NASA presidential candidate Raila Odinga. [Photo/ pulse.ng]
The National Super Alliance’s (NASA) call that supporters stay at the polling stations to protect votes, even after voting, is illegal and will end up hurting presidential candidate Raila Odinga. As Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i recently said, the responsibility of guarding cast votes squarely falls on the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (NASA) and the security officers manning the exercise. Not at all on voters. People gathering at the polling station will end forming an intimidating crowd, which will scare away peace-loving Kenyans from going to vote. Because it is only the NASA supporters who can heed this call, it is Raila himself who will suffer most when women and other vulnerable groups in his strongholds away from voting.If there is anyone who should be kept away from the cast votes, it is the political supporters. Those are the people who can disrupt the voting process, and not the security men and IEBC officials who will be facilitating the exercise.After voting, people should just head straight home, or be at least 400 metres away from the polling station — as the law says — and wait for results to be announced. The only individuals who can stay at the station are those accredited by IEBC.All NASA candidates, or any other politician seeking an elective position on August 8, will have an agent who will witness the entire voting process, including counting and declaration of results. In case there is a malpractice, those agents will report it and can use that to challenge the outcome in a court of law. Raila is exposing his supporters to being manhandled by security officers in case they disrupt the voting process.