What happens when politicians malign the IEBC
One manifestation of our schizophrenic politics is that we create institutions to help the democratic process along only to immediately turn around and start undermining them.
A case in point is the much maligned electoral agency. It has been obvious for a long time that politicians will not allow the IEBC to do its job, constantly vilifying its staff and second-guessing the decisions of its executives.
The latest critical comments come from Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero. The Nation reports today that Kidero, speaking at an Eastleigh church on Saturday, “warned the [IEBC] not to use the recent reshuffle of its staff to deny Kenyans their will” in the August elections.
This is a reference to proposed changes in which election managers and other officers in constituencies were to be reassigned by May 4. The proposals have sparked acrimony between the IEBC secretariat and the commissioners.
IEBC chief executive Ezra Chiloba had explained that the changes were meant to improve efficiency. But chairman Wafula Chebukati responded to the planned staff transfers by cancelling them, arguing that they didn’t have a “human face”, whatever that means.
PETTY TURF WARS
The squabble, which reflects shoddy management and petty turf wars, appears to have given opposition politicians more ammunition to keep fighting the agency.
Constantly bad-mouthing the IEBC has obvious negative consequences: It kills IEBC staff morale, it undermines the authority of the agency and it further dents public confidence in the institution itself.
While politicians are busy wooing voters as they prepare for the August elections, they are also preoccupied with dumping on the agency that’s crucial to the success of those elections. What does this paradox say about our attitudes to democracy?
It says that we are half-hearted in our commitment to the progressive ideals that we profess to hold — including that we want free and fair elections and that everyone should play by the same rules. It also shows a deep lack of trust, not just in our institutions but in each other.
When people in power are working overtime to undermine the very institutions we have created to help us become a more democratic society, the scorn trickles down to ordinary voters, in whom it displays itself as apathy.
