Describe the current post-election occurrences in the country as mind-boggling and you would not have faulted.
Almost a week since the curtains were drawn over the polls, unsolved challenges remain and these could impugn on the integrity of the elections in varied forms.
There are pockets of disagreements over procedures in the declaration of parliamentary results in some constituencies. The emotional trauma candidates in such imbroglios can only be imagined.
Democracy is definitely on trial and we call on all to allow things to play out as they should.
The Umpire in electoral matters cannot be anyone besides the Electoral Commission (EC).
The Commission has rightly so, pulled the brakes on the electoral outcomes in some constituencies.
All should allow the Commission to operate within its mandate as established by law.
We have observed some utterances which are nothing but infractions which should not be encouraged in our political dispensation.
We have come a long way in our practice of democracy and should not allow such breaches to prevail.
For those who must go to court to seek redress, let them do so without hindrance.
Nobody and we repeat nobody should interfere in the affairs of the EC as some are seeking to do.
It is for good reason that there are laws in the country, and in the case of the subject of this commentary, Electoral Laws.
To pass comments which seek to discourage the EC from undertaking its responsibilities, especially at periods like we are in now, is anathema which should be avoided.
The international acclaim we have attracted so far in our management of elections should be protected lest we lose it as others have over the years, even within our sub-region.
It is only when state independent institutions such as the EC and judiciary are allowed unalloyed freedom to operate within the ambit of the law that we can pass for a civil and decent country.
It is heartbreaking therefore when a section of our politicians, because of the convenience of their political grouping, get so nasty in their comments.
For such persons, they could not care a hoot what becomes of the notch we have reached as a democratic nation.
The stress associated with managing elections should not be downplayed. The leadership of the Commission therefore demands peace of mind to discharge the mandate as established by the laws of the country.
Let them follow due process who have issues in the manner in which the EC has discharged its mandate.
Even before the declaration of the presidential results by the EC, we observed how it was being stampeded into doing so when the data needed to do so was not complete.
We join the many international entities which have showered plaudits on the Commission for the wonderful performance it has put up so far regardless of useless and mischievous efforts of killjoys.
We are behind the Commission as it seeks to ensure that the rules of the game are applied in the dozen or so cases in which electoral officers declared results under duress.
Such crude and outmoded approach to electoral matters should have long been a thing of the past.
We want to record growth in democracy not retrogression, which is rearing its ugly head.