Prove we have deal with Jubilee, IEBC bosses dare Raila

Election commissioners have dared Cord leader Raila Odinga to table evidence that they have an agreement with President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Jubilee coalition to rig the 2017 elections.

They have said that if Mr Odinga provides the evidence, they will resign. If he doesn’t they will not.

They also told him that intimidating election officials was an offence punishable by law.

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) bosses, led by their chairman Issack Hassan and Chief Executive Officer Ezra Chiloba, accused Mr Odinga of peddling falsehoods targeting the commission so as to force them out of office.

“Over the past couple of weeks and months we have been targets of serious allegations of imaginary impropriety. Cord leader right honourable Raila Odinga has claimed publicly in media interviews that the commissioners have entered into an agreement with the Jubilee Coalition and the President to rig the next election in return for jobs,” Mr Hassan said.

“This is not true. We want to dare him to produce and publish any evidence today and we will resign immediately. This character assassination of public officials is not what we expect from our leaders.”

The commissioners maintained that they would not resign. They charged that calls for them to leave office were founded on flippant allegations and a sustained campaign to discredit the commission.

“We have examined the flippant allegations and the systematic attempts to discredit the commission. For the avoidance of doubt, the commissioners are not resigning,” Mr Hassan said at a press conference called to respond to sustained calls for his team to leave office. With him were seven out of the nine commissioners.

BAD EXAMPLE
They spoke a day after 11 ambassadors and high commissioners from Europe and America warned both the public and political leaders “to reject rhetoric or actions that incite violence.”

On the same day, the Orange Democratic Movement, led by Mr Odinga, announced that it would resume its countrywide protests outside IEBC offices to force out the commissioners.

Church leaders had on the same day called for the strengthening of the IEBC and the Judiciary.

At the weekend, Mr Odinga had said in an interview with the Nation that his party would not take part in elections supervised by the current IEBC.

Answering him Thursday, Mr Hassan said: “We will be setting a dangerous precedent if every time we disagree with a decision we seek the removal from office of those we do not agree with.”

He said the IEBC remains committed to fulfilling its constitutional mandate of conducting a flawless, free and credible election next year.

Besides Mr Hassan, the other six commissioners who attended the press conference were Albert Bwire, Kule Galma Godana, Yusuf Nzibo, Abdullahi Sharawe, Thomas Letangule and Muthoni Wangai.

Commission vice-chairman Lilian Mahiri Zaja and commissioner Mohammed Alawi were away on official duties.

CIVILITY

Sources in the IEBC said the decision to stay put was reached during a meeting held at the commission’s offices at Anniversary Towers in Nairobi on Wednesday.

Mr Hassan accused Mr Odinga of engaging in a three-year mudslinging campaign against the electoral commission.

"The issues of lack of credibility are as a result of three years of sustained negative bashing of the commission by Cord,” he said.

Asked whether the commissioners were willing to meet Cord leaders for talks, Mr Hassan said: “We expect to engage people in an organised and civil manner. There can be no meaningful discussions when you come as a mob."

He defended the IEBC against claims that it was favouring Jubilee, saying it had held more meetings with the Opposition than with any other political grouping.

He also said the body had overhauled its information technology department, which was largely blamed for the failure of the electronic voting devices during the last election.

“A new data centre is being set up to insure against failure among other technology upgrades, which will be tested for stress, readiness and resilience at least six months before elections," he said.