Christopher Msando, an official responsible for observing the upcoming Kenyan presidential election, was founddead only ten days before the contentious election is set to take place. Msando was the acting director for Information and Communications Technology at the country’s election commission, the creation of which was celebrated by many local civil society groups and NGOs as a sign that Kenya was achieving a lasting and legitimate democracy. Unfortunately, the expectation of a peaceful political transition was devastated, as officials reported that Msando’s body was found with signs of torture and mutilation. His apparent murder has sparked concern and undermined the already low public morale regarding the immensely critical elections. Some experts are publicly questioning the general legitimacy of the elections, as the results are expected to be very close and thus the outcome could be influenced by violence like the kind used against Msando. As the acting director for his department, Msando had announced plans to use technology that would reduce the possibility of a corrupt election, leading experts to question if he was targeted to enable tampering of the results. Despite the demoralizing setback, the Kenyan public has shown a greater political interest in this year’s elections than in those of the past, according to political experts, and there is still hope for a legitimate election to be borne out on 8 August.
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