**USAID assistance lauded for role in Kenya's landmark transition:**

Untold tales of pre-election fears and how USAID assisted

As the countdown to Kenya's 2002 general elections ticked, an aura of
both wishful excitement for the impending change in leadership; and fear
in anticipation of the worst political violence yet to come was thick in
the air. For many Kenyans, there was no doubt that the ruling party
would possibly use violence to retain power, that the opposition parties
after losing twice were likely to stay united and counter violence with
violence, that the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) and the police
could not be trusted to facilitate the transition with impartiality
given their track record.

![](media/image1.jpeg){width="2.1in" height="1.7in"}To further aggravate
the situation, the prevailing sense of impunity among political
contestants stemming from the violence in the 1992 and 1997 multi-party
elections that claimed over 4,000 lives and disenfranchised 600,000
individuals; the proliferation of small arms in the country; the
elevated financial status of being a public official and the culture of
buying votes had sealed Kenya's fate of ever witnessing democratic and
peaceful elections. Yet, the significance of the 2002 elections to
Kenya's political future and history could not be underestimated, the
country would not only witness the stepping down of a long serving
leader, who was completing his constitutional last term after 24 years
in power, but it would also witness the election of Kenya's third
president since independence.

In response to needs expressed by various stakeholders, USAID/Kenya's
Democracy and Governance program launched several integrated
multi-million elections assistance projects through various institutions
to improve the electoral enabling environment, the electoral
administration and monitoring process and to increase the capacity of
political parties to compete more effectively. The projects' invaluable
contribution to the electoral process elicited immense praise from the
Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) and the wider election observer
community.

USAID provided briefings to the Democratic Development Group (DDG)
consisting of 25 embassies and the EU on the need for the parliament to
pass certain regulations that would enhance transparency and the need to
renew the tenure of the Chair and Vice Chair of the ECK. The DDG and the
US Embassy held press conferences and meetings with the government and
opposition officials on the importance of these actions. These efforts
along with those of local NGOs, paid off. The regulations were passed
and commissioner's tenure extended. According to the ECK, these
diplomatic efforts had an impact on its ability to act independently. As
the perception of ECK's independence and credibility increased, other
bilateral donors were more willing to leverage USAID's funding. Under
USAID's facilitation, ECK's media campaign to reduce electoral violence
attracted 3 donors. The campaign was a resounding success, with 88
percent of Kenyans interviewed stating that the campaign encouraged
peaceful elections.

In addition, USAID supported the establishment of the Central Depository
Unit (CDU) to serve as a center for collecting, collating and
disseminating electoral violence information from five Kenyan NGOs
involved in violence monitoring and the media at large. CDU findings
were specifically released to the ECK, the parliament, law enforcement
agencies and the general public through the media, the CDU website and
CDU "Ghasia Watch" newsletter. CDU's findings revealed that 325 people
died between January and December 2002 from electoral violence. The
value of CDU's contribution was highly praised by the ECK, " the Central
Depository Unit...was a blessing to the country for it was able to
monitor election campaign violence in many parts of the country and
publicly publish its findings and publicly admonish the perpetrators.
All these activities had a major impact on the direction the elections
took" *Address by the ECK chairman, at a post-elections conference
organized by the Africa Peace Forum and Working Group for Peaceful
Elections*. CDU is now recognized as the source for information on
electoral-related violence and intimidation.

With USAID funding, the National Democratic Institute for International
Affairs (NDI) facilitated dialogue between the ECK and the main
political parties in Kenya, successfully enhancing consultation on
mutual electoral concerns and transparency in the electoral process. At
a recent post-elections conference *"Assessing the 2002 Elections:
Lessons for the Future,"* the ECK Chairman, Mr. Samuel Kivuitu
acknowledged that "\...there was no doubt that these efforts by NDI bore
positive results. They helped narrow the gap between the political
parties and ECK and also among themselves. In the end these efforts
contributed directly to the peace we witnessed at election time. NDI
should be persuaded to continue with the program"

![](media/image2.png){width="2.3680555555555554in" height="1.625in"}The
Agency for Development Education and Communication (ADEC) complemented
NDI's activities on political party institution strengthening by
training party poll watchers. As at 19^th^ December, 2002, ADEC had
trained a total of 2,214 party poll watchers countrywide on the
organization of political parties, electoral laws/regulations and the
role and conduct of party agents. The US embassy provided 100 staff
members from its various agencies to serve as diplomatic poll observers
during the elections period.

An assessment of ECK's communications and networks system by the
International Foundation for Election Systems (IFES) in February 2002,
revealed that 2,350 polling stations did not have a communication
system. As a result, USAID and ECK agreed on a work plan to provide IT
equipment and a fax machine to each District Office and Returning
Officer Offices, while satellite phones to offices with no reliable
telephone lines.

A total of \$1,038,774 worth of communications network was provided viz.
100 computers, 100 UPSs, 80 printers, 158 fax machines and 111 motorola
satellite phones, significantly increasing the capacity of the ECK to
administer the elections and provide secure communications and transit
of ballots and electoral results between field offices and the Nairobi
headquarters. "...although the system was not used to its full
capacity...we have no doubt that future elections will be conducted more
efficiently and securely.." says Commissioner Jack Tumwa.

In addition to its role as a member of the steering committee on
Britain's Department for International Development (DFID) led
multi-donor funded domestic elections monitoring program, USAID
supported two critical monitoring activities not funded by other donors.
The Media Institute (MI), monitored pre-elections and elections period
media coverage of party campaigns and events highlighting traces of bias
to the public and as such reducing incidences. Television, radio and
print media were covered.

Through the Institute for Education in Democracy (IED), live political
party debates were broadcasted on the III^rd^ Opinion on Nation
Television. While the International Republican Institute (IRI) conducted
voter registration promotions, trained journalists and politicians on
use of opinion polls and polling methodologies and; conducted widely
publicized opinion polls that were accurately confirmed by the elections
results. Religious organizations, {the Presbyterian Church of East
Africa (PCEA) and the Muslim Civic Education Trust} were likewise
supported to conduct parliamentary candidates' and electoral issues
debates.