Today, March 4, 2013, is Election Day in Kenya. The polls are open from 6am to 5pm.
There are six positions on the ballot: President/Deputy President, Member of National Assembly (MP), Woman Representative, Senator, Governor/Deputy Governor, County Assembly Ward Representative. Today has been declared a public holiday so people can vote. As in the US, many people are glad the day has arrived as they are becoming tired of all the campaigning done by candidates.
Father Joe asked if any of us would like to go with him to a polling station not far from the Maryknoll Society house here in Nairobi. His small Christian Community is helping to monitor the election at that polling station so he knows several of the workers. So I (John) decided to go along to see.
As we approached the queue (line) of voters it looked to be about 100 yards long. Then we noticed it turned around the corner onto another street. As we walked around the corner we saw over a hundred yards of people in queue on this second street. There we visited with some Carmalite Sisters in queue whose compound is across the street from the Fathers. We rounded the second corner and saw a line at least 50 yards with more people queuing. We estimated about 1000 people were in queue outside the gate of the compound where the voting was done.
We asked various people what time they arrived. One lady said 3:00 (we think that was the time she left home, but many do not have watches to know the exact time). Many said 5:00.
Shortly after we arrived there was a commotion. They had opened the gate to the compound to allow a group of people onto the grounds to vote. There was pushing and shoving as the newest arrivals took their places in queue and those that had already voted were allowed to leave the compound.
On the way home we saw Joshua, one of the guards at our compound. He had just voted and showed us his pinky finger which had been marked with indelible ink to show that he had already voted.
A couple of observations of the journey: A) The people were very patient waiting in queue even though they had been in queue for many hours and would continue for many more hours. B) I did see some people reading Bibles, prayer books and praying a rosary while in line. C) A couple of people were actually reading a book. That is very unusual as Kenya doesn’t have a reading culture other than the newspaper. D) Very few people had water bottles, a concern since some will be without water for many more hours.
The government has done a great job with civic education about the election process. The IEBC (Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission) has done much work to ensure that is a fair election.
This is the procedure: Once a voter reaches the voting table their fingers will be checked for signs of indelible ink that would show that they had already voted. Then they will check to see that the voter has been biometrically identified and registered at that polling station. The next step is to verify their identity via their national identification card. Then they will be issued the six ballots. The voter will mark each of the ballots and insert them into the appropriate colour coded ballot boxes. Finally their index finger will be marked with indelible ink and they may collect their identity card as they leave the polling station.
President Kibaki has asked that people vote and then return home and stay there for the rest of the day. If there are questions as to the validity of the results, that they be settled in the courts and not on the streets.
We continue to pray for a free, fair and safe election in Kenya.
