Chebukati can’t see he is not trusted to serve vested interests

The die is cast for the Wafula Chebukati-led Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).

The commission’s imminent death won’t come as a surprise for many Kenyans who have witnessed its predecessors suffer the same disgraceful fate.

But this IEBC must go down as not only the most vulnerable, but also outright suicidal.

Rather than walk together to the gallows, the commissioners have chosen to hang separately.

Both the Electoral Commission of Kenya chaired by Samuel Kivuitu and the last IEBC, under Issack Hassan, stuck together and endured the pain together.

RESIGNATIONS
The resignation of Connie Maina, Paul Kurgat and Margaret Mwachanya last week leaves the commission paralysed because the remaining three can’t constitute the quorum required to make crucial decisions.

Mr Chebukati, the chairman, has been digging in, even as some politicians allied to the ruling coalition, Jubilee Party, have openly pushed for his resignation as well.

It could get even messier if he holds out, prompting the formation of a tribunal to try to force him out.

Mr Chebukati has so far sought to cast his latest troubles at the commission as having all to do with procurement battles that saw him earlier suspend the chief executive officer, Ezra Chiloba.

But that can’t explain the willingness by three of his colleagues to move to isolate him and the concurrent pressure on his commission to leave in a hurry.

PROCUREMENT
The Hassan team, facing similar allegations, was allowed to walk out almost on its own terms.

And in any case procurement scandals long ceased to be a source of shame in Kenya’s public life.

The point is if the power elite wants you at the IEBC, you stay — procurement scandal or no procurement scandal.

The question Mr Chebukati needs to ask himself, therefore, is why they want him out.

After the fiasco of an annulled presidential election last year during which he was chided for ordering an audit of the IEBC systems and labelled indecisive, does he consider himself trusted enough to serve vested political interests in the next one in 2022?

2022 ELECTIONS
Is he so naïve as to overlook the unravelling high-stakes succession politics and vicious power games in which the IEBC might have been earmarked for a crucial role at some stage?

Doesn’t he know about the small matter of an electoral and boundaries review coming up and in which a bit of gerrymandering might be needed to tilt the scales in 2022?

Please Mr Chebukati, smell the coffee.

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An incident at my granddad’s funeral almost derailed the filing of this column.

Some village thieves, posing as choir members, went around the place stealing guests’ valuables, including laptops and mobile phones, on Friday night.

But as criminal lawyers would say, there is no perfect crime.

One of them did one of the dandiest things: He took the old man’s hat and wore it to conceal his face while leaving the scene of crime, giving away a crucial lead.

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