Press Statement by the Multi Sectoral Forum Held on 10th August 2017

UPHOLD PEACE AS YOU WAIT

PRESS STATEMENT

PREAMBLE
Religious leaders from different faiths, meeting under the Multi Sectoral Forum, have met today at Ufungamano House to review the status of the nation. During this consultation, we joined in praying for the country using the words recorded in Psalms 86: 1 – 4
“Hear, O Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and needy. Guard my life, for I am devoted to you. You are my God; save your servant who trusts in you. Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I call to you all day long. Bring joy to your servant, for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul”.
We appeal to faith leaders across the country to convene for prayer, fellowship and to intervene where necessary to secure our country. In addition, we share the following message:

1. STATUS OF THE NATION
During this meeting, the religious leaders evaluated the continuing developments in the electoral process and made note of the following developments so far:
a) Kenyans across the country exercised their democratic right by voting peacefully and leaving the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to do its work of counting, tallying and declaring the results
b) As far as our observers noted, votes cast were counted and results announced at the polling stations
c) The IEBC has been streaming results on its website as received through the electronic devices from the polling stations
d) One of the candidates for the presidential poll, Rt Hon Raila Odinga, has publicly rejected the results being streamed by IEBC, insisting that the IEBC servers were hacked to manipulate the results. He urged that the results should be verified with the Form 34 a
e) The IEBC responded by indicating that the streamed results were provisional pending reception of the Form 34 b from all constituencies. In the meantime, they have put in place a process for the Political Party agents to verify the results by comparing what was streamed and the scanned polling station results
f) The updates from the IEBC indicate a slow process of receiving the Constituency level results, contained in Form 34 b. It is appreciable that the results in Form 34 b are the official results as was declared by the High Court
g) The country remains anxious as the citizenry await the announcement of the final Presidential Poll results

2. MOVING FORWARD
Having considered these developments, we recommend the following to move the nation forward:
a) We call upon all Kenyans to remain calm and peaceful, and resume day to day operations, appreciating that elections are important but must not be an end of life
b) We call upon the agents of the political parties to actively participate in the process of verifying the results contained in the Form 34 a
c) We call upon any interested stakeholders to seek access to the verification exercise so that they can assess for themselves whether the results are accurate and accountable. We urge the IEBC to grant access to such requests
d) We call upon the Returning Officers to appreciate the anxiety in the country and endeavour to provide any support necessary for the remaining polling stations to complete their processes and submit results to facilitate preparation of all the Form 34 b leading to finalization and declaration of the presidential poll results
e) We call upon the leadership of all political parties to continue upholding the rule of law by encouraging supporters to remain calm and peaceful as the concerns raised with regard to the results are addressed by the IEBC
f) We call upon the leadership of all political parties, depending on who is finally declared winner, to be magnanimous and sensitive, recognizing that there is a very large part of the nation that will be emotionally affected by the outcome and who will need assurance that the final results do not in any way impair their rights to access services and opportunities provided by the government.
g) Whereas we appeal for a quick completion of the tallying and declaration of results by the IEBC, we ask Kenyans to be patient and allow the IEBC to complete the exercise with accuracy. They are still within their seven days’ time limit.
We especially call upon the security agencies to execute their mandate of ensuring peace and security in the country in a humane and restrained manner.
On our part, we remain committed to reaching out to the leaders of both NASA and Jubilee Party for consultations so as to promote peace in the country during this period.

CONCLUSION
The religious leaders urge all Kenyans to remain calm and patient during the this period so as to give the IEBC and political parties time to verify the results. This is critical as it will enable us have an electoral outcome that is legal, legitimate and acceptable to all.
We pray that God will fill the heart of every Kenyan with peace and joy.