The decision by the IEBC to pursue politicians who have not paid their legal costs for election petitions is controversial.
It is argued that the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission is a government body that should expect to be challenged in court as part of democracy. Therefore the IEBC should not seek to recover any costs after election petitions.
However there are counter-arguments.
Firstly, the IEBC has incurred actual costs defending these election petitions. Even if the costs are paid to the Consolidated Fund, the state needs to recover the money. If IEBC waives these awards, it will incentivise losers to launch election petitions because there will be no risk of the IEBC demanding costs.
Secondly, should politicians be allowed to avoid paying their debts for more than 10 years? A politician should only appeal if he or she thinks an election petition is justified. Too often, losers appeal even when they know in their hearts that they genuinely lost the election.
An alternative approach to sending in auctioneers would be to disqualify any candidate from standing if he or she still owed money to the IEBC. No-one could argue with that.
Quote of the day: "He who stops being better stops being good."
Oliver Cromwell
The English dictator died on September 3, 1658
