A man votes during the March 4th 2013 general elections. (Photo: Tony Karumba/AFP)

A man votes during the March 4th 2013 general elections. (Photo: Tony Karumba/AFP)

A group of local NGOs that were involved in the 2013 Supreme Court presidential election case have urged Kenyans to use the lessons from that the last polls to improve how the country conducts and monitors elections in future. The NGOs made the suggestions at a debate held today at Hilton Hotel headlined “Rethinking Election Management in Kenya.” The debate organized by Kenyans for Peace with Truth and Justice (KPTJ) and AFRICOG was held on the second anniversary of the Supreme Court of Kenya’s ruling on the 2013 presidential election.

The debate attracted participates from across the political divide among them James Orengo of the Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD), Moses Kuria of the ruling Jubilee coalition and Martha Karua who ran for president in the 2013 polls on a NARC-Kenya ticket.

Speaking at today’s event Willis Otieno and Gladwell Otieno highlighted the lessons that Kenyans can learn from the 2013 polls among them treating elections as a “process” instead of a one-off event:

Besides faulting the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) for its many errors in the elections, the two also picked issues with the Supreme Court’s ruling in 2013 presidential petition arguing that the court made several fundamental mistakes.

 

Looking ahead to the 2017 elections, Willis Otiteno made several suggestions on how Kenya can improve how the IEBC functions and the ways in which it can be more accountable to the Kenyan people.

 

Martha Karua for her part said that it’s necessary for Kenya to learn from the mistakes of the past to have better elections. The NARC-Kenya leaders also said that the most important sticking point for the next elections is who will announce the results:

Moses Kuria, predictably, played the role of “non-believer” in the debate. The Gatundu South MP was present to make the case that the Jubilee coalition’s win in the 2013 presidential poll was squeaky clean. According to Kuria Jubilee won the election as early as December 2012.