The recent move by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission to cancel the 3B tender meant for procuring electoral management system may plunge the country into a constitutional crisis. This is if Election laws 2016 are put into strict consideration.

It may complicate matters given that the commission is expected to operate within the stipulated constitutional timelines.

Some of the legal guidelines provided in the Elections Act point out at a possibility that the IEBC may not be able to adhere to legal requirements to conduct the elections.

As an instance, under the Elections Act section 44, 4a, the IEBC is required to procure and to set in place the necessary technology for the general election eight months prior to the exercise.

This is then to be preceded by the process of testing, verifying and deploying such technology sixty days before the elections.

This means the commission has only four months procure the electoral management system and to run and verify it.

Whether all these provisions will be met is a matter that Kenyans can only be left to guess.

However, it is clear is that the Chebukati-led commission has fallen out of the legally recognized timeline to engage in the exercise.

The Elections Act also requires the IEBC to engage a ‘reputable firm to conduct an audit of the register to verify the accuracy of the register’. However, till now, the commission is yet to carry out such an exercise.

 It is a system that was meant for installation, delivery, testing and commissioning the electoral management system that was to be used in the forthcoming August 8 general election.

But in a sudden turn of events, the commission closed the tender hence casting more doubts on its preparedness for the coming elections.

It is another blow that comes after the High Court nullified a 2.5B tender for ballot papers early this year.

High Court Judge Justice George Odunga cited failure to comply with 2016 Election laws as the shortcoming that made it irregular.

The possible consequences

Being that the commission may not meet its constitutional obligations in procuring the electoral management system in time, any Kenyan may move to court to stop the commission from conducting the election.

Such maybe grounds that the commission may be adjured to have acted in contravention of written election laws.

Such may compel the court to declare commission incapable of presiding over the election.