Candidate taken to task over 2007 polls

A candidate seeking to head the new electoral body was on Tuesday put to task to explain actions she will take to avoid a repeat of the irregularities that marred the 2007 General Election.

Ms Koki Muli, a governance expert, said early preparations were required, even as she fought off allegations that she had knowledge of how the 2007 elections had been mismanaged.

As a co-chair of an observer forum during the elections, Ms Muli, it is said, had access to tallying clerks and a number of commissioners of the defunct Electoral Commission of Kenya including chairman Samuel Kivuitu.

Mrs Irene Keino, a member of the panel interviewing applicants for vacancies in the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, said they had received information that it was these officials who gave her information of the irregularities that occurred at the national tallying centre.

Ms Keino also asked Ms Muli to explain why the Institute of Education in Democracy, which she headed at the time, pulled down, from their website, results of an exit poll they had conducted after the hotly contested election.

‘We also received information that you refused to sign an affidavit of an audit of the elections that was conducted by the Kenya Domestic Observers Forum,” said Ms Keino.

Ms Muli admitted that at the time, there were so many things that went wrong at the tallying centre.

“But as an observer, there’s nothing much you can do. Your work is to prepare a report with your recommendations and present it to the electoral management body. This is exactly what we did.”

Ms Muli agreed that she met Mr Kivuitu, but only to ask him if he could allow her observers to enter the tallying centre in turns at a time when those who were inside were being asked to leave.

“We also pulled down the results of our exit poll after the board of my organisation at the time said their presence would fuel tension, which was already mounting in the country. We thought it won’t be wise for them to remain there.”

On Tuesday, four candidates, including Ms Muli, appeared before the interview panel. (SEE IN PICTURES: IEBC interviews)

The others were lawyers Consolata Wanjiku Ngondi, Onsando Osiemo and Murshid Abdalla.

The lawyers found themselves in trouble with the selection panel, after it emerged that some of them were not in “good standing” with professional organisations, in which they are members.

Dr Ekuru Aukot, the chair of the panel said Ms Ngondi had not paid for her Law Society of Kenya practice certificate from 1992 to 2005 and that her membership at the International Commission of Jurists Kenya chapter was ‘‘lagging behind.’’

Mr Osiemo was on the spot for failure to undertake Continuous Legal Education (CLE) as is required by LSK.

They however defended themselves with Mr Osiemo saying his work as a lawyer and doctoral studies had hampered him from undertaking CLE.

“I am currently undertaking research for my doctorate, which together with my work as an advocate has taken up most of my time,” he said.