Kibaki Must Step Down

Published by Coalition of Kenyans and Allies for Democracy on Dec 31, 2007
Category: Human Rights
Region: GLOBAL
Target: International Community
Description/History: The international community is very much aware that Mwai Kibaki and his Party of National Unity (PNU) rigged the December 2007 Kenyan presidential election.

In recognition of this fact, the European Union, Britain, and the United States have refused to recognize the Kibaki government as legitimate.

As members of the international community, we do not intend to allow this blatant act of disregard for the rule of law and for the will of the people of Kenya to go unchallenged.

The list of evidence of election irregularities compiled in this petition contains widely known facts and has been corroborated by various news sources.

1. All polls taken before the election favored Raila Odinga and his party, the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), with Odinga leading Kibaki by a margin of 4%. A mid-December report by the government's own intelligence service gave Raila Odinga an even larger lead of 8% to 15% over Mwai Kibaki. As the election drew near, the Steadman poll, which is conducted under the leadership of George Waititu, a close friend of Kibaki's, showed Kibaki catching up to Odinga although the total for the three leading candidates added up to 101%.
2. The Kenyan National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) reported that Muslim voters, most of whom were expected to favor Raila Odinga, were denied voter cards in the leadup to the election.
   
3. Prior to the election, Raila Odinga warned that Mwai Kibaki and his party planned to illegally deploy Administrative Police (AP) as poll agents for the purpose of intimidating voters. While Mwai Kibaki originally denied these allegations, subsequent events showed that Odinga was correct--the East African Standard reported that 65,000 APs were in fact illegally deployed to various parts of the country.
4. Prior to the election, the impartiality and credibility of the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) was jeopardized by Mwai Kibaki's control over the appointment of foreign observers. The East African Standard reported that ECK Chairman Samuel Kivuitu had himself accused the Kibaki "government of selectively inviting international observers for the December polls." Member of Parliament William Ruto of ODM also voiced concern, stating that "Kibaki has gone against a precedence that even brought him to power. The President alone has appointed ECK commissioners. He alone has picked foreign observers. When you put these two issues in the wider picture of the run-up to elections, you see we have a reason to doubt the fairness of the coming polls."
5. Early in the election, when Raila Odinga went to cast his vote at a polling station in his constituency of Langata, he found that his name was missing from the poll register. Furthermore, names beginning in 'A,' 'E' and 'O'--traditionally Luo and Luhya names--were missing.
6. Raila Odinga's ODM party firmly secured the Parliament, winning more than 45% percent of parliamentary seats--that is, at least 95 out of 210 electable seats--compared to Mwai Kibaki's PNU party which secured only 37 seats in total and lost 22 of its original 32 seats. The ouster of the majority of Kibaki's cabinet was regarded by many as a bold statement to the degree to which the majority of the electorate had lost confidence in the Kibaki administration.
7. In Garsen, a mob destroyed 35 ballot boxes on suspicion of rigging.
8. One constituency, Maragwa, reported 115% voter turnout.
   
9. Although voting ended on Thursday, December 27, the announcement of results from some polling stations was delayed for more than two days because:
   

a) The aforementioned irregularities compelled numerous complaints from candidates of both parties.
b) ECK returning officers from disputed polling stations could not be located by Kivuitu and had turned off their cell phones.

10. Samuel Kivuitu, chairman of the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK), himself acknowledged that the delay would have allowed time for these missing officials or others to rig votes. "This is where cooking could be taking place," said Kivuitu.

11) The ECK failed to address the majority of these concerns raised by Raila Odinga, his ODM party, and the general public and proceeded to announce the obviously illegitimate results, thereby failing in its responsibility to the people of Kenya and lending validity to the debacle.

12) After the ECK announced the results, declaring Mwai Kibaki the winner, the East African Standard reported that an ECK officer alleged that there had been "blatant and shameless alteration of documents" primarily by "information technology officials." This officer said that the Coast and upper Eastern provinces were most affected by rigging, but also named the constituencies of Moyale, Laisamis, Saku and Matuga.

13) A Reuters article also quoted an "election observer who asked not to be named" as having "very little doubt" that the election was rigged.

14) Furthermore, before Kivuitu declared Mwai Kibaki the winner, Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, chief European Union election monitor, stated that there was ``a big question mark over the tallying of results.''

15) After Kivuitu declared Mwai Kibaki the winner, Lambsdorff repeated his misgivings. "We regret that it has not been possible to address irregularities about which both the EU and the ECK have evidence ... some doubt remains as to the accuracy of the result of the presidential election as announced today," said Lambsdorff.

16) Lambsdorff has again gone on record as saying that the tallying process lacked credibility.

17) Prior to Mwai Kibaki's secretive swearing in ceremony, the Kenyan government suspended all live television broadcasts. Coverage of post-election violence, including the government's use of armed police in suppressing demonstrators, has therefore been difficult to verify. In view of the above irregularities, this has had the effect of further eroding any semblance of democracy.

18) Finally, tallies reported by the ECK differed from those announced at polling stations and on television news broadcasts. The New York Times reports that, "The European Union said its observers in one constituency last week witnessed election officials announce that President Kibaki had won 50,145 votes, but on Sunday the election commission increased those same results to 75,261 votes."

Taken as a whole, this evidence is more than enough to declare the presidency of Mwai Kibaki illegitimate and to install the legitimate winner, Raila Odinga, into that office.

Petition:
The international community is very much aware that Mwai Kibaki and his Party of National Unity (PNU) rigged the December 2007 Kenyan presidential election. In recognition of this fact, the European Union, Britain, and the United States have refused to recognize the Kibaki government as legitimate.

As members of the international community, we do not intend to allow this blatant act of disregard for the rule of law and for the will of the people of Kenya to go unchallenged. The list of evidence of election irregularities compiled in this petition contains widely known facts and has been corroborated by various news sources.

Taken as a whole, this evidence is more than enough to declare the presidency of Mwai Kibaki illegitimate and to install the legitimate winner, Raila Odinga, into that office.

In light of the aforementioned evidence, we, the undersigned, condemn Mwai Kibaki's theft of the Kenyan presidency. We recognize Mwai Kibaki's actions as a declaration of war on the opposition and hold him responsible for the ethnic bloodshed that has proceeded from this heist of the presidency.

We do not condone violence and urge all parties to avoid violence. Instead we urge for peaceful protests and negotiations and non-violent protests.

Nonetheless, we demand that Mwai Kibaki abdicate the office of the President of Kenya and that the legitimate winner, Raila Odinga, be instated into that office immediately. In the interest of peace, we respectfully request your assistance in ensuring that this affront to democracy is repudiated and nullified.

Sign petitition here.