THE POLITICS OF VISIBILITY: WHY IS TRANSPARENCY BECOMING A BATTLE BEFORE 2027? When the public begins asking to see the numbers, the question is no longer merely who will win. It is whether the process will command publicity. There is something deeply unsettling about a country approaching a general election while the rules governing public access to election results become a subject of national controversy. The Elections (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill, 2024, opened a debate that Kenya could hardly afford to ignore: should citizens merely receive the final figures, or should they retain the ability to watch results being announced at polling stations and independently compare them with the figures eventually declared? The original version of the Bill proposed replacing Section 39 of the Elections Act without expressly retaining IEBC’s obligation to establish a mechanism for livestreaming results. That omission triggered alarm among Kenyans who consider real-time public sc...
Siku hizi, ukisimama mbele ya wananchi ukisema unataka kuwa MCA, maswali ni mengi kuliko ya KCPE! Wananchi wanataka MCA wa aina gani? Elimu: Unaelewa kazi ya MCA au umeamka tu ukajiona uko tayari kuongoza? Maendeleo: Umeleta nini kwa wananchi, ama maendeleo yako ni picha za Facebook pekee? Uadilifu: Pesa za umma zikifika mikononi mwako, utazitumia kwa maendeleo ama tutaanza kusikia hadithi za “system iko down”? Uwakilishi: Utatetea wananchi katika Bunge la Kaunti, ama utakuwa wa kusema “ndio, mheshimiwa” kila siku? Ufikivu: Baada ya uchaguzi, simu yako itakuwa inaita kweli, ama itaanza kuita tu wakati wa kampeni? Maono: Una mpango wa kuboresha huduma za afya, barabara, maji na nafasi za vijana, ama slogan yako ni “tutafanya”? Na muhimu zaidi, MCA si mfadhili wa kila mtu binafsi. Kazi yake ni kutunga sheria za kaunti, kuwakilisha wananchi, kushiriki kuidhinisha bajeti na kuisimamia serikali ya kaunti. Kwa hiyo, tunahitaji mtu anayejua wajibu wake na anayewajibika kwa wananch...