From: odhiambo okecth

Friends,

In the company of Fr Dr Charles Odira of the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops at the Catholic Secretariat, Rev Jephthah K Gathaka of The Ecumenical Centre for Justice and Peace and Pst Benson Nyang’or of the Global Day of Prayer, we will be hosted at the CrossTalk at Family TV this evening at 8.00pm. Kindly tune in.

With that said, I want to sincerely congratulate Kenyans for holding a peaceful election on the 4th March 2013. I voted at Komarock Primary School on the day, and I was impressed with the patience of Kenyans as they snaked their way to the Police Force have conducted themselves. We must use the few mistakes that we have been observing to help us develop our new found democracy and love for Kenya.

Kenyans came out in large numbers to cast their votes for their preferred candidate. We did our civic duty as One Family under God and now, the onus is on the IEBC Team led by Chairman Isaack Hassan and the Commissioners, and Major James Oswago and his Team at the Executive, to give us credible results.

I want to believe that Kenyans cannot loose the process at the tallying level. It is sad that the question of arithmetic is again becoming an issue with our elections. It is sad that someone is keen on entrenching impunity even as the people unite to vote peacefully.

Kenyans must stand up and reject such dark forces, people who are hell bent on disenfranchising our democratic rights to electing our leaders.

Leaders must never be elected through manipulation of results. I love the way Hon Peter Kenneth and Hon Martha Karua stepped forward to concede defeat. How I wished the Rejected Voters also conceded defeat and acknowledged that he was not even in the official ballot box. The question of Rejected Voters coming in at number 3 is one sure proof that IEBC did not get it right with Voter Education. They concentrated more on TV Stations and the Hotels and forgot that we had a big number that do not access Radio and TVs and have no time for Hotel Meetings.

Again, the disorganization we saw with the IEBC Clerks at the Polling Stations was worrying. It made me ask, were they really trained on anything? Most did not offer help in as far as queuing was concerned and this led to many frustrations. Again, many relied on the Returning Officer even for very simple issues.

However, I must commend the IEBC Teams across Kenya for doing a commendable job.

As for Chairman Isaack Hassan and Major James Oswago, the Country and the whole World is now watching you. You may choose to stand firm and execute your mandate, or, you may choose to go down history as the people who messed the General Elections in Kenyan in March 2013.

The choices are very simple; remain firm and give us the results Kenyans voted for.

And let all Kenyans wait for these results in peace.

Let us all work for a Clean Kenya and a Clean Africa as a Transformative Deliverable as Kenya turns 50 and beyond.

Odhiambo T Oketch,
Executive Director,

The Clean Kenya Campaign- TCKC