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Parliament was yesterday fingered as the weakest link in ensuring that the electoral legal framework is put in place before a General-Election is held.

The observation was made even as stakeholders urged the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to look for ways in which technology suppliers agree to open up for scrutiny and not to hide in privacy.

Commissioner Prof Abdi Guliye charged that although the commission prepares proposed pieces of legislation, parliament takes a long time time to pass the law and other regulations guiding the election process.

Guliye said any suggestion on the election laws should not be passed within the last one year to the election, adding that the a clause should be inserted to the elections act to clearly provide for that.

“It is not the commission that is always late when it comes to preparing the election laws. We extracted all issues that required legal amendments and sent them to parliament to be fast-tracked. Unfortunately, they are still gathering dust in Parliament,” said Guliye. He told the donor community who funded the last August 9 elections at Sh1.2 billion ($100 million) that late funding of the commission’s activities hampered the provision of technology.

Guliye explained that the commission is more dependent on propriety software providers, adding that the late disbursement of funds cannot allow the commission to develop its own software especially for the results transmission.

“We are more dependent on propriety on software. We do not have the capacity to develop our  own software. When you are underfunded for five years and the funds are only released some months to the elections, what more can you do? Even as procure the technology we safeguard the interest of the commission and country and follow the law on procurement,” said Guliye.

He went on: “We have developed some in-house software for some of the activities. If the commission is well funded, it can develop its software.”

Guliye, whose term as a commissioner is ending next month, told the participants that there is need to re-look at the Elections Act and the Elections Campaign Financing law with a view to make them more practical. He explained that the current law only allows a voter to present himself or herself physically for voter registration and election, a move he says hinders so many diaspora voters from casting their ballot.

“Technology should help as ensure that Kenyans in Diaspora are able to register online. The current law only allows a person to physically present themselves for registration and election. This is something that we should re-look at,” he said.

Campaign financing

Commissioner Guliye said that although the Elections Campaign Financing Act has never come into force, as a commission they had an issue with some of the clauses in the law. “We had issues with the mother Act. It is too laborious. Requiring that each candidate from MCA to the presidential candidates must have an Election committee, bank accounts and things like that is practically impossible for the commission. Until we re-look at the Act and make the amendment, it will not be possible to enforce the law. We will re-submit the amendments.”

IEBC Director –Legal Services Chrispine Owiye also charged that the weakest link was parliament, adding that the Elections Laws Amendment Bill, the IEBC amendment bill are still gathering dust in parliament. Owiye said that reviews of regulations were dependent on the Elections Laws Amendment bill.

“Regulations must be anchored on statutory law. The weak link is parliament. The IEBC amendment bill was passed in the National Assembly and committee to the Senate. It is still lying there,” said Owiye.

Electoral Law and Governance Institute for Africa (ELGIA), Executive Director Felix Odhiambo on his part said that there is still no legal framework to undertake the boundaries delimitation, which should be carried out latest 2024. “Boundaries Delimitation law is yet to be passed. Where is the legal framework? Why are the election laws enacted very late?” he asked.

According to Odhiambo, the commission submitted proposals to amend the elections laws, but there was no time to pass the laws, adding that parliament should move with speed to address the legal gaps in time.

In a speech read on his behalf by Guliye, outgoing IEBC Chair Wafula Chebukati said that the Commission started Post-Evaluation process by organizing a staff debriefing session to review and learn from the experiences of the 2022 General Election. The Commission is now engaging development partners, and will further engage all other stakeholders in the coming days, adding that the findings and recommendations of the Post-Election Evaluation will be shared with Government Institutions, Development Partners and other stakeholders involved in the electoral process in Kenya to further improve the electoral process.