BE WARNED! This Is How Politicians Are Planning To Rig Themselves Into Office.
One of the best things that will happen in the Jubilee Party
primaries (and the General Elections in August) is that the choices of the Kenyan
voters will be upheld. It does not matter who wins, as long as every vote will
count. That will be great.
But the menace of election rigging has been entrenched into the
Kenyan DNA and has almost become a ‘sure’ route to electoral victory,
subverting freedom and fairness in the process.
Mediocre election rigging tactics involve ballot box
snatching and stuffing, conflict between party agents and electoral staff,
illegal printing and usage of voters’ card, falsification of results as well as
tampering with the voters register as witnessed in the ongoing primaries.
But those who are smart have always devised sophisticated
methods to seal election victory by ‘remote control’. Some of these tactics do
not involve the actual voting process inside the polling booth but actually
happens in discreet outside the polling stations themselves.
The following tactics constitute some of the methods used by
sly politicians as gathered by our Thika Town Today (3T) team.
Propaganda of
defection or stepping down.
This is the most commonly used ploy to hoodwink voters. Between
now and voting time, you will hear so many cases of candidates defecting and
others stepping down for their opponents. This is a ploy to help sway the
voters in a particular manner in favour of the architects of the said
propaganda.
Bribery of voters.
The political class have always taken advantage of the
desperate citizens living in this sorry state by offering them meagre amounts
of money to dupe them into voting for them. This is usually done days before
the actual polling or on the material day before they enter the polling
station.
On the material day however, the riggers will position their
people in strategic places, most possibly about 100-200 metres from the polling
stations. Here, they identify ‘potential victims’ and convince them to vote for
their man. To soften their stand, the voters are bribed with between sh. 200
and sh. 500 depending on the nature and status of the voter.
This seems good and true to the poor masses hence they trade
their votes in that manner arguing that it’s better that candidate for they
have given them ‘something’.
They are those who will also collect voters’ cards from poor
people for some cash and confiscate them till the exercise is over. This is
usually done in areas where they do not have good support.
Vote and Collect Money.
During accreditation when voters are on the line, the riggers will whisper it to people. A voter collects his ballot, enters the boot, thumbprints, but before dropping it into the box, he will hold it as if blowing it for the ink to dry so that the guy handing out the cash will see it. After voting, he goes to the corner and get paid.
In the same vein, others will demand the voter take a photo of the marked ballot paper using their mobile phones as prove that they have voted for their candidate. After voting, the voter show the photo image in their phone to earn their money.
During accreditation when voters are on the line, the riggers will whisper it to people. A voter collects his ballot, enters the boot, thumbprints, but before dropping it into the box, he will hold it as if blowing it for the ink to dry so that the guy handing out the cash will see it. After voting, he goes to the corner and get paid.
In the same vein, others will demand the voter take a photo of the marked ballot paper using their mobile phones as prove that they have voted for their candidate. After voting, the voter show the photo image in their phone to earn their money.
Casual debates
The Kenyan politician have realised that Kenyan voters are
usually an ignorant lot. They will go to a polling station with the slightest
idea of who they are going to vote for. It is not uncommon to hear people on
the lines asking “Huku MCA/MP mnachagua
nani?” etc. There is also the notion among voters that ‘sitaki kupoteza kura yangu’ so they will only vote for a candidate
they think will win.
With this in mind, the sly politician will plant their
supporters at various spots in and outside the polling stations, more so to
trigger such a discussion. Here, one of the hired debaters will pretend to be naïve
and ask the question. Another of the same group will forward the name of their
candidate, pretending that they do not know him/her so well but ‘according to
what they have gathered from the mood on the ground, this candidate seems so
popular’. In that way, they are able to convince the undecided voters into
voting for their candidate.
The hired debaters will do so in a manner that their message
reaches as many people as possible.
Triggering violence
within the polling stations.
Some politicians use violence to intimidate or coerce voters
to act against their wish. This is usually done in areas they perceive to be
their opponents’ strongholds.
The trick here is that, their supporters will wake up very
early and be among the first in the queue. This means that they will be among
the first people to cast their ballots. Guaranteed that their side have voted, one
of them will create a narrative of rigging and may be accuse some people of
being behind the vice or being transported to vote for their rival.
They will then cause commotion and eventually disrupt the
whole exercise to ensure that voting does not go on. Eventually, a good number
of voters will flee and will not come back to vote.
Supplying alcohol to
voters.
One trick used by weak
candidates is that of preparing a bash, especially on the evening prior to the
voting day. Here people perceived to be supporting an opponent are invited to
the bash where they dine till dawn. Towards the break of morning, more beer and
alcohol is supplied to ensure that the ‘revelers’ blackout into not being in a
position to go and cast their votes.
This denies their opponents
a substantial number of voters, thereby tilting the odds.
Raising unnecessary queries to attract sympathy votes.
Sly politicians will always
play the victim card to win sympathy votes. They will always seek for loopholes
and cause a scene to attract the attention of the voters on the queue. By doing
so, they will shout about an imaginary rigging plot and claim that their win is
being stolen.
After causing some mayhem
they will pretend that things are now sorted and walk out shouting about how
their victory was about to be stolen. This way, they manage to win some
sympathy votes plus some of the undecided voters who sympathise with their
plight.
Corrupting officials and agents.
Moneyed politicians will
always corrupt their way into winning elections. They will pour irresistible money
offers to both the officials and agents of the opponents within a certain
polling station to ensure they all give a blind eye to vote theft.
Vote rigging will start by
officials and agents ‘assisting’ voters to cast their ballots and in the
process cast votes to their preferred candidates.
Officials may also opt to
frustrate the voters through unnecessary delays, logistics and complicating the
voting process. In this way, some of the voters get annoyed into resigning back
to their homes without voting.
With majority of the voters
tired and eager to finish up the exercise and go home, the officials grab that
opportunity to stuff votes and allow others to double vote. Names not appear on
the voters' roll are also allowed to vote.
Transporting foreigners to vote.
Some politicians have
already imported voters from other areas to use them to win the nominations. They
will bring them to the polling stations very early in the morning in buses and
matatus.
After voting, these people
will be ferried back home and given a ‘token of appreciation’ for job well
done.
Ensuring scarcity of
voting material.
In an event the preferred candidate is in the good books of
the system, one of the methods used to steal elections is causing a hitch in
the mechanism or supplying less election materials. This interferes with the
whole exercise and at times the candidates use this opportunity to unleashed mayhem
and harass supporters of the opponents so as to disrupt the process.
Names of voters will at times deliberately miss with intent
to interfere with the entire process, thus denying legible voters their right
to vote.
All in all, the bottom line here is not who wins that
matters. A successful transition with us remaining intact is more important
than any candidate. We are deeply worried about threats of any kind by
politicians desperate for power at all costs. It is this desperation that fuels
all sorts of electoral malfeasance, particularly that thing they call “election
rigging. Furthermore, without peace, there will be no elections, let alone
economic prosperity.
Let’s preach peace and vote wisely.
God Bless Kenya.
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