By DPA
Nairobi : Nearly 30 Kenyan civil society groups Friday issued a detailed list of election irregularities and called for a recount of the votes in the recent presidential elections that rolled out a wave of violence countrywide.
The umbrella group, Kenyans for Peace with Truth and Justice (KPTJ), echoed foreign and local election observer missions when it alleged “anomalies and malpractices” in the Dec 27 polls, highlighting flaws in 49 out of the country’s 210 constituencies.
“We cannot go on with this level of impunity. How will we have another election without knowing who did this?” David Ndii, an economist who analysed poll data for the group, said.
President Mwai Kibaki came back into power last month in elections that the opposition charges were rigged. Shortly after announcing the results, the chairman of the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK), Samuel Kivuitu said he “didn’t know” if Kibaki had won the polls.
Kibaki has been charged with planting his cronies into the ECK, which has been charged with managing the rigging.
KPTJ said they had filed a legal complaint against ECK and were set to take the matter to court.
The group said they viewed Kibaki’s return to power as illegitimate, saying they considered his stay in office still part of his first term.
“Some of those electoral anomalies and malpractices were illegal – thus rendering the supposed presidential outcome not only illegitimate but also illegal,” the group said in a statement.
Observers have cited numerous irregularities in Kenya’s presidential polls. Some monitors were turned away from counting centres. Some polling stations reported one vote tally while the ECK announced another.
In one area, voter turnout was at 115 percent.
Opposition leader Raila Odinga has called for a recount, dubbing Kibaki the “self-declared” president and pressing for mass action until he steps down. Three days of demonstrations were set to end Friday.
KPTJ condemned the violence that has marred the post-election period and called for dialogue between Kibaki and Odinga to restore peace to the volatile country.
“We have to be sensible about this because our country is at risk,” said Maina Kiai, chair of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, a state-funded but independent group.
Kenya, known for its serene coastline and fabled game parks, was plunged into violence after Kibaki was declared president and the bloodletting left at least 600 people dead and displaced 250,000.