Avoid curse of Kenyan polls by picking good team to head IEBC

A polling station during a past election. [File, Standard]

A proper constitution of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) is not an option. Since the 2002 General Election, the agency has had integrity issues, particularly in managing the presidential election results. We may remember that presidential election outcomes have never been outrightly conclusive. The Supreme Court of Kenya has determined the winner of the presidential results since 2013. Something is wrong with the way the commission is set up.

The experience of Kenya’s general elections being chaotic, violent and manipulated is nothing new. Since 2007, people have lost their lives in every general elections. It is as if we don’t care about the dignity and sanctity of human life. The Kriegler report, in examining the 2007 election preparedness and results, concluded that it was impossible to tell who the presidential winner was. In the 2022 elections, we had a split IEBC: The late Wafula Chebukati with his team of three against what was called the Cherera Four. The four were hounded out of town, never to be heard again.

Yet, halfway to the next general elections, the commission is not constituted. True, the process is almost complete. However, the casualness with which it has been done, including claims that names of persons not shortlisted for interviews were sneaked in for nomination, tells of a deep interest in managing the affairs of the commission from the backdoor.

Let us get it right. The new IEBC must inspire confidence in the whole electoral process. Short of this, we are courting another chaotic general elections in which we will, unashamedly, lose lives. We have at least four elections to learn from. What didn’t work in 2007 that we ended up with the 2007 post-election violence and loss of lives? What didn’t work in 2013, 2017, and 2022, when the regimes of the day nearly collapsed, only to be saved by handshakes?

IEBC has a crucial mandate and needs space to act independently. Its tasks include continually registering citizens as voters, updating the voter register, delimiting boundaries of constituencies and wards, conducting by-elections, and voter education. One of the tasks the commission is “the use of appropriate technology and approaches in the performance of its functions.”

We all know the mystery of the live transmission of presidential election results. It all starts very well until numbers refuse to add up in some quarters. Surely, Kenyans are very educated people. They have the intelligence and intuition to know when wickedness kicks in. The strange interruptions and delays in transmitting the presidential election results live should be a national shame in this age of super-advanced technology.

The new IEBC commissioners have to decide whether they are serving Kenyans or political cartels. Look, let us take the example of M-Pesa. M-Pesa is a very successful electronic banking service. Even people with limited resources use M-Pesa to transact. They have learnt how to use it to save time and reduce costs in some transactions. Money is a very sensitive security issue, yet electronic services like M-Pesa have successfully navigated the space.

India, with millions of voters, successfully uses an electronic voting system to tally the outcomes in a very short time. The US is another country with millions of voters and pulls off electronic tallying with no fuss. Many European countries hold elections, including snap elections, with no big deal. It is difficult to convince Kenyans that they have no capacity to run successful electronically-managed general elections.

Of course, election manipulation happens at many stages. The rampant voter bribery, premature election campaigns that have already been kicked off, ensuring compliance with regulation of political party nominees to run for elections, recruiting and training returning officers to be of service to the country, not political bigwigs and many more.  

Kenyans deserve a credible service, starting with a fair and transparent presidential election process. For this reason, the reconstitution of the IEBC has to be above board to inspire Kenyans to go and vote knowing that every vote will count. The casual approach with which the commission is handled is sending wrong signals.

Dr Mokua is Executive Director of Loyola Centre for Media and Communication