14 April 2008
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Johannesburg — THE impasse in the negotiations towards the appointment of the coalition cabinet has provoked calls for fresh general elections. Politicians claiming to speak for both the main protagonists in Kenya's political stalemate, the Party of National Unity and the Orange Democratic Movement, have said their respective parties are ready for elections if their differences are not resolved.
Such talk must be recognised for the political grandstanding that it is.
The fact is, Kenya is nowhere near ready for elections. A country struggling to deal with the wounds of a violent post-electoral dispute simply cannot go to polls before the factors that led to such a dangerous situation are addressed. Elections can be called only once the mediation process looking for resolutions to the country's deep-seated fissures is completed. It should be obvious that we cannot, for instance, go to the polls under the Electoral Commission of Kenya as it is presently constituted. Nor can we do it before investigations into what went wrong are concluded.
There must be a far-reaching constitutional review to provide a more just and equitable society. This is a process that is hardly off the ground yet, and which is unlikely to be complete within a year.
It is a process that will only really get moving in earnest once the terms of the National Accord and Reconciliation Act are fulfilled and a grand coalition government is in place.
Instead of making shortsighted demands, we should be wondering whether pending civic and parliamentary by-elections should be put on hold until such a time that there is a credible institution in place to manage the polls. Nairobi, April 11
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