How to negotiate a Sh200 million send-off package the Kenyan way

From left: Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission Chief Executive Officer Ezra Chiloba, Chairman Isaac Hassan and Vice-Chairperson Lilian Mahiri-Zaja before a joint parliamentary select committee on the body at Parliament Buildings on August 2, 2016. PHOTO | JEFF ANGOTE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • You do not buckle and crumble just because four people have been killed for standing in front of police bullets, and scores are nursing injuries from clashes with the law.

  • You do not go soft just because police officers with slings on their left arms are flown into Nairobi after battling protestors demanding your resignation.

  • You do not cow in silence when confronted by the rhetoric of a perennial election loser and serial complainer like Raila Odinga.

  • Get up, stand up, don’t give up the fight.

Given a choice between money and the box, the paragons of integrity serving as tenured members of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) made a wise pick this week.

The commissioners and their chairman will not be prosecuted for any crimes committed under their watch, and will instead be paid their full salaries for the next year when they will not be wanted at work.

The commissioners have accepted these terms despite their stated readiness to go to jail to defend their right to conduct free and fair elections in August 2017.

This victory should be a lesson to weak-kneed IEBC members like Abdullahi Sharawe, Yusuf Nzibo, Albert Bwire and Kule Galma Godana, who had written letters to the President about their willingness to leave office.

You see the streets massing with protesters baying for your blood, placards and signs go up and the smell of tear gas hanging in the air heavy like gigantic fart, and want to cut and run. No, that is not the Kenyan way. Get up, stand up … stand up for your right.

You do not buckle and crumble just because four people have been killed for standing in front of police bullets, and scores are nursing injuries from clashes with the law. You do not go soft just because police officers with slings on their left arms are flown into Nairobi after battling protestors demanding your resignation. You do not cow in silence when confronted by the rhetoric of a perennial election loser and serial complainer like Raila Odinga. Get up, stand up, don’t give up the fight.

LEGAL MEANS

You demand to be removed only through legal and constitutional means. Neither provides for resignation. The cases about how the biometric voter registration kits were bought in 2013 will not end before the expiry of your term in office. The jailing of Ouzman & Smith bosses in London for bribing Kenyan officials to let them supply ballot papers does not apply here. Kenya is a sovereign state, no longer subject to colonial dictates of the United Kingdom when the Ouzman people were jailed.

You do not allow mobs to rob you out of next year’s salary and allowances by denying you an opportunity to conduct a free and fair election. You must pay no heed to those suggesting that you want to steal the election just because you caught them drawing sheep instead of proper signatures in the petition for a referendum. Under this kind of pressure, you don’t’ just buckle and go home. This is what true independence is. Get up, stand up. Life is your right.

Children of electoral commissioners do not eat integrity and other empty words. Their fees are not paid by patriotism and high-sounding rhetoric. Cars are not fuelled by sacrifice. The prospect of spending time in court being defended by expensive lawyers purloining the family silver instead of demanding that legal services be paid by the commission. Preacher man don’t tell me heaven is under the earth/ I know you don’t know what life is really worth.

If Kenyans are not careful about how they deal with you, the August 8, 2017 date could go missing from every calendar, making it impossible to hold elections. This is why each of the eight commissioners and the chairman deserves Sh1 million every month for the one year they will not work, plus a guarantee that they will never get jail—even if evidence of crime is found. As Bob Marley would say: Get up, stand up. Stand up for your rights.

Should there be an opening in the office of, say, the Attorney-General, the spine of IEBC boss Issack Hassan would stand this country in good stead when negotiating contracts and deals with foreign governments, corporations and individual suppliers.