Category Archives: 2013 Presidential Elections

March 28, 2013 · 10:44 PM

The REAL Tyranny of Numbers!

  1. Number of votes separating Uhuru and Raila: 832,887 or 6,173,433 vs. 5,340,5463
  2. IEBC budget for providing the Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) kits: kshs. 3.82billion1
  3. Number of bids to supply the Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) kits: 41
  4. Highest bid: kshs. 8.31billion (OnTrack, Israel)1
  5. Lowest bid: kshs. 3.76billion (4G ID Solutions, India)1
  6. Winning bid: kshs. 4.63billion (Face Technology, South Africa – 2nd highest bid)1
  7. Difference between reported IEBC budget for BVR Kits and winning bid: ~kshs. 810Million over budget (4.63b – 3.82b)
  8. Poll data source/location analyzed/presented to Supreme Court by Ms. Kethi Kilonzo: 32
  9. Total number of polling stations in the country: 33,4003
  10. % of polling stations whose no. of registered voters differ from the no. of votes cast/reported by the IEBC: 0.0001%2
  11. The increase in Mr. Kenyatta’s vote count in Nyeri due to discrepancy between votes – county vs. IEBC: 0.31% or 317,881 vs. 318,8802
  12. The decrease in Mr. Odinga’s vote count in Nyeri due to discrepancy between votes – county vs. IEBC: 7.8% or 6,075 vs. 5,6382
  13. % difference between registered voters and votes tabulated as received in Charity Primary School Kieni : 31,000% or 1 registered voter vs. 310 votes received2
  14. % difference between registered voters and final votes tallied/reported in Machakos Town: 2,546% or 125 registered voters vs. 3,182 votes tallied/reported2
  15. Lowest discrepancy noted: 0.31% in Nyeri2
  16. Highest discrepancy noted: 31,000% in Kieni, Nyeri2
  17. % gap between Uhuru and Raila: 6.76% or 50.07% vs. 43.31%3
  18. The total number of constituencies in the country – 291 (including Diaspora)3

1 – Source: Africa’s Public Procurement & Entrepreneurship Research Initiative (APPERI), Kenya: IEBC Tender Team Quits over Biometric Deal, July 16, 2012.

2 – Source: Presentation by Kethi Kilonzo before Supreme Court, Daily Nation, March 27, 2012, The Poll was a fraud on voters, argues lawyer.

3 – Source: IEBC Website (link from previous post http://www.kenyaelections.com/wp-content/uploads/SUMMARY-OF-2013-PRESIDENTIAL-RESULTS-DECLARED-ON-9_3_2013.pdf)

 

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Filed under 2013 Presidential Elections, Democracy, Elections, Justice, Kenya, Life, Politics, Uncategorized

March 27, 2013 · 4:25 AM

Partial Justice is NOT Impartial Justice!

I find it interesting, indeed ironic that the Supreme Court of Kenya (SCOK) has ruled against a forensic audit of the Information Technology system used by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) in the March 4 presidential elections claiming that to do so would “jeopardize the petition.”

Justice Mohammed Ibrahim, speaking for the SCOK argued that the legal team representing the Coalition for Reform & Democracy (CORD) was “time barred” in filing the motion asking the court to compel the IEBC to allow an audit of the information technology (IT) system; adding rather curiously that the commission “cannot produce a complete IT infrastructure…before the hearings of the petitions begin on Wednesday.”

It is this uniquely Kenyan tendency of short-circuiting institutional processes, be it procurement tenders or as is the case here, comprehensive judicial review of evidence at the very root of an election petition that sours most Kenyans on these very institutions that are meant to represent their interests, impartially and comprehensively. That the Supreme Court is not willing to allow an audit, complete or partial, of the very system at the heart of the current dispute is strange to say the least and begs several questions including the following:

• While providing the “complete IT infrastructure” within a compressed time is indeed laborious, isn’t the quest for justice THE over-arching issue?
• Is the laborious nature of the request (for the complete IT infrastructure) the only reason the request was denied? Why didn’t the court allow an audit of randomly selected infrastructure components, especially those containing suspect data i.e. from constituencies that were under suspicion?
• Isn’t there the risk of missing evidence that may bolster CORD’s case or validate IEBC’s ruling?
• Doesn’t this ruling, at a minimum, give the impression of an incomplete, partial or selective hearing of the evidence thus de-legitimizing the petition process and its end result – determining who won the presidential elections of 2013?

Like all Kenyans, I want the petition resolved expeditiously and peacefully. I then want the country to move forward, regardless of the outcome but to paraphrase a saying, “partial justice is not impartial justice.” The Supreme Court is doing the country a disservice by refusing to review ALL the evidence.

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Filed under 2013 Presidential Elections, Democracy, Elections, Justice, Kenya, Politics