National elections were held in Kenya on March 4th putting into place a new biometric voter registration technology, aiming to prevent falsification of ballots. The country's last election saw falsification of voter registration that led to 1.2 million votes cast by people actually deceased. The technology, which uses photographs and fingerprinting to identify voters, was created and sold to Kenya by the Canadian government for a total cost of US $7.2 million.
Technical problems the day of the election caused a shift to the manual system in some areas, including Samburu North ward. Electoral commission chairman Ahmed Issack Hassan reported to AllAfrica: "We have been forced to call off elections in these areas because of mix up in the ballot papers. In some cases we have missing names of candidates while in other cases names have been interchanged.” Associated Press reported that more than 325,000 ballots were recorded as spoiled.
Contacts on the ground in Kenya reported to Cultural Survival:
“The highly rated and well advertised biometric voter register which cost the Kenyan public kshs 9 billion was never used, exposing the election process to a lot of malpractices especially on the illiterate voters. The presiding officers took advantage of these communities to mark ballot papers in favor of their friends or those who bribed them...in Laikipia North, there was massive rigging at all levels.”
The Samburu people have been struggling against deep government corruption while trying to defend their human rights and claim title to their traditional lands. A law suit was filed by the Samburu against the African Wildlife Foundation and the former President Moi to prevent illegal forced evictions from their land. Learn more about the Samburu’s struggles in the face of extreme violence and abuse from the government, at our campaign, here: Kenya: Stop Human Rights Abuses
Locals reported that recently they have seen heavy movement of what appear to be potential investors in the area where the African Wildlife Foundation and the Kenya Wildlife Service have plans to create a national park.
Community organizers are asking for donations to pay for legal fees to help keep their case moving forward.
To donate to Cultural Survival’s Samburu Legal Defense Fund, click here and write “Samburu” in the comment section.
