My unsolicited advice to Kenyans: Just postpone presidential elections

The voter doesn’t decide anything; it is the guy who counts the votes who does’. Please accept that as a paraphrased quote associated with Soviet leader Joseph Stalin.
In a certain country known to you and I, even the guy who counts and tallies the votes does not decide much; it is the guy who announces the winner (not the results please) that matters most.
The announcement of the winner is influenced not by the results of the elections, but the materiality of the said winner’s appropriated propriety of the instruments of coercion to enforce and enjoy his victory.
The most important thing in a presidential election in that country is, therefore, the announcer and declaration of the winner. In 1980, the head of State dispossessed the chairman of the Electoral Commission of the role of announcing the winner.
That’s the lot of that country (known to you and I). They don’t have the experience of votes or voters or vote count determining the winners of a presidential elections. And it is whispered that without the assurance that he would be announced as the winner under whatever circumstances, Dr Leopold Nyarwino, Professor of Landology, would not offer his candidature in 2021.
On Tuesday August 8, Kenyans in their millions went to the polls. The voting went on smoothly: After the post-election violence in 2007 and 2008, Kenyans are always expected to do their best.
They patiently queued and voted peacefully. The turn out was good; giving the electoral process its deserving importance. And then the results started streaming in. It was very clear from the outset the figures had a statistical anomaly.
As is the case with presidential elections in Zamunda, someone realised that what really mattered was the announcement of the winner. And the chairperson of the Independent Boundaries and Election Commission (IBEC) made the most important announcement: The incumbent, President Uhuru Kenyatta, was the winner.
But the spectacle of the IBEC chairman announcing unsigned results was not lost on us; a hint that there must have been some push and shove before the announcement was made. It was, therefore, no wonder that Supreme Court later annulled the whole process and ordered IBEC to organise fresh elections in 60 days.
The implication of the fresh election is that Raila Odinga has some sort of psychological initiative over Kenyata. And having come so far, it is unlikely that he would take any more punches on the chin. He expects victory.
Yet President Uhuru does not expect to lose. Which is why he has been making blunt threats; the latest of which was that his party would use their numbers in parliament to impeach Raila (if Raila won the fresh elections). He had earlier been quoted as referring to the Honourable Justices of the Supreme Courts as wakora (thugs).
Whereas one would have no problem with proroguing parliament, the event just came off as an attempt by President Uhuru merely struggling to be president. The Judiciary and the Opposition were absent. The event didn’t even seem to have garnered the expected PR (or psychological advantage) dividends.
President Uhuru may position the impeachment remark as a psy-op mind game. But the effect of his utterances is such that it hardens positions - a precursor to violence.
One doesn’t have to be Prophet Elvis Mbonye to detect that the country is not ready for fresh elections as ordered by the Supreme Court.
So, my unsolicited advice is that they could just postpone the election and hold it later; say in the first quarter of 2018.
Mr Bisiika is the executive editor of East African Flagpost.