ODM backs Chiloba suspension, demands IEBC overhaul

The Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) has backed the decision to send electoral agency chief executive Ezra Chiloba on a three-month compulsory leave and called for an overhaul of the commission and the secretariat.

The Raila Odinga-led party said the secretariat was to blame for the errors in last year’s August presidential election, which was annulled by the Supreme Court in a landmark ruling.

“The country must go back to the drawing board to relook at the entire architecture of Kenya’s electoral body,” ODM secretary-general Edwin Sifuna said in a statement.

“As a party we fully support the investigations commenced by the commission and the action taken to send the CEO on compulsory leave to enable those investigations to be conducted without interference. 

"The decision to send Mr Chiloba on compulsory leave, having been taken while the commission was fully constituted, must stand.”

RECONSTITUTE IEBC
He said Monday’s resignation of Consolata Nkatha, Dr Paul Kurgat and Margaret Mwachanya “confirms our long-held fears that the rot at the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) goes to the very core of the organisation”.

He called for the formation of a bi-partisan stakeholder forum to oversee the reconstitution of the commission.

At the same time, Amani National Congress (ANC) leader Musalia Mudavadi described calls for an overhaul of the IEBC as a “deliberate erasure of electoral theft”.

JUBILEE

In a statement by his press secretary Kibisu Kabatesi, Mr Mudavadi accused President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Jubilee Party of being the agency’s “partner in crime” in the annulled elections last year and for instigating the current crisis in the commission.

“Jubilee must shoulder the responsibility for abetting and protecting the IEBC fellows. It is a partner in crime.

"Let Jubilee not pretend to offer solutions,” Mr Mudavadi said.

“Jubilee has precipitated the IEBC crisis after its political shelf-life is exhausted to specifically scatter calls for electoral reform and restructuring the executive. They don’t want a referendum.”

RESIGN
However, Mr Mudavadi said that the entire secretariat and the commission should be restructured, saying the commissioners’ resignations confirm the opposition’s fears that the IEBC should not have overseen the elections.

“You can’t reform IEBC without overhauling the secretariat. That will be like panel-beating a stalled car without getting it a new engine and expecting it to move,” he said, adding that the resignations “put to question the results of the 2017 polls”.

Jubilee parliamentary leaders Kipchumba Murkomen (Senate) and his National Assembly counterpart Aden Duale have led calls to have Mr Chebukati and the remaining commissioners Abdi Guliye and Boya Molu to follow suit and resign to pave way for the reorganisation of the commission.

But, as ODM called for the reorganisation of the electoral body in a bi-partisan approach, National Assembly Minority Leader John Mbadi asked the remaining commissioners to stay put until modalities are put in place to reform the commission.

“The resigning commissioners refused to exit in public interest but have now resigned for their own selfish interests.

"What we have at IEBC are a bunch of criminals who must be weeded out. But before we get them out we must come up with modalities of recruiting new ones,” Mr Mbadi told journalists in his office.

STRATEGY
The Suba South MP pointed out that the recruitment process should be approached with caution so as not to have commissioners who might bungle another election.

“We all agree that there is a crisis at IEBC but the mistake we shouldn’t make is to hurriedly recruit new commissioners then regret it in 2022 ,” he said.

“Indeed, we need reforms at IEBC but the methodology being pushed by Jubilee is not the best one,” he added.

In his statement, Mr Sifuna said the three who resigned on Monday triggering a quorum hitch after only three of the maximum seven commissioners were left, were insincere about their reasons for leaving office.

“It appears to us that there were commissioners whose sole mandate was to shield the secretariat to allow Ezra Chiloba a free hand to perpetuate all manner of evils at the commission.

"Why would the three commissioners not allow the investigations to be completed prior to resigning? What do they know? What are they running from?” Mr Sifuna asked.

MEETING
Meanwhile, the ODM youth league also called for the immediate disbandment of IEBC’s secretariat.

The ODM youth also want the remaining commissioners to resign to pave the way for an independent audit into the commission’s operations.

“In view of the weighty matters raised before, during and after last year’s General Election, the IEBC secretariat must be disbanded immediately for an independent audit to be done. The remaining commissioners should also resign,” Mr John Ketora said in Nakuru during the National Governing Council meeting of the ODM youth league.

Additional reporting by Peter Mburu and Joyce Mwihaki