The Head of the EAC-Election Observation Mission headquarters in Nairobi, Dr Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, says that the observers had undergone training over the past five days to enable them to undertake their responsibilities as International Observers and as EAC Observers.
The East African Community (EAC)
has deployed 15 Election Observation Teams to observe Tuesday’s General
Election in the Republic of Kenya.
The Head of the EAC-Election
Observation Mission headquarters in Nairobi, Dr Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, says that
the observers had undergone training over the past five days to enable them
to undertake their responsibilities as International Observers and as EAC
Observers.
Dr Kikwete, who is also a former
President of the United Republic of Tanzania, disclosed that the 52-strong EAC
Observer Mission drawn from the EAC Partner States and the East African
Legislative Assembly (EALA) had been deployed in 15 teams that will cover
various counties in all the regions across the country.
Dr Kikwete said that the EAC Observer Mission will assess the
adherence to the democratic principles of the EAC as enshrined in the
Treaty. He added that the mission will build on the outcomes
of the Joint African Union/EAC/IGAD/COMESA pre-election assessment
conducted over the last one month.
“The main task for our observers
will be to observe ongoing electoral campaigns; observe polling processes on
the polling day including results management at the Polling Stations; and
observe tallying, announcement and declaration of results,” Dr Kikwete said.
He added that the observers are
expected back at mission headquarters in Nairobi on August 10, 2022, and that
the mission would then prepare a preliminary report on what it had observed
during the electoral process. “The field report will enable us
to prepare a Preliminary Statement, which we will release on Thursday, August 11, 2022,” he said.
He said that since the mission
was launched on Monday, August 1 2022, it had engaged state and non-state
actors including the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, the Kenya
National Commission for Human Rights, the National Cohesion and Integration
Commission, security agencies, political parties, political coalitions, the
media, political parties, civil society and religious organisation.
Dr Kikwete said that in the
mission’s assessment so far, it had observed a generally calm electoral,
political and security environment.
“For this, we wish to thank the
political leadership, the people of Kenya and the institutions responsible for
electoral processes in the country. We appeal to all Kenyans, the various
political coalitions, parties and independent candidates to maintain peace and
aspire for a successful and peaceful election,” he said, adding, that a
peaceful and successful general election will be a win not just for Kenya but
the entire East African Community.
Kenyan nationals will go to the polls on Tuesday to cast their ballots in a
general election that will decide who will be the country’s
next president taking over from Uhuru Kenyatta. In the race are two frontrunners; deputy president
William Ruto and opposition leader
Raila Odinga. 
