Joint panel set to meet IEBC team as parties harden stance

Discussions on the future of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) enter a crucial phase this week even as the Jubilee Coalition accuses Cord of underhand tactics aimed at creating a deadlock to force the postponement of the next elections.

The Joint Select Committee of Parliament co-chaired by Senators Kiraitu Murungi and James Orengo is this week set to meet the commissioners and to possibly hear from them about the possibility of them leaving office.

But with the committee mid-way with their discussions, Jubilee lawmakers in the team have taken issue with statements by Cord leader Raila Odinga and his MPs as undermining their work.

Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria told the Sunday Nation that Mr Odinga’s stand on the removal of the IEBC team and his assertion that he would not challenge the results of the next elections at the Supreme Court if he loses amounts to undermining the work of the team.

“We are talking, he has got a team representing him. If you have a team representing you, you need to respect what that team is doing. We are in the middle of discussions, we are receiving allegations, we are considering them, if they are proven we will look for a way out but you are saying that irrespective of the findings, you have already made up your mind,” said Mr Kuria.

“It is our contention that Cord is not sincere about holding the elections next year. They have never said categorically that they want elections held next year,” he added.

Mr Odinga said in Busia this past week that the coalition would protect its votes at all cost rather than petition the Supreme Court like it did in 2013 when he lost to President Uhuru Kenyatta.

Mr Kuria said Cord’s demands on the electoral reforms are likely to precipitate a crisis, with the Opposition’s aim being to have a deadlock so bad it will not be possible to hold elections in August next year as planned.

But Deputy Minority Leader Jakoyo Midiwo dismissed the claims that Mr Odinga’s statements are bad for the select committee.

“They insisted that they wanted a parliamentary process while Raila is speaking as private citizen. Raila can say anything he wants as a private, jobless citizen.”

CREATE A DEADLOCK

Mr Midiwo said “even the Jubilee members in the committee know” that there is no way the next General Election would be overseen by the team led by Ahmed Issack Hassan. “What they need to address themselves to is the process of putting together the next team.”

The Gem MP added that “whether said or not said, we are not going to have another election with Hassan, whether clean or dirty.”

Among the issues that are likely to create a deadlock is the legal mechanism through which the chairman and commissioners of the IEBC will be removed.

With the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee having rejected a petition by Mr Barasa Nyukuri, the matter is entirely in the hands of the select committee.

Jubilee’s view, said Mr Kuria on behalf of his colleagues on the team, is that the only way out would be a negotiated settlement with the IEBC team.

That position has been backed by the clergy, the Attorney General, the Commission on Administrative Justice and the Council of Governors. Makueni Governor Kivutha Kibwana summed up the situation in Friday’s meeting with the committee. “There have been many institutions that haven’t been able to pinpoint anything wrong they (the commissioners) have done,” he said.

“It is a case of Jesus and Barrabas,” said Mr Kuria. “Everybody says they want this man dead but like Pontius Pilate asked, what has he done?”

But Cord is of the view that the commissioners should not be paid and should be made to leave office because of the public loss of confidence.

Mr Midiwo said that if the IEBC team agrees to leave office, he would personally oppose their payment for the time they will not have worked.

“We are not saying don’t pay them. Pay them gratuity. They are not getting paid for work they have not done. We shall prosecute them sooner or later in any case for the things they have done,” said Mr Midiwo.

When they met the Justice Committee two weeks ago, the commissioners spoke of their willingness to leave as long as they are paid and their names not tainted but also said they were ready to face a tribunal.

Mr Kuria said Jubilee is wary of this because a tribunal would take time.

One commissioners told journalists outside the room that he would call the 290 constituency election coordinators as his witnesses, which would lengthen the tribunal’s hearings.
Mr Kuria said Jubilee is of the opinion that there is no need to register voters afresh and would oppose any argument that the current register is not proper.

He argued that with the law allowing continuous voter registration, it would be possible to clean the register when the time comes. “Getting 18 million Kenyans to register as voters would also take time,” he argued, and “it would take the new team of commissioners 10 months – because of the timelines – to have a new voters’ roll”.

CREATE DIVIDED BODY

Jubilee has also opposed the proposal to have political parties participate in the recruitment of commissioners. Mr Kuria said having parties appoint members of the selection committee would mean that the commission ends up having representatives in the IEBC.

Mr Kuria said this is likely to create a divided body like the Electoral Commission of Kenya in 2007, where chairman Samuel Kivuitu faced opposition from some commissioners said to represent parties.

The proposal is contained in the IEBC (Amendment) Bill currently undergoing the Second Reading in the National Assembly and has been opposed by Majority Leader Aden Duale .

On the declaration of presidential election results, Mr Kuria said the coalition would reject proposals to have the results declared at the polling stations deemed to be final rather than provisional, which is the current case.

Jubilee’s argument is that this creates the possibility of disputes starting right from the polling stations whereas the more manageable way is the current case, where the chairman of the electoral commission is the Returning Officer for the presidential election.

“Why are we clamouring so much to have an efficient, tested and robust results transmission system? So that when the results leave the polling centre, they are fed into the system under the full glare of the agents and from there whatever comes on the screens is beyond reproach,” said Mr Kuria.

He said Jubilee would demand enhancement of the technology so that the forms filled by the returning officers, and witnessed and signed by party agents, is also scanned and sent to the National Tallying Centre, which would aid verification. It would also make it easier to access the records in case of a petition, he argued. “It is much more empirical.”

Last Thursday, Mr Duale said the proposals from the select committee will be incorporated into the Bills on the electoral commission and the elections currently in the National Assembly.

He said this was the thinking behind the House Business Committee’s decision to put on hold the completion of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (Amendment) Bill and the Election (Amendment) Bill.

On the same note, the report by the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee (JLAC) throwing out a petition for the removal of the chairman and eight members of the IEBC was also put on hold for 30 days.

The IEBC (Amendment) Bill already proposes a new method of selecting the team to recruit new commissioners and reduces their number to five working on a part-time basis. The Election (Amendment) Bill provides for a raft of issues ranging from the changing of timelines for nomination and submission of party lists to the academic qualifications for MPs and MCAs.

 Mr Duale said JLAC was acting within its mandate in handling the petition to remove the IEBC and there was no basis for the perceived fight between it and the select committee on the handling of IEBC.

Mr Duale said any proposed amendments to the Bills already under consideration would be incorporated at the Third Reading – Committee of the whole House – so that they don’t have to draft and publish another Bill.

“That is the leadership we would like in this House,” he added.