Electoral commission officials not spared in ‘reform’ wave

It is one of the most sought-after positions among independent constitutional bodies, but one that has increasingly become a ‘hot seat’.

For the former chair of the defunct Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) Samuel Kivuitu, a bungled 2007 presidential poll that attracted widespread condemnation, forced him out of office. The late Kivuitu headed the electoral body for over 10 years, successfully managing an election and referendum.

Some 169 MPs of 222 members at the time, sent Kivuitu and his team of 21 commissioners home, paving way for establishment of the Interim Independent Electoral Commission of Kenya (IIEC).

The nine-member commission, set up in 2009, was headed by Isaack Hassan, who would years later; find himself fighting to keep his job.

So far, Hassan and his team have braved the storm stirred by the Opposition, who called for a series of street protests to force them out of office. A 14-member special committee of CORD and Jubilee leaders was formed to decide the commission’s fate.

What makes holders of this position ‘doomed’? Some experts, for instance lawyer Harun Ndubi says: “Unfortunately politicians believe they must hold sway in the electoral management and this has ultimately affected occupants of the top position”.

A former vice chair of the defunct Committee of Experts, Atsango Chesoni, also blames politics for the fate that has befallen the office bearers. “This is the body that entirely determines who has been elected. There is bound to the scenes of political interference,” she says. Like Kivuitu, it would take an event to send calls for disbanding the Hassan–led team into overdrive.

The push to have Hassan exit office appears to have gathered momentum following the abortive CORD-led Okoa Kenya referendum drive. Opposition accused IEBC of colluding with Jubilee to frustrate Okoa Kenya push. This perceived bias and allegations of corruption, which roped in some members of the commission, worsened matters.

Kivuitu, like Hassan, seemed to have gained the confidence of the political class at some point, only to lose it. He (Kivuitu), for instance, was reappointed to head the commission by former President Mwai Kibaki after chairing it during the 1997 and 2002 General Elections.

Oversaw polls

Kivuitu was initially appointed to head the commission by former President Daniel Moi, replacing Zacchaeus Chesoni, who oversaw the 1992 polls.

“We cannot look at the tenures of those in-charge of this body without considering the political environment they were operating under. Chesoni operated under a one-party rule regime. There was little or no transparency in his appointment and he owed his allegiance to the appointing authority,” says Kenyatta University lecturer and political analyst Dr Edward Kisiangáni.

“He (Kivuitu) was in office at a time NARC came into power, but there was no time to socialise him with the new dispensation. There were not many serious electoral reforms then and Kivuitu, unlike Chesoni, had to wear this mask of democracy that came with the new government.

The political establishment realised this and decided to use it to its advantage only to let go of him later,” says the History lecturer.

The problem, according to Kisiangáni is largely political. Religious leaders, the civil society and trade unions have also called for the ouster of IEBC.