IEBC work stalls as Chebukati succession hits snag

Crucial operations of the electoral agency have stalled amid a political standoff that has left recruitment of the new election chiefs in limbo.

The Star has established that the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission is unable to conduct several by-elections due to lack of commissioners.

IEBC is unable to do some procurements that require the commissioners’ nod as stipulated in the law.

The planned delimitation of electoral boundaries is also in limbo.

“We have been affected so much. The biggest challenge is the fact that there are court orders that we cannot be able to effect,” CEO Hussein Marjan told the Star.

IEBC has been without commissioners since January following retirement and resignation of some.

The process to replace them has dragged due to a political stalemate between President William Ruto’s Kenya Kwanza and opposition chief Raila Odinga’s Azimio.

The standoff has hit the operations of the IEBC selection panel that was put in place to recruit new commissioners.

Raila has dismissed the panel as one whose final product will be a ‘Ruto commission’ and demanded an inclusive team to recruit new commissioners.

On Thursday, the panel’s chairman Nelson Makanda said the panel would soon publish the names of shortlisted candidates for chairman and commissioners to pave the way for interviews.

“The process is continuing, and we will soon be publishing names of the successful candidates that will come for the interview,” Makanda said.

The IEBC needs to conduct at least one parliamentary and two ward by-elections due to deaths and court orders that overturned victory.

They include Banisa MP seat whose holder Kullow Maalim Hassan died after he was hit by a motorcycle in March.

“We were given a writ by the Speaker of the National Assembly but we cannot do that because it requires the chairperson of the commission to gazette the timelines and appointment of returning officers to do that by-election,” he said.

“That work cannot be done by the secretariat. It has to be done by the commission chaired by the chairperson,” he said.

The commission is also expected to gazette a winner for an MCA seat in Garissa following a court order after a recount of votes.

Marjan said the commission’s annual and procurement plans have stalled due to lack of commissioners to approve them for execution.

“The commissioners are responsible for governance of the Constitution. So, ideally, they are expected to approve our plans – annual plans, procurement plans – but that can’t happen now,” he said.

Marjan said the commission risks running out time to carry out the boundary delimitation, an exercise that should have been underway by now.

“We are also staring at another huge crisis whereby if we don’t have commissioners in place, then we will not be able to do delimitation as envisaged by the law,” the CEO warned.

He said the delimitation exercise is supposed to be finalised by March 2024.

“There is some work that we have been able to do but there are others, like public participation that has to be spearheaded by the commission as per the law. We can’t do that as secretariat,” Marjan said.

Article 89 of the Constitution stipulates that IEBC shall review the names and boundaries of constituencies at intervals of not less than eight years, and not more than 12 years.

However, any review shall be completed at least 12 months before a general election of members of Parliament.

In 2021, the court faulted verifying the referendum signatures without the requisite number of commissioners. At the time, there were two commissioners and the chairman.

“IEBC should have filled the vacant positions. IEBC should carry out its functions with all hands-on deck,” High Court judge Francis Tuiyot ruled.

Tuiyott said the statute fixes the composition of IEBC to seven and a quorum of five which has not been challenged.

“IEBC was not quorate when it embarked on the business of verifying BBI signatures. The commission needed to be in the right quorum,” he ruled.