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By L MUTHONI WANYEKI

Just how many ways still exist to rig an election? Until now, I actually (overly-optimistically) thought: “Not that many.” But, even in this phase of Kenya’s democratic development, I was proved wrong.

Yes, the elections have been pronounced “free and fair” by national and international observers alike, the former including the organisation I myself work for. But this does not mean that our electoral process was not marred by electoral malpractices or human-rights violations.

It is not acceptable that, in 2007 — seven years into the new millennium — we still have aspirants who think attempts at ethnic cleansing are an acceptable campaign strategy. It is a fact that many would-be voters were disenfranchised in Kuresoi because their houses were burnt down together with their identity and voter cards. And disenfranchised out of fear.

The incoming government must act to address, once and for all, the root causes of the violence in Kuresoi. Which are not about ethnicity and indigeneity — to be honest, the only communities that can make that claim, the Masaai and the Ogiek, are only nominally involved. Neither is it truly about land. It is about the continued impunity of those who first planned and supported the politically instigated clashes of the 1990s.

It is also not acceptable that only polling stations in Langata constituency seemed to have lost sections of the register of voters covering those whose names begin with “O.” I personally visited some of those polling stations on December 27. Given that this had affected no less a voter than Raila Odinga himself, tensions were so high at Olympic Primary School, for example, that the primarily Luo residents of Kibera had begun their own vetting process, not only of vehicles trying to enter the polling station, but also of would-be voters trying to do the same. This, of course, is unacceptable. But it happened as a consequence of equally unacceptable provocation.

THE INCOMING GOVERNMENT MUST thus also ensure that those responsible for these apparently conscious and deliberate malpractices are brought to book, particularly those actually working for the ECK. In the atmosphere of rumour and tension that preceded polling day, it was incumbent on the ECK to explain its every decision and move clearly — so that cars moving in and out of polling stations were not assumed to be ferrying already marked ballot papers and already full ballot boxes and so on. So that the ECK continued to be seen as a judicious arbitrator of the electoral process. That, in the end, was not just a sad reflection on its current composition and some of its staff. It was dangerous for us all.

But the ECK was not the only public institution that could be faulted —not only for the above, but also for failing to stop electoral bribery, conducted in full view, right out in the open at some polling stations in Westlands! The national, supposedly “public” broadcaster was shamelessly partisan — going to the extent of airing what were effectively political party advertisements the night before the poll.

THE POLICE FORCE FAILED TO PREVENT the 30 or so deaths and many more injuries that occurred during the electoral period — including those of administration police — by failing to investigate each instance of electoral violence to its logical conclusion and prosecuting offenders. Senior civil servants and public administration officials failed to remain outside of the campaign process. The list goes on.

The ultimate consequences of all of these failures — to our rights to life and security of the person and property as well as to rights more directly associated with the electoral process — must be addressed.

We cannot allow all these malpractices and violations to fade away in the clamour surrounding the incoming government’s first steps. Impunity at all levels must end.

L. Muthoni Wanyeki is executive director of the Kenya Human Rights Commission