The Kriegler Commission which was set up to look into the
conduct of last December's controversial and violent general election in Kenya
has presented its final report to President Mwai Kibaki. In excerpts published
in local Kenyan media, the commission says last December's election was marred by
bribery, vote buying and intimidation making it impossible for any candidate to
claim victory.
The Kriegler Commission recommends a total overhaul of the
Kenyan Electoral Commission for failing to conduct a legitimate election.
Human
Rights lawyer Harun Ndubi is with the organization Kenyans for Peace with Truth and
Justice. He told he's not surprised by the commission's findings that the election lacked
credibility and integrity. But Ndubi said he would have loved for the
commission to be clear about who in government was responsible for the
irregularities.
"I
think there are certain questions about the Kriegler Commission itself and more
importantly and Mr. Johann Kriegler as a person and the interpretation of his
mandate. I think the commission may have gone an extra mile to think the entire
election activity was shrouded in incompetence and big problems that have made
it difficult to say who exactly won the election. But I think this is a view
that Mr. Johann Kriegler himself decided to uphold from the time he was
appointed. I therefore do not accept that finding that it was impossible to say
that the election would have been won one way or the other," he said.
Kenyan
Electoral Commission Chairman Samuel Kivuitu said last month that there were
discrepancies in the vote tallies from a number of constituencies.
Yet
Kriegler Commission members disagreed on claims that there was vote rigging at
national tally centers.
Ndubi
sees contradiction between Electoral Commission Chairman Kivuitu and the
Kriegler Commission's claim that there was no rigging.
"The
proposition by the commission is highly contradictory. On the hand it suggests
that there were problems about the appointment of commissioners, but they can't
say who was responsible for the rigging. Two, they tried in some very unclear
way, to create a distinction between the role and function of various
commissioners. They are trying to blame commission officials at the lower
level, but try to clear the higher level responsibility of the commission," he
said.
Ndubi
said there was visible evidence that rigging did occur during the election, and
the Kriegler Commission should have been able to establish where such rigging
occurred, by whom and to what extent.
The
Kriegler Commission recommended a complete overhaul of the Kenyan Electoral
Commission for its failure to conduct a legitimate election.
Ndubi
said he agreed with the Kriegler Commission's conclusion that the electoral
commission lacked the independence and capacity to conduct a legitimate
election because of its appointment and composition.
But
he said the electoral commission should have told the Kenyan people who might
have benefited from such shortcomings.
"Indeed in the context of
administration of accountability, the buck must stop with the electoral
commission. However in whose favor was the rigging done? Who was the main
beneficiary? Who promoted it? Who define the rigging? Who appointed those
commissioners? Those types of questions will then redirect us to people who
have higher culpable responsibility for the rigging," Ndubi said.