[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 283 Introduced in House (IH)]
110th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. CON. RES. 283
Calling for a peaceful resolution to the current electoral crisis in
Kenya.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
January 23, 2008
Mr. Payne submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was
referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
Calling for a peaceful resolution to the current electoral crisis in
Kenya.
Whereas in 1991, President Daniel arap Moi agreed to move to multi-party
politics, eight years after his government had amended the constitution
to legalize one-party rule. The move to a multi-party state came after
two years of an anti-government political campaign by opposition groups
and persistent pressure by donor governments;
Whereas in 1992, Kenyans voted in record numbers in the country's first multi-
party election in almost 26 years. President Moi defeated opposition
candidates by a small margin. His party, the Kenya African National
Union (KANU), won a majority in the 210-seat parliament, despite the
defeat of several senior KANU officials by opposition candidates;
Whereas in 1997, Kenya held its second multi-party elections, at the height of
tensions between the opposition and the ruling party. President Moi was
re-elected with 40 percent of the votes cast, while his nearest rival,
Mwai Kibaki, won 31 percent;
Whereas in 2002, the opposition succeeded in forming and holding together a
coalition, known as NARC (National Rainbow Coalition), that ousted KANU
from power by wide margins. NARC won 132 seats in parliament, compared
with KANU's 67, while Kibaki defeated Uhuru Kenyatta, son of Jomo
Kenyatta, for the presidency with a 62 percent majority;
Whereas the 2002 had a positive impact in Kenya as well as in Africa generally.
The smooth transfer of power and the transparency in the conduct of the
elections indicated that democracy can flourish in Africa. The power of
incumbency and the entrenched clout of a ruling party did not stop an
opposition victory in Kenya;
Whereas Kenya has been a valuable U.S. ally since independence, providing the
United States with access to its military facilities and political
support in the United Nations. Washington once considered Kenya a model
developing country with shared democratic values in a continent where
civil wars raged and military and authoritarian governments reigned;
Whereas Kenya has been an important ally in the war against terrorism,
especially since the U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania in
1998. Kenya has been one of the major recipients of U.S. foreign
assistance in Sub-Saharan Africa for decades, and is an important
trading partner with the United States;
Whereas on December 27, 2007, the citizens of Kenya went peacefully to the polls
to elect a new parliament and a new President and signaled their
commitment to democracy by turning out in large numbers and, in some
instances, waiting in long lines to vote;
Whereas on December 29, 2007, the opposition presidential candidate, Raila
Odinga, was reportedly over 300,000 votes ahead of the incumbent with 90
percent of the precincts reporting;
Whereas on December 30, 2007, the head of the Electoral Commission of Kenya
(ECK) declared that Mwai Kibaki won the presidential election by 197,000
votes;
Whereas Mr. Kibaki was sworn in as President within an hour of the announcement
of the election results, despite serious concerns raised about the
legitimacy of the election results by domestic and international
observers;
Whereas the lack of transparency in vote tallying, serious irregularities
reported by election observers, the implausibility of the margin of
victory, and the swearing in of the Party of National Unity presidential
candidate with undue haste, all serve to undermine the credibility of
the presidential election results;
Whereas the Government of Kenya imposed a ban on live media that day, and
shortly after the election results were announced, in contravention of
Kenyan law, the Government also announced a blanket ban on public
assembly and gave police the authority to use lethal force;
Whereas on January 1, 2008, four commissioners on the ECK issued a statement
which called into question the election results announced by the
Commission and for a judicial review;
Whereas the head of the European Union Election Observation Mission stated that
``Lack of transparency as well as a number of verified irregularities
... cast doubt on the accuracy of the results of the presidential
election as announced by the ECK'' and called for an international audit
of the results;
Whereas observers from the East African Community have called for an
investigation into irregularities during the tallying process and for
those responsible for such irregularities to be held accountable;
Whereas more than 700 people have died and an estimated 250,000 have been
displaced as a result of the violence;
Whereas the instability in Kenya is not rooted in tribal violence but in a
struggle for democracy and concerns that the gains of the past decade
may be lost;
Whereas the Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs has stated that
``serious flaws in the vote tallying process damaged the credibility of
the process'' and that the United States should not ``conduct business
as usual'' in Kenya; and
Whereas the political instability in Kenya could have serious political,
economic, and security implications for the entire region: Now,
therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring),
That the Congress--
(1) commends the Kenyan people for their commitment to
democracy and respect for the democratic process as evidenced
by the high voter turnout and peaceful voting on election day;
(2) strongly condemns the ongoing violence in Kenya and
urges all parties concerned to immediately end use of violence
as a means to achieve their political objectives;
(3) calls for a peaceful, negotiated settlement of the
conflict in Kenya;
(4) calls on the two leading presidential candidates to
accept offers of external and internal assistance to help find
a solution to the current crisis which has the support of the
people of Kenya;
(5) calls on Kenyan security forces to refrain from use of
excessive force and respect the human rights of Kenyan
citizens;
(6) calls for those who are found guilty of committing
human rights violations to be held accountable for their
actions;
(7) calls for an immediate end to the restrictions on the
media, and on the rights of peaceful assembly and association;
(8) condemns threats to civil society groups, journalists,
religious leaders, human rights activists, who are making every
effort towards a peaceful, just, and equitable political
solution to the current electoral crisis;
(9) calls on the international community, United Nations
aid organizations, and all neighboring countries to provide
assistance to those affected by violence and encourages to use
all the diplomatic means at their disposal to persuade relevant
political actors to commit to a peaceful resolution to the
current crisis; and
(10) urges the President of the United States to--
(A) support diplomatic efforts to facilitate a
dialogue between leaders of the Party of National
Unity, the Orange Democratic Movement, and other
relevant actors;
(B) consider the imposition of targeted sanctions,
including a travel ban and asset freeze, on leaders in
the Party of National Unity, the Orange Democratic
Movement, and other relevant actors who refuse to
engage in meaningful dialogue to end the current
crisis; and
(C) conduct a review of current U.S. aid to Kenya
for the purposes of restricting all non-humanitarian
assistance to Kenya unless the parties are able to
establish a peaceful political resolution to the
current crisis which is credible to the Kenyan people.
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