ELECTIONS ARE HERE...

The Deep Dive 28th Edition.

Hey there,

In our 28th Edition of the Deep Dive newsletter, we look into the August elections which will be held 75 days from today. The aspirants have been cleared and have started campaigning though the official campaign date is May 29.  The IEBC has an uphill task to redeem itself after two chaotic elections. Africa Uncensored collaborated with Le Monde and Lighthouse Reports to produce a report on the upcoming election.

We also look back at the 2017 elections with a focus on how we covered it in our three Pieces, Under Your Watch, In tribe We Trust and Siasa, Pesa, Propaganda.

One more thing...

We're working on a slew of new investigative stories on the Kenyan election and beyond. If you want to support our work, become a Patreon of Africa Uncensored today! Just follow the prompts in this link!

Dive in!

KENYA’S 2022 ELECTION: IS THE PAST A PRELUDE?

By John-Allan Namu

With Kenya’s August 2022 looming,  Kenya’s electoral commission is battling to redeem itself, after two shambolic elections preceded by controversial procurements of technology, and a vendor that some in the commission claimed that the IEBC was “enslaved to”. Kenya’s electoral commission has completed the second round of its enhanced voter registration exercise ahead of the country’s seventh multi-party election, but, for a time, was not able to port millions of voter details onto the tablets it would be using for the poll, or have full access to the country’s 2017 voter register. The reason? The commission was in the midst of transferring the use of voter tablets holding this information procured in 2017 from French company IDEMIA (formerly Safran Identity Systems) to Smartmatic, a Dutch company that had won the tender to supply and maintain the Integrated Election Management System (KIEMS), and IDEMIA allegedly declined to cooperate.

Read the full article here.

In Tribe We Trust

Sometimes, the most difficult thing to do, is to look into a mirror. Yet for almost all of the 55 years that Kenya has been independent, we have yet to collectively search our conscience and ask ourselves why it is that every five years, Kenyans have died during the country's heated political season. The 2017 electoral period may have ended, but the bitter undertones of tribalism still swim beneath the skin of millions, in a country that is, let's face it, deeply divided. Why? And more importantly, how much more division along tribal lines can this country take? We cannot afford to hide from the truth that this time around, we are far closer to the edge than we have been, and the force that will pull us over the cliff into a dangerous and uncertain future, is the hardened belief that our refuge is in our tribes. But Is tribalism really the problem, or is it something we have been led to believe is our curse and our cure by the people who truly benefit from its use? The team from Africa Uncensored bring us a sobering documentary. The story at the heart of a system of broken politics and shattered lives. A story that we hope, will spark the conversations that will help us build a new Kenya. Watch the documentary, but go beyond that; confront the uncomfortable truths about tribalism in your own way.

Siasa. Pesa. Propaganda.

In this election, what is true and what isn't changes everyday. The amount of propaganda that Kenyans have been exposed to from fake opinion polls, cleverly edited news clips and plain lies is unprecedented. What many Kenyans will find is that whether their side wins or loses, there are 3 winners in this election already; Money, Politics and Propaganda. Join the conversation on social media: #SiasaPesaPropaganda

UNDER YOUR WATCH: Counting the human cost of Kenya's toxic politics

Kenya's elections have been fraught with tension and violence, often ending up in deaths and serious crimes committed against members of the public. As politicians seek power, this documentary asks an important question: "What is their responsibility when people die under their watch?" Here’s the link to the piece Under Your Watch.

Join Our Newsroom - Thursday 26th May Twitter Space.

Finally, this Thursday we invite you to #JoinOurNewsroom in our Twitter Space. In our Twitter spaces, we discuss topical issues in and around the country. What would you like us to focus on this week? Let us know on the comments.

Cheers.

Editorial Director: John-Allan Namu

Assignment Editor: Sam Munia

Social Media Manager: K Muraguri G

Contributors: John Allan Namu and Sam Munia.

Before you go…

Thank you for your support in reading and sharing our content! We work very hard on it and continue to go to great lengths to deliver independent hard-access journalism and insightful content. If you want to support our work, become a Patreon of Africa Uncensored today! Just follow the prompts in this link!