Attention now shifts to IEBC team after ruling

Nasa leaders leave the Supreme Court after winning the presidential poll petition on September 1, 2017. They want the IEBC team to resign. PHOTO | JEFF ANGOTE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • The statements by the opposition mark the start of a push to force the restructuring of the commission.
  • With the annulment of the results, the IEBC now has 60 days to conduct another presidential election.

The decision by the Supreme Court has shifted focus on the electoral commission, which was found to have done so many mistakes that the results of the August 8 presidential poll could not have been valid.

A majority of the six judges said the court was satisfied that the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission committed irregularities and illegalities during the transmission of results.

CRIME

Nasa presidential candidate Raila Odinga, his running mate Kalonzo Musyoka and lead lawyer James Orengo attacked IEBC immediately after the historic ruling.

“We have no faith in the electoral commission as constituted. Most top officials should be in jail.

"We are going to ask for the prosecution of the officers who caused this monstrous crime against the people of Kenya,” Mr Odinga said outside the Supreme Court.

REFORMS
Mr Musyoka also pointed the finger at IEBC.

“We will look into the conduct of the commission. We don’t have faith the officers,” he said.

Mr Orengo said the commission is on trial.

“Before we can have a proper election, that commission must be looked into. I don’t think we’ll have that commission to conduct the election,” the Siaya Senator told journalists in Nairobi.

The statements by the opposition mark the start of a push to force the restructuring of the commission.

PROTESTS
Asked during a press conference later whether he would resign, IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati said the commission would wait for the full judgment and asked the Director of Public Prosecutions to investigate and take action against any worker found to have committed offences.

Mr Odinga last year succeeded in having the team that presided over the 2013 General Election replaced.

He put pressure on the commissioners, forcing the Jubilee administration to the negotiating table after several Mondays of protests outside IEBC’s offices countrywide.

POLITICAL CONTEST
The Ahmed Issack Hassan-led team was paid off and given a graceful exit and the one led by Mr Wafula Chebukati took office in January this year.

Chief executive James Oswago had since been arraigned for corruption and Mr Ezra Chiloba had taken over.

With the annulment of the results, the IEBC now has 60 days to conduct another presidential election.

Whether that election is to be held and whether Mr Chebukati and his team would be in charge at the commission could now become the subject of a political contest.

PARLIAMENT
If the commissioners resign or are removed from office, there would be 14 days after the declaration of a vacancy for the President to appoint a selection panel.

The IEBC Act states that the panel would consist of four people nominated by the Parliamentary Service Commission and one nominated by Catholic bishops, National Council of Churches of Kenya, Muslim groups, the Evangelical Alliance and the Hindu Council.

After appointment by the President, the panel would then go about the recruitment of people to fill the available vacancies.

There would be a possible problem in the recruitment as Parliament plays a role in the creation of the selection panel, the provision of secretarial support to it and the vetting of the President’s nominees.