Press Statement by the Multi Sectoral Forum Held on 9th August 2017

RECEIVE AND RESPOND TO ELECTION RESULTS CALMLY

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PRESS STATEMENT

PREAMBLE
Senior religious leaders drawn from different faiths in the country have been following the developments in Kenya following the elections that were held yesterday. We have taken seriously the concerns expressed by the Rt Hon Raila Odinga, the presidential candidate under the National Super Alliance (NASA), as well as the expressions made by the other candidates.
We therefore held a meeting with the Commissioners of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to discuss the issues raised and the way forward.
From these consultations, we wish to state the following:

1. MESSAGE TO KENYANS
We deeply thank Kenyans for the peaceful manner in which they voted yesterday. This is a great manifestation of political, social and moral maturity that must not be taken for granted. We now encourage you to continue with the same peaceful demeanour. Kindly resume your day to day activities as we all await for the official declaration of the results for the various positions. It is important that we don’t engage in violence or other destructive activities.
We are confident that the IEBC and the main political parties and formations are working to resolve the issues raised, so let us as Kenyans be peaceful as we wait for these processes to be concluded.

2. CONCERNS REGARDING THE CREDIBILITY OF THE GENERAL ELECTIONS
During our consultations with the IEBC, we analysed the concerns raised by the different stakeholders with regard to the General Elections. We took note that:
One, the IEBC is actively engaging the stakeholders and political parties to clarify the issues and ensure solutions are arrived at
Two, the most notable activity is that the IEBC is in the process of making the scanned images of the Form 34A publicly accessible
Three, the IEBC has indicated that they are organizing for all stakeholders to undertake a verification of the results so far received
In view of the foregoing, we as religious leaders are reaching out to the leaders of both NASA and Jubilee Party for consultations so as to facilitate dialogue and peace in the country.
We have also put in place measures for the religious leaders to participate in the verification of the results based on the scanned and original Form 34As so as to provide an independent view.

3. MESSAGE TO SECURITY AGENCIES
We as religious leaders commend the security agencies for the professional and people-friendly manner they executed their mandate throughout this electoral period. We appreciate that Kenyans are going to react emotionally when the results are announced, and so we ask that you maintain order and security in a humane and restrained manner.

CONCLUSION
We conclude by urging all Kenyans to stay calm and remain peaceful. We have just had peaceful elections, and now we have a mandate to peacefully wait for the results to be announced. Thereafter, any disputes with the results can be dealt with effectively through the estya.
May God fill every Kenyan heart with peace and joy.