Robert Kyagulanyi, alias Bobi Wine of Uganda’s National Unity Platform (NUP), and Kizza Besigye of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) are in Kenya ahead of August 9’s elections.
Through a social media post on Sunday, August 7, Bobi Wine said that he and Besigye, are in the country as part of the Africa observation team.
“As part of our mission to observe the #KenyaDecides2022 this Tuesday, I was glad 2 meet & interact w/ Presidential Candidate Rt. Hon. @RailaOdinga. Another part of our team met w/ Candidate @WilliamsRuto. Wishing the great ppl of Kenya a free, fair, credible and peaceful election [sic],” Bobi Wine tweeted.
Moreover, several international observers have been deployed across various regions in Kenya ahead of Tuesday’s polls to monitor the election exercise.
Additionally, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) on Sunday, August 7 deployed 24 election observers across 11 counties for the observation mission.
These observes include representatives of electoral bodies and diplomats from six IGAD member states.
They will be stationed in Nairobi, Nyeri, Uasin Gishu, Nakuru, Kajiado, Kisumu, Kisii, Kakamega, Machakos and Mombasa.
Similarly, the Elections Observation Group (ELOG) on Saturday, August 6 announced that it will deploy 5,108 observers to tallying centers across the country to evaluate the integrity and general conduct of the electoral process.
According to ELOG 3,050 of these will be general observers. Likewise, 1,000 Parallel Vote Tabulation (PVT) observers will assume the role of stationery observers on election day.
Meanwhile, the African Union (AU) and the Common Market for Southern and Eastern Africa (COMESA) have also formally commissioned a joint election observation committee whose main role will be reviewing how the General Elections will be held.
Such efforts are in line with the regional bodies’ mandate to promote free and fair democratic elections across the African continent.
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Moreover, the joint observation mission comprises of 90 observers, selected from various governments, Member States, the Pan African Parliament, the Civil Society Organizations, Academia and Election Management Bodies in Africa.
Furthermore, the East African Community has also deployed 52 election observers led by former Tanzania President Jakaya Kikwete.
