KANU Chairperson Gideon Moi has been appointed as the Chairperson of the Commonwealth Expert Team to observe the upcoming general election in Botswana which is set to take place on October 30 this year.
Following his appointment which was announced on Friday, October 25, Gideon Moi will lead a distinguished group of five other eminent individuals drawn from across the Commonwealth countries with expertise in politics, elections, media and civil society.
During his visit to Botswana, the KANU party leader will engage with crucial electoral stakeholders, including the electoral management body, political parties, civil society organizations, media representatives, the diplomatic community and other international and domestic observers.
The scope of the observation will include the evaluation of pre-election preparatory activities in different provinces across the country as well as monitoring of the election day procedures, such as the opening, ballot casting, closing, counting and the transmission and tabulation of results.
On concluding the team’s role, the Moi-led team will compile and release a final report detailing its observations after considering all aspects of the electoral process. The report will assess whether the election was conducted following Botswana’s democratic commitments.
While deploying the team, the Commonwealth Secretary-General, Patricia Scotland, reaffirmed the organization’s unwavering commitment to democracy and human rights, noting that resilient societies are built on free, fair, and inclusive electoral processes.
Election observers drawn from across the globe on Tuesday, October 22 began begun arriving in Botswana to monitor activities ahead of the general election. On Tuesday, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) officially launched its mission with a call for peaceful elections.
Moi's appointment as an election observer in Botswana adds to the list of prominent Kenyans who have in previous months and years been appointed to such missions. In an analogous situation in July this year, former Chief Justice David Maraga was appointed to lead an election observation team in Rwanda.
On July 13, East African Secretary General Veronica Nduva announced the appointment of David Maraga as the leader of the East African election observation team in the neighbouring country.
Rwanda held its polls for the election of its president on July 15. The Maraga-led team's main purpose was to monitor the election preparedness, the process of polling and the announcement of the winners.
"The EAC underscores that election observation helps to improve the electoral process in the partner states. It is against this backdrop that, the Treaty for the establishment of the EAC mandates us to deploy Election Observation Mission in all our eight (8) Partner States,” Nduva announced.
“Rwanda has its procedures for elections. For us, it’s just to monitor how the elections are conducted in line with the existing laws of the land. More importantly, we offer a shoulder as a partner state,” she added.
