IEBC nominees face Parliament
The team tasked with overseeing future elections and restoring public trust in Kenya’s electoral system could be in place by the end of the week.
The Constitution Implementation Oversight Committee has until Thursday to table its report on the vetting of the nine Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission nominees.
The team that makes it through the vetting will face several challenges in the coming months, not least of which is the drawing of new constituency boundaries.
If approved by Parliament, the nine men and women will guide the country through the 2012 elections, the first under the new constitutional order.
The Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) was disbanded for bungling the 2007 presidential election, said to have been one of the triggers of the post-election violence that followed. Kenyans, as a result, lost trust in the electoral system.
Although the ECK declared President Kibaki the winner, officials later said it had been impossible to determine whether he or ODM leader Raila Odinga had won.
The exit of the ECK saw the formation of the Interim Independent Electoral Commission (IIEC), which has been managing elections since 2008.
The commission has been commended for running 11 parliamentary and more than 50 civic by-elections in a relatively efficient way.
It also won acclaim for its handling of last year’s constitutional referendum. However, issues of integrity and nepotism have arisen in the commission as was evident when some of its commissioners appeared before the panel that vetted candidates to the IEBC.
IIEC chairman Isaack Hassan has been nominated to chair the new electoral commission. (READ: Hassan nominated as IEBC chair)
Mr Yusuf Nzibo, Mr Mohammed Alawi, Mr Abdulahi Sharawe, Ms Lillian Bokeeye, Mr Thomas Letangule, Ms Muthoni Wangai, Mr Albert Bwire and Ms Galma Godana have been nominated as the commissioners.
The IEBC will be hoping for a smooth transition from the IIEC which is currently preparing its winding-up report.
Continuity purposes
The new commissioners can choose to retain the current secretariat for continuity purposes though the IEBC Act gives room for them to make changes.
According to CEO James Oswago, the “IIEC is preparing an exit report that should be of help for IEBC to draw a roadmap.”
He said that the IIEC started off with “horrendous voter apathy” but added that the progress made would give the new commissioners an easier start.
“The referendum on the Constitution last year particularly raised the profile of the commission since it was the first undertaking at a national scale.
“Our ability to conduct fair and transparent polls is perhaps demonstrated by the emerging trend where losers congratulate the winner in an election,” said Mr Oswago.
IEBC’s initial task, other than the Kitutu Masaba parliamentary by-election on November 28, is the completion of the creation of the additional 80 constituencies started by the Interim Independent Boundaries Review Commission (IIBRC).
The IEBC will use the IIBRC report as approved by Parliament as its primary reference to give the country the new constituencies within four months.
It will also use the report of the House committee that reviewed the IIBRC report as its secondary reference.
Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister Mutula Kilonzo has expressed concern that time is fast running out to fully prepare for a General Election next year and whose date is still in question.
The minister said the delimitation of the 80 new constituencies has to be done before any election preparations can be made.
He added that after the gazettement of the new constituencies, an additional four months would be set aside to settle any arising disputes before voter registration can take place.
The Constitution says that General Elections are to be held in August, but the Cabinet has fronted a Bill seeking to amend the law and have next year’s elections in December.
Mr Kilonzo expresses concern that the remaining period before the election is not enough for the country to fully prepare.
“Kenyans will have one month to raise any objections they may have with the new boundaries in the courts.
“After that the Judiciary will be given 30 days to determine these disputes and it is only at the end of that period that we can start voter registration.
“If you do a calculation, you end up with May or may be even July before we can start voter registration,” he explained.
The new Commission will also be responsible for continuous registration of citizens as voters and regular revision of the voters’ roll. It cannot, however, kick off voter registration before the new boundaries are in place.
The new body will also ensure that voting methods are simple, easy to use, accurate, verifiable, secure, transparent and accountable so as to avoid a repeat of the rigging that marred the last polls.
The IEBC is also mandated by law to regulate how parties nominate candidates for elections, settle electoral disputes other than electoral petitions and those following the declaration of election results.
The IEBC must have a budget for voter education and will facilitate monitoring and evaluation of elections and electoral rules.
It must also ensure candidates and parties adhere to the electoral code of conduct. The previous electoral system was described by the Kriegler Commission as flawed from the grassroots level and the lack of transparency in the process caused widespread misconceptions, suspicion, uncertainty and anger.
The Kriegler Commission reported that “widespread bribery, vote-buying, intimidation and ballot stuffing -- compounded by defective data tabulation, transmission and tallying -- impaired the integrity of the electoral process and irretrievably polluted the results.”
According to the selection panel, Mr Hassan, 41, came first in the interviews “scoring the highest and is a highly knowledgeable and experienced lawyer particularly in electoral matters”.
There were eight people shortlisted for the job and two were disqualified during the interviews. Mr Hassan has chaired the IIEC since its formation and has previously worked as a private practice lawyer.
He was also a member of the Constitution of Kenya Review Commission that was responsible for the making of a new supreme law before the 2005 referendum.
