IEBC commissioners have failed impartiality test, so let them go

For a long time now, the Cord coalition has been demanding the reconstitution of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).

We have advanced many reasons that have now been forgotten in the noise generated by Jubilee’s decision that there is no justification for our demands.

I wish to summarise our reasons in one statement: The current commissioners of the IEBC lack the impartiality to be referees in an electoral contest between Cord and Jubilee.

The immediate reaction from our critics is, of course, that IEBC is independent. That is, however, a misunderstanding of what the independence of an institution is all about. Institutions are granted independence to ensure that in their constitution and operation, they are not under the control of any actors who, in the case of IEBC, would have an interest in the outcome of the elections.

The traditional way to secure this independence is to grant the commissioners security of tenure. Another way would be to make constitutional provisions to allow the commission to gets its funding directly from Parliament and subjecting nominees for the office of commissioner to parliamentary vetting.

Our endeavours as a country to secure the independence of the commission are to achieve one critical objective: to ensure that the commissioners are impartial in their actions and decision-making.

So, in respect of IEBC, the question is not whether it is independent; it is whether this independence has secured the critical objective we set out to achieve — impartiality. It is Cord’s case that it has not.

Let me state one or two things that illustrate the lack of impartiality of the IEBC commissioners. In the registration of voters for the last General Election, IEBC distributed BVR machines unequally so that some regions got a chance to register more voters than others.

We raised the issue several times, but IEBC kept giving us the run-around until the register closed. The result of the voter registration of 2012 is the infamous “tyranny of numbers”. The IEBC made it easier for people in those zones to register through skewed distribution of registration kits.

There were many other such decisions, which we cannot discuss on this platform, but the overall picture that came out was that of a commission that was favouring one side or, at the very least, was not concerned about ensuring that its decisions did not create an uneven playing field.

MADE PERSONALISED ATTACKS

We in Cord initially thought it was a case of bad decision-making but everything became clear when we filed the petition against the presidential election. Through their chairman, Mr Isaack Hassan, the commissioners made personalised attacks on Cord and me as a person, calling me, in sworn affidavits in court, a perennial loser and complainant.

And since then, the commission has made it clear that it favours the Jubilee side. Last year, the commissioners went to State House to report to the President on their preparations for the next elections.

How do you sit with a contestant in a competition and discuss with them the rules of the game? Cord was not accorded that courtesy. They only agreed to meet us after we made public complaints about it.

In the last registration of voters, IEBC started the game of skewed distribution of registration kits. We complained again and this time the commission refrained. The result was that there was no tyranny of numbers. In an impartial registration of voters, the tyranny of numbers is a myth.

But after the close of the registration exercise, the IEBC started registering people in Jubilee regions continuously, working side by side with the National Registration Bureau, which is responsible for issuing identity cards. This is not being done in Cord areas. Where is IEBC getting the money to conduct continuous voter registration in Jubilee strongholds and not in others?

The commissioners no longer hide their disdain for Cord. They do not even try to appear impartial any more. They now refer to us as “you people”.

So, the question is not whether IEBC is independent or not. The question is whether the current commissioners of IEBC can be impartial in an electoral contest in which Cord is a contestant. If I were the Cord presidential candidate, the question is whether Isaack Hassan can be an impartial referee.

No honest person can claim that this is possible. There can never be free and fair elections in 2017 in which “we people” are participating if the current commissioners supervise it.

Later in the week, I shall be putting to you our case on why we have resorted to picketing.

Mr Odinga is the ODM party leader and Cord co-principal.