we do not matter?
pichavision 1 week ago
DIASPORA VOTE – A HUMBLE APPEAL TO THE IEBC
Published on Nov 29, 2012 by Kenya360TV
The push by Kenyans living abroad to be allowed the enjoyment of such basic constitutional rights as the right to vote is one that started way before the 2010 promulgation of the new constitution.
Many individuals put in a lot of time and energy and indeed resources, to make sure that there was enough lobbying for the realization of this all important right as well as the right to dual citizenship that finally became a reality in 2010.
Fast forward post 2010 and the IEBC taking over as the new electoral body within the new dispensation. And indeed, there has been a whole lot of excitement mounting within the Diaspora and a renewed vigor towards the Diaspora’s participation in the Kenyan social, economic and political space.
The IEBC through engagement with various stakeholders and visits with Kenyans living abroad soon embarked on various efforts to lay out a framework for enabling the Kenyans living abroad to partake of that right to vote in the general election 2013.
Indeed many have appreciated the efforts of the IEBC as well as been cognizant of the fact that this is the first time the IEBC is handling an election of this magnitude let alone oversee the first ever Diaspora vote. Off course like in any society, the conversation has not been short of criticism either at the pace it which the IEBC was pursuing the process, or even on the decisions that have come along the way.
But all things considered, the myriad of electoral issues that were going on in Kenya over the last one year, it is understandable why the Diaspora issues might not have been at the front of the IEBC’s playbook.
But that said, and many months down the road since the announcement that the Diaspora was going to be able to vote, the abrupt decision by the government that effectively strips the Diaspora of the opportunity to vote without even the courtesy of allowing the constitutionally mandated body to independently arrive at that decision is indeed absurd.
Indeed a decision that threatens to reverse the gains of our motherland on its democratic walk amongst other progressive nations. This is my humble appeal to the IEBC to be resolute in ensuring that their mandate as provided for by the law of the land is not hijacked by a few in society.
It is an appeal to voices of reason within the IEBC to stay the course and to pursue the Diaspora vote, according to their own playbook and not buckle under executive influence.
And finally, it is an appeal to the Kenyans living abroad to lobby on for their rights, to keep engaged and the conversation going, but to do so with humility and the realization that KENYA comes before self.
This is my humble appeal.
GOD BLESS KENYA
Respectfully,
Ron Imanene
— On Tue, 12/4/12, Cosmos Omondi wrote:
From: Cosmos Omondi
Subject: Are we likely to have the march 4th elections postpones?
To: progressive-kenyans@googlegroups.com
Date: Tuesday, December 4, 2012, 9:05 AM
Nziu,
Hiyo ni NDOTO YA MRIJA
On Tue, Dec 4, 2012 at 3:53 PM, MBEMBA NZIU wrote:
The circus continues, God help Kenya.
Mbemba.
Kenya
Last Updated:
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Diaspora wants court to suspend elections
Updated 15 mins ago
By Isaiah Lucheli
Kenyans living abroad want the March 4 elections suspended until they are registered as voters.
In a petition filed under certificate of urgency they are also seeking the court to bar Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) from publishing or gazetting voters’ registers until the suit is heard and determined.
They have moved to court over the failure by IEBC to register them as voters for the coming general election as only voters living within East African countries would be allowed to take part in the election.
Jeffer Isaak Kanu through lawyer John Khaminwa submit in the petition that all the people living in the diaspora had a right to participate in the affair of the country and particularly the right to be registered as voters and participate in the elections.
Kanu noted that the promulgation of the new constitution saw the enactment of Article 38 which elevates and jealously guards the right of every citizen to enjoy political rights enumerated thereon including the right to be registered as a voter and to vote in a free, fair and transparent election.
“While enacting the constitution the aspirations of the people were clear that [persons living in the Diaspora have the right to participate in the legitimate political process manifested through free, fair and regular elections,” submitted Kanu.
Kanu has sued Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, IEBC, Commission for the Implementation of the Constitution (CIOC) and the Attorney General (AG).
The petitioner is seeking the court to declare that the action and inaction of the IEBC which purported to exclude persons from the Diaspora from exercising the right to vote as enshrined in the constitution was a breach of his political rights thus unconstitutional null and void.
He further wants the court to declare the move by the IEBC to allow a select few to be registered as voters while purporting to exclude persons living in the Diaspora from participating in the March 4 this year general election as discriminatory.
They want the court to hold the IEBC in breach of the aspirations of the people of Kenya, as their sovereign power was reserved under Article 1 of the constitution and the national values and principles of governance set out under Article 10 of the constitution.
Kanu wants the court to declare the decision by the cabinet to exclude persons from Diaspora from exercising the right to vote in the forthcoming general election as flimsy and violates constitutional provisions.
“A declaration to issue directing IEBC to exercise its statutory and constitutional duty and to forth with undertake voter registration of persons in the diaspora with immediate effect so as to allow them participate in the coming general election,” Kanu prayed to the court.
High court Judge David Majanja directed the petitioner to serve and the case be heard on December 11, this year.
[ . . . ]
Kenya: Tana Delta violence – is there worse to come? – By Nuur Mohamud Sheekh and Jason Mosley
November 6, 2012
In Kenya, ahead of the 2013 elections, attention is turning
Despite heavy deployment of security personel in Tana River many lives have been lost in clashes.
to sources of tension that could fuel the kind of poll-related violence seen at the end of 2007 and in the first few weeks of 2008. In recent weeks, unrest in Coast province, centred on the separatist Mombassa Republican Council (MRC), has garnered most attention – most lately the beating and arrest of MRC leader Omar Hamisi Mwamnwadzi on October 15, along with some of his supporters. Also, the donor community and Kenya’s political elite are highly pre-occupied with the fate of four Kenyans facing charges related to 2008 election violence at the International Criminal Court (ICC), including two presidential hopefuls (Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta and former Higher Education Minister William Ruto).
However, these spectacles have overshadowed what may be an episode with even more significant implications: the death in late August and early September of some 116 in clashes in the Tana Delta between ethnic Orma and Pokomo militia. Although part of Coast Province, the rural and impoverished Tana Delta is not really a central part of Coastal politics. Nonetheless, the drivers of the violence a few weeks ago are related to factors not unique to the Tana Delta. In fact, the Tana Delta violence highlights precisely the type of political and social fault lines that may be at risk of erupting in the run up to, and aftermath of, the elections in a number of areas.
Long-standing competition and conflict over access to pasture and water resources were important factors, but did not alone provide the trigger for violence. A range of political and economic factors have fed into the local dynamics in Tana Delta. These include longer-term trends related to alienation of local people from land due to large-scale government and private sector purchases, and shorter-term impacts related to the process of delineating electoral constituency boundaries and county districts in line with Kenya’s new constitution. The ready availability of small arms has also seen such conflicts intensify in recent decades. Lack of livelihood opportunities for the youth is also a major factor.
As such, the recent clashes are emblematic of wider trends. Although the Tana Delta (along with the rest of Coast Province) has tended to be politically marginalised, tensions in other areas – such as Mt Elgon and parts of the Rift Valley including Eldoret, Nakaru and Naivasha, and counties in northern Kenya – could also be exacerbated by the same political factors. Some of these areas were flash-points in the post-poll violence of late 2007 and early 2008, with major national and regional ramifications.
Tana aftermath
The violence in Tana also led to the forced migration of an estimated 12,000 people. An assistant minister, Dhadho Godhana, was arrested and lost his cabinet portfolio; local area MPs traded accusations with the powerful Defence Minister, Yusuf Haji, over who was to blame.
Media reporting and advocacy by civil society and human rights organisations finally prompted the government into action when the issue was debated in parliament on September 12. The government began deployment of some 2,000 members of the paramilitary General Services Unit (GSU) the following day. It also set up a commission of inquiry into the matter.
Despite the deployment of security personnel, violence continued and lives (including nine GSU personnel) and livelihoods were lost. Government forces have also been accused of serious human rights violations of by local residents, who claim excessive force is being used in a bid to disarm them.
Drivers of Tana’s violence
Understanding the drivers of violence in the Tana Delta helps to illustrate its relevance to other parts of Kenya (see also Parselelo Kantai, ‘Tana Delta Burning’, in The Africa Report, No 45, November 2012, pp 37-39).
The question of land
Going back to the 1970s, government schemes and private enterprises (including by foreign companies) have dispossessed the inhabitants of Tana from land in their area. Large-scale government and foreign farming schemes have taken up tens of thousands of hectares previously used for pasture and subsistence farming, and providing a major contributing factor to conflict between farmers and pastoralists over access.
For example, the Bura Irrigation Scheme was set up in 1978, and allocated 25,000 hectares. In addition to this, the Tana River Development Authority has planted sugar, rice and maize on another 80,000 hectares. The government has also planned to allocate land in the Tana to foreign investors, for example to grow Jatropha for biofuel feedstock (involving a Canadian firm, Bedford Biofuels). In late 2008, talks between Kenya and Qatar about a 40,000 hectares land lease in the Tana Delta triggered a public backlash and were subsequently shelved.
Playing bad politics
A key aspect of the conflict is about land ownership, as opposed to use, with the Orma and Pokomo fighting over land rights. Recent boundary changes effected by the Independent Electoral Boundaries Commission (IEBC) resulted in some villages, sub-locations and locations being shifted to different electoral constituencies. Media reports quoted local residents who blamed politicians seeking office for the intensified fighting between the Pokomo and the Orma.
Other reports also suggest that politicians eyeing gubernatorial, senate and parliamentary seats have been mobilising their supporters ahead of the coming voter registration. There is also talk of politicians forging alliances for the senate and gubernatorial seats ahead of the general election, raising fears in some communities of being disenfranchised. The constitution has re-instated the senate, and created a new tier of elected government at the county level – fostering intensified competition for the resources those offices represent. The delineation of electoral boundaries is hotly contested: the process is still not finished, only a few months before the polls.
These local dynamics are also feeding into political tussles on the national stage:
Local MP Godhana has accused Haji of being behind the violence, and suggested that he has encouraged the immigration of Somalis and al-Shabaab sympathisers. Other local MPs have also accused the minister of interfering with the Tana River boundaries so as to benefit the Somali inhabited parts that lie outside the Delta.
There are also longer-standing rumours that the Orma have links to the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), an ethnic-based insurgency mainly operating in southern Ethiopia, but also in and out of northern Kenya. The Orma and Oromo share common ancestry, and rumours that the OLF has supported the Orma have fuelled fears of the intensification of the conflict.
Regardless of the truth of these rumours, the fact that they tap into wider fears about inter-communal competition and conflict is a worrying sign this close to an election.
Wider resonances
Inter-communal killings and forced displacement have recently affected not only Tana but also northern districts of Isiolo, Garissa, Mandera, Moyale and Wajir. The ease with which communities in these areas acquire fire-arms, organise themselves and plan attacks should concern security agents but also development planners.
Widespread economic frustration, chronic impunity and intense competition between politicians for political-economic resources remain pervasive hallmarks of the Kenyan political economy, even after the promulgation of what is considered a progressive constitution in 2011.
These dynamics are also at play well beyond northern Kenya. For example, Mount Elgon has long history of violence associated with the drawing and redrawing of boundaries.
Eldoret and other towns in the Rift Valley – such as Nakuru and Naivasha – have long been cosmopolitan and multi-ethnic, but with more ethnically uniform surrounding rural areas. In early 2008, this led to violence against non-Kikuyus in Nakuru and Naivasha; and against Kikuyus in places like Turbo and Burnt Forest in the area surrounding Eldoret.
There have been occasional incidents of violence along what was the pre-2010 constitution boundary between Nyanza and Rift Valley Province. This is an echo of violence in the area during the 1990s when ethnic Luo residents in Nandi (on the Rift Valley side of the border) were the very first targets of attacks from late 1991 onwards (for more on such dynamics, see Daniel Branch, Kenya: Between Hope and Despair, 1963-2011)
Way forward
Understanding that the same drivers – namely pre-electoral political competition, and manoeuvring to benefit from the re-drawing of electoral constituency boundaries – are at play across the country should concentrate the minds of Kenya’s leadership and partners. These factors could feed into the existing tensions in flashpoint areas affected by electoral violence in 2008 and in previous polls – a long-standing pattern going back at least to the re-introduction of multiparty politics in the early 1990s.
In the near-term, attention to these factors should be raised. A focus on the MRC and Kenya’s intervention in Somalia risks overlooking a wider, and potentially more disruptive, pattern.
In the medium to long term, Kenya’s partners could help to support efforts to address the longer-term, underlying grievances beneath the violence in areas such as the Tana Delta. The current commission of inquiry into the most recent violence could provide the first step in a sustained and rigorous effort. It will be essential that the commission be given the space to operate freely, and that its findings are taken seriously.
The violence in the Tana Delta will also prove a key test for the judiciary, which is on the front lines in the battle against impunity in Kenya’s politics. As such, the commission for inquiry could have important resonances with the handling of the ICC cases. Beyond the question of impunity and accountability, there is also the matter of restitution for lives, livelihoods and properties lost.
Nuur Mohamud Sheekh is a Board Member, Internal Displacement Policy and Advocacy Centre, Kenya.
Jason Mosley is Research Associate, African Studies Centre, University of Oxford.