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Is Kenya Ready For GMO ?

According to a dispatch following the cabinet meeting on October 3, the Kenyan government claims that it reversed the GMO ban after taking into account things like the Kenya National Biosafety Authority's (NBA) guidelines, the need to adapt to climate change and a reduction in reliance on rain-fed agriculture. The Kenyan government repealed a ban on the commercialization of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) cotton, a GM cotton type resistant to the destructive insect pest known as the African bollworm, during the same cabinet meeting. Following the lifting of the prohibition, President William Ruto tweeted: "We are implementing innovative and new farming solutions that will assure early maturity and higher food production to protect millions of Kenyans from recurrent starvation." Ann Maina, the national coordinator of the Biodiversity and Biosafety Association of Kenya, criticized the government's decision to lift the prohibition, claiming there was insufficient proof that ...
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The Unforthcoming IEBC

The Unforthcoming IEBC

With a little more than a fortnight to the elections, the electoral agency has left Kenyans with serious concerns about the degree of readiness as a number of problems remain unsolved and unclear.

Boya Molu, Commissioner of the IEBC, stated to the ELOG in December 2021, "We are building on the operational and jurisprudential lessons of the past, based on our realization that free and fair elections can only be delivered by an institution that possesses sufficient operational capabilities and is functional under the four corners of the law."

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The following milestones show that an election is prepared: Post-Election Evaluation; Development of Strategic Plan; Development and Review of Policy and Standard Operating Procedure Manuals; Conduct of By-Elections; Stakeholder Engagement; Dispute Resolution Mechanisms; Accreditation of Observers; Procurement of Strategic Election Materials; Data Center and Cloud Hosting.

A number of election-related issues, including technology, the register, the printing of ballots, statutory forms, and doubts being thrown on the selection of county and constituency returning officers, have come under scrutiny due to claims of a concerning level of opaqueness.

For example, there have been a number of allegations regarding the technology purchased from Smartmatic that replaced Idemia, including whether and how data was transferred from Idemia to Smartmatic, contends that the new system is shunning passport numbers for those who registered using the crucial travel document, and doubts regarding the capability of the Greek company Inform Lykos, which has been hired by the commission to print ballots and statutory forms.

The physical register will only be utilized as a last option, according to Mr. Marjan- CEO IEBC. "The electronic register will be the primary document that we shall use," he added.

While Azimio wants the physical register to supplement the electronic register in situations where technology fails, Kenya Kwanza Alliance supports this position. The commission will adhere by the court's temporary orders to utilize the physical register as a supplemental system while the matter is still ongoing in court.

"I believe that the most crucial aspect of IEBC is that they should become better at informing everyone about their readiness and problems in relation to issues with technology, voter registration audits, among others. You may incorrectly view them as unprepared or distant when all they need to do is communicate more with us so that we can gauge their degree of readiness and recognize the difficulties, according to Mr. Mukwanja, executive director of the Centre for Multiparty Democracy (CMD-Kenya).


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