56% of Kenyans ready to sell their votes in August polls, survey

Over 50 per cent of the participants in the highly awaited August 8th polls are willing to trade their vote for money, a study by Konrad Adenauer Foundation, in partnership with the Centre for Multi-party Democracy has revealed.

The December 2016 survey has implicated 56 per cent of voters consenting to accept bribes in the oncoming elections, raising questions on the role of state agencies including the polls team Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to curb the replication of 2013 polls menace.

The 163-days-away August polls, which will be the biggest credibility test for the polls agency IEBC, is expected to be a fiery tug between the ruling Jubilee Party against the newly formed National Super Alliance (NASA) coalition, owing to the releases of voter statistics earlier this week.

This implies that around 9.5 million eligible voters out of the 19.1 million total voters listed by IEBC will cast their ballot in lieu of the much a candidate gives away, or simply put, for “a candidate who bribes them,” reads part of the report.

The study, conducted in vote rich counties including Isaac Rutto’s Bomet, NASA held Kakamega County, Jubilee engulfed Kiambu, Jubilee-NASA tying Kilifi County, NASA’s Kisumu County, Governor Mutua’s Machakos, vote battle ground Meru County, Migori, Nakuru and Khaemba’s Trans Nzoia County.

In a survey dubbed titled ‘Voter bribery as an election malpractice in Kenya’ sampled a total of 514 respondents were interviewed, in a rigorous process that involved various seat aspirants and opinion makers in the hood, through open discussions.

Funneling down to county scores, Bomet County topped the menace recording the highest number, with 64.71 per cent of the polled willing to receive bribes. Kisumu came second with 60.9 per cent. Nakuru stood at 60.7 per cent, Kakamega at 58.8 per cent, Kilifi at 56.9 per cent, Trans Nzoia at 55.4 per cent, Kiambu 52.4 per cent, Machakos at 51.01 per cent, Meru at 50 per cent and Migori at 41.5 per cent.

Read also: 3.7M NEW VOTERS LISTED BY THE IEBC

“The poor are the most affected and if you ask they received just Sh50,” Konrad Adenauer Foundation country representative Jan Cernicky, told the press.

He added that bribery has become a vicious cycle every election year because the bribes are too little to pull anyone out of poverty.

He added: “Another consequence is that politicians see the need to recover the bribe after they are elected, meaning they can’t deliver quality services to the society. As a consequence, they remain poor.”

Political party leaders, various seats aspirants, political party agents and voters have been blamed for the menace that also marred the 2013 elections and subsequent by-elections in Narok, Kilifi and Kericho.