IEBC is no church choir to sing from the same hymnbook

Lightning does not strike the same tree twice, and the Supreme Court would be foolhardy to annul Mr Uhuru Kenyatta’s election as president a second time in two months, the evidence notwithstanding.

Just because the Supreme Court promised to annul the election again in the event that it was not held in conformity with requirements of the Constitution and the law is no guarantee that the judges will keep their word.

Declining to vote is itself an exercise of the right to suffrage that represents the negative casting of an absentee ballot, a protest against the candidacy of all on offer in an election.

QUALIFICATIONS
Although Mr Wafula Chebukati, the chairman of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, had publicly expressed doubts about his ability to deliver a free, fair and credible election, it is only a fool who does not change his mind.

Mr Chebukati is nobody’s fool, having graduated with a lower division, second class honours law degree, and ranked second from the bottom on the shortlist of candidates for IEBC chair.

Once he received a visit from commissioners who had been voting against him in plenary with the olive branch of Commission Secretary Ezra Chiloba taking three weeks’ leave, he had no choice but to accept this alongside the assurances of security and acquiesce that a free, fair and credible election had suddenly become feasible.

KIEMS KITS
The IEBC’s effectiveness and fitness of purpose is evident in its ability to work harmoniously and take tough decisions.

It repaired the problematic electronic results transmission system and configured the Kenya Integrated Elections Management Systems tablets to transmit results for Mr Kenyatta and his lone opponent, Mr Raila Odinga.

The commission saw that Mr Odinga’s refusal to participate in the election could easily result in nullification and referred him to the Hotel California clause — you can check out any time, but you can never leave.

WRANGLES

With the door to withdrawal from the race shut before it could open, the only way for Mr Odinga or any of the other candidates to escape their fate at the election was to expire.

Much has been made of the differences within the electoral commission.

The IEBC is nobody’s church choir to be singing from the same hymnbook.

It is not a Catholic marriage either, from which divorce is a mortal sin.

JIRONGO
Dissonance, difference, confrontation and a contrarian streak are the ingredients that brew the democratic lifeblood that fuels independence in the electoral commission.

Some of these characteristics might find expression in vigorous expletives and democratic conflict that results in some individuals resigning and fleeing into exile, but it is in no way representative of dysfunction in the electoral commission.

Such was the tranquility within the electoral commission ahead of the October 26 election that its powers of foresight were in full flow when it predicted that Mr Shakhalaga khwa Jirongo’s application asking the Court of Appeal to vacate the order adjudging him bankrupt would succeed.

VOTERS

It printed Mr Jirongo’s name on the presidential election ballot papers out of an abundance of caution.

In the event that Mr Jirongo’s application did not succeed, IEBC would use a sticker to mask his name on the 19.6 million ballot papers.

The presence of troops and trucks ahead of the election was not for intimidating voters.

Neither was the revelation by Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i that he was an Enkororo (plural, Chinkororo) meant to strike fear in voters.

CHINKORORO
Far from it, in the original Ekegusii, enkororo is a person who uses wisdom and patience to resolve intractable problems, as sworn in one of the affidavits.

The water resistant and soap allergic individuals who chased Mr William Ruto from Kisii in 2007 causing him to lose his shoe in the bush were not true Chinkororo, as they exercised neither patience nor wisdom at the time.

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