Blockchain technology’s promise of greater transparency may help curb future post-election violence.
On January 1, 2008, rioters in the Kenyan city of Eldoret set fire[1] to a church. Fifty people who were hiding inside never made it out. They were just a fraction of the hundreds who died because of a rigged election.
Violence is a common side effect of Kenyan presidential elections these days. While it would be easy to dismiss it as something endemic to the political process in Africa, Kenya's history is unique. In 2002, Mwai Kibaki was swept into office on an anti-corruption platform. That didn't turn out as promised. (For an excellent account of the era, read Michela Wrong's "It's Our Turn to Eat: The Story of a Kenyan Whistle-Blower.")
By the end of Kibaki's first term, voters were agitated. They rushed to the polls. That's when things got…irregular. Result announcements were delayed, polling stations reported strange and even impossible figures[2], and the national numbers didn't match up with local tallies. In the end, Kibaki held on to power.
According to Human Rights Watch[3], "The rigging of the 2007 presidential election was the final betrayal of [Kibaki's] agenda for change."
It summarized the crisis a few months later:
"Reaction across the country was swift and violent. Protests erupted even before the announcement of the presidential result on December 30, as delays and irregularities in the count sparked rumors of rigging. The government banned public gatherings and the police confronted street protests with excessive force, killing and wounding hundreds of peaceful demonstrators with live ammunition. Meanwhile, some people took advantage of the lack of law and order to loot, rape, and riot."
Successive elections have brought with them the fear of renewed violence, with any gaps in
