Hassan rules out August 2012 poll

The man poised to supervise Kenya’s next General Election has ruled out an August 2012 poll date.

Ahmed Issack Hassan, the current chairman of the Interim Independent Electoral Commission (IIEC), who is also the top candidate for the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), said the push for the next polls to be held in August was “populist” and impractical to execute.

Speaking while fielding questions from MPs of the Constitutional Implementation Oversight Committee, Mr Hassan said the Attorney General Githu Muigai and a member of the team that wrote the Constitution,  Mr Otiende Amolo, had both advised the commission that the next General Election was not meant to be held in August 2012.

The meeting Tuesday at Nairobi’s County Hall was meant to vet the IEBC nominees before their names are tabled in Parliament for approval.

“The fact is, we cannot hold elections in August!” Mr Hassan told assistant minister Alfred Khang’ati, who had asked him to clarify on the controversy surrounding the date of the next General Election.

“Our view as the commission is that December is the ideal date. When we did the timetable; it was going to push us to November 2012. For practical reasons,(the General Election) can only happen in December, never in August,” the elections chief said.

“We have to be realistic; we cannot just go with what is populist. When the minister (of Justice Mutula Kilonzo) talks, I don’t think he’s talking from a vacuum. We work very closely with the minister. When the minister talks, I agree with him entirely.”

He said that Prof Yash Pal Ghai, the reputable constitutional lawyer had made a “very valid argument” that the polls should be held in 2013 and added that “he won’t be surprised” if the courts uphold that position.

However, the IIEC chairman said that because the matter was pending to the Supreme Court, the electoral team was “ready for the worst”.

“We have a worst-case scenario. We have a very professional secretariat. The Justice Minister has a plan for the worst-case scenario. If the (Supreme) Court decides on August, we’re prepared, but it will be very difficult”, the elections chief told the MPs.

Assistant minister Joseph Nkaissery and Gwassi MP John Mbadi had their doubts, but the elections boss insisted that there were many loose ends that have to be tied up for the process to run smoothly and for the results to be credible.

There’s a pending Constitutional amendment in Parliament to change the election date from the second Tuesday of August in every fifth year, to the third Monday of December.

Mr Hassan said that there has to be sufficient time for civic education because of the number of positions that voters will be casting their ballots is enormous. In the next polls people have to vote for the President, the MP, the County Governor, the Senator, the Women Representative in the county and representatives to sit in the county assemblies.

“People need to understand what they are voting for; but nobody knows what are the actual details of those offices are. We also have to conduct voter education for voters in Diaspora,” Mr Hassan said, giving the implication that the process requires lots of time, planning and pin-point execution for it to be credible.

He said the commission was planning a mock poll in Kajiado and Malindi as it seeks to put final touches on how the logistics of the next elections will be handled. A passing analysis of the number of candidates; the agents; the number of positions and the number of staff required show that managing the polls is likely to be a logistical nightmare.

But the elections boss said that his team was keen not to repeat the mistakes of its predecessor, which bungled Kenya’s last General Election in 2007.

“If you don’t hide anything…you’re able to continue having trust and then have peaceful elections. Integrity of the people who manage the process and that of the process itself is important,” Mr Hassan said.

He said the commission will leverage on the lessons learnt at the referendum, and that the use of technology will be improved to culminate in electronic voting come 2017. He said such transparency in the release of results gave confidence to the contestants to an extent that it made acceptance of the results easy.

“I see a process in future where losers will concede defeat before we announce the results officially,” said Mr Hassan.

Other nominees vetted by the CIOC were Dr Yusuf Nzibo, Ms Muthoni Wangai, Mr Abdullahi Sharawe, Mr Albert Bwire, Mr Thomas Letangule, Ms Lillian Bokeeye, Mr Mohammed Alawi, and Ms Galma Godana.

After the vetting in the CIOC, Mr Hassan and the eight commissioners will be approved by Parliament and the former appointed to chair the IEBC.