AG Muigai says electoral team should be persuaded to quit

The nine electoral commissioners should be prevailed upon to quit in the interest of the public, Attorney-General (AG) Githu Muigai said on Wednesday.

He told a special committee of MPs that compensation should be considered if the commissioners win a court battle for severance pay after voluntarily leaving office.

But he advised against the sacking of secretariat staff, those who run the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) on a day-to-day basis, saying there was no time to replace them and manage a successful General Election on time.

The AG was offering his legal opinion to the joint National Assembly and Senate select committee that will decide the fate of the IEBC.

The committee had sought the AG’s opinion on whether the national interest could be used to sack the Issack Hassan-led commission without violating the law or their individual rights as public officers.

'EXTRAORDINARY SITUATION'

The committee is jointly chaired by senators Kiraitu Murungi and James Orengo.

Government and opposition MPs are looking for a quick and easy way of resolving the impasse over the commission, while ensuring the rights of the commissioners are not violated.

Prof Muigai said the elaborate process of removing commissioners by filing petitions would take at least six months, leaving the new team with only nine months to prepare for the General Election in August 2017.

Given the recommendations of the Kriegler commission, that an electoral team be in office at least 24 months before elections, the select team should consider postponing the election, a suggestion that had been defeated twice in the National assembly, he said.

“We are in an extraordinary situation where Kenyans have lost confidence in a commission whose tenure is protected by the Constitution. This being an extraordinary committee, it can come up with a Bill that will pave the way for the exit of the commissioners regardless of findings on their culpability,” said Mr Orengo.

LEGAL MANDATE

Prof Muigai said the special committee would be within its legal mandate if it came up with a Bill leading to the commission vacating office.

Makueni Senator Mutula Kilonzo Jr asked the AG to provide details of the case filed in London by the UK Serious Fraud Office on procurement.

Elsewhere in Nairobi, faith groups proposed the vetting of senior IEBC staff from the constituency level after its commissioners had left office.

The results transmission system should be tested and proven to work by January 2017, the Multi-Sectoral Forum on Electoral Reforms said.

Rev Peter Karanja, the general-secretary of the National Council of Churches of Kenya, said IEBC commissioners should be given an exit package.

“We maintain that considering the history of Kenya and the polls on the credibility crisis of the IEBC, even if they are not found culpable through an investigation, it is important for the current commissioners to give way,” Rev Karanja said at Ufungamano House on Wednesday.

The forum had met for two days to discuss the electoral reforms with the aim of making proposals on Bills to be delivered to the joint parliamentary committee that is now looking at the IEBC matter.

'DELIBERATE CONFUSION'

In an earlier interview, IEBC chief executive Ezra Chiloba had opposed calls to subject the commission’s senior staff to vetting, saying it would delay preparations for the next General Election.

“Our staff are not saying that they fear vetting. All they are asking is that, do we prepare for the vetting or the next General Election?" asked Mr Chiloba at a forum at Strathmore University two weeks ago.

The 14-member joint committee was formed following five weeks of anti-IEBC protests by Cord.

The Justice and Legal Affairs Committee (JLAC), led by Ainabkoi MP Samwel Chepkonga, had received a petition against the IEBC team and on Tuesday tabled a report in Parliament absolving them of any blame.

Reacting to the petition, Mr Murungi said: “The mandate of JLAC is a narrow one. What they were doing is to consider one petition. Ours is a broader mandate. We are looking at the whole electoral system to ensure that the 2017 elections will be free and fair”.

Narc-Kenya leader Martha Karua dismissed the Chepkong’a team, saying it was creating “deliberate confusion” in the IEBC reforms.

“They cannot say they have cleared the IEBC. Clearing them of what? It’s not a trial court. Are they a court of law? What inquiry were they doing? They were doing something limited based on that petition,” she said.