Naming of Cabinet "Null and Void"

Kenyans for Peace with Truth and Justice

Statement from concerned citizens and governance, human rights and legal organizations

We speak in the name of Kenya’s governance, human rights and legal organizations, as well as the concerned citizens who have contacted and chosen to work with us over the last two weeks.

In our previous statement, we noted that, at the heart of the three forms of violence now being experienced across the country:

— disorganised and spontaneous,
- organised militia activity and
- disproportionate use of force by the Kenya Police Force and the General Service Unit

is the violation of fundamental freedoms and rights directly related to the electoral process. It is clear that the electoral anomalies and malpractices experienced during the counting and tallying of the presidential vote were so grave as to alter its outcomes. Some of those electoral anomalies and malpractices were, in addition, illegal—thus rendering the supposed presidential outcome not only illegitimate but also illegal. We therefore consider Mwai Kibaki to be in office still on his first term.

We note now, with grave concern, the announcement yesterday by the man sworn in as President of his supposed Cabinet. We consider this announcement to have been made by a man in office illegitimately and illegally and therefore to be null and void.

We further note that this announcement has, in fact, aggravated and inflamed the current violence — as evidenced by the disorganised and spontaneous protests witnessed yesterday in reaction to the announcement. We consider that the announcement has thus seriously compromised the environment for mediation. We refuse to allow the man sworn in as President to continue presenting the nation with what is, in effect, a series of ‘faits accomplis.’

We therefore reiterate our demands that, in particular:

1. African states and the rest of the international community, particularly the United States given its currently unhelpful unilateral approach, continue to pressurize for mediation by the region under the leadership of President John Kuffour of Ghana, current head of the African Union, between the Party of National Unity and the Orange Democratic Movement on addressing the electoral travesty that has occurred;

2. The mediation process, as its first priority, agree upon an interim electoral oversight body to conduct a forensic audit into the polling, counting and tallying process with a view to recommending, depending on its findings, a re-count, a re-tallying or a re-run within a specified time period;

3. African states and the rest of the international community, in the interim, deny official recognition to the man sworn in as President and his supposed Cabinet; and, in addition;

4. All those supposedly announced as Cabinet members refuse to take up their positions upon their swearing in so as to enable the mediation process to proceed.

Signed:

Africa Centre for Open Governance (AfriCOG)
Awaaz
Centre for Law and Research International (CLARION)
Centre for Multiparty Democracy (CMD)
Centre for Rights, Education and Awareness for Women (CREAW)
(CRADLE)
Constitution and Reform Education Consortium (CRECO)
East African Law Society (EALS)
Fahamu Kenya
Haki Focus
Hema la Katiba
Independent Medico-Legal Unit (IMLU)
Innovative Lawyering
Institute for Education in Democracy (IED)
International Commission of Jurists (ICJ-Kenya)
Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC)
Kenya Leadership Institute (KLI)
Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR)
Kituo cha Sheria
Law Society of Kenya (LSK)
Media Institute
Muslim Human Rights Forum
National Constitution Executive Council (NCEC)
Release Political Prisoners (RPP)
Society for International Development (SID)
Urgent Action Fund (UAF)-Africa
Youth Agenda

Contact
Linda Ochiel
Principal Human Rights Officer
Media and Communications
Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) CVS Plaza, Lenana Road
Cellphone: 254-722-583-200/254-727-642193
haki@knchr.org