Election of officials of the Stockholm-based Kenya Social Forum (Kesofo) will be held on Saturday March 31st at Wananchi Pavillion from 14.00 hrs. The date was set by the Forum’s Interim committee which met at Wananchi Pavillion yesterday. The meeting was Chaired by Ms Winnie Njoki Mukaru, the Forum’s Chairlady.
The elections were called as per the Forum’s Constitution which states that the Annual General Meeting (whose agenda includes election of new officials) has to be held by the last Saturday of March every year.
Candidates vying for seats will have to send in their intentions to run for office to the Kesofo’s Electoral commissioners on or before 20th March. Members who wish to vote at the elections must also ensure that their membership status is up to date by paying up membership fees on or before March 20th 2007. This will enable the Electoral commissioners to prepare a voters register. Candidates will be free to access or inspect the voter’s register from the Electoral Commissioners.
The Committee agreed that with the date of elections announced, aspiring candidates were free to begin campaigns. According to an “Election code” fixed by the Committee, candidates will be able to be elected in absentia while registered voters will be able to vote by proxy as long as they sign a power of Attorney which will have to be delivered to the Electoral commissioners together with their ballot paper before election day.
The Electoral commissioners will prepare the ballot paper that will contain all the names of the candidates. A registered voter can only vote for a total of 8 candidates by ticking their names on the ballot paper. Voting will be by secret ballot and the results will be announced immediately after the votes have been counted by the Electoral commissioners.
The mandate of the Interim committee was to draft a Constitution, draft a Working Program, register Kesofo with the Swedish authorities, organize last year’s Grand Nyama choma festival, Set up different working groups, fix a Box number, open a bank account, popularize the Forum, begin the process of registering members in the Forum and call elections. The Committee has completed all its tasks opening the way for elections.
The Chairlady, Winnie, congratulated the Committee for a work well done and hoped that Committee members will run for Office to help build Kesofo. So far, there is no stiff competition the Interim committee officials are facing and it is likely that the outgoing officials will be elected to run the Forum in a “walk over” election unless something dramatic happens. Many members believe that the team running Kesofo is the most talented and the best collection within the active Kenyan community in Stockholm.
Okoth Osewe
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