Former IEBC bosses should bear post-poll blames

“What is the point of going into an election, spending money, time, and thereafter, we don’t respect the outcome of that process?” These were the words of a former IEBC commissioner, and it puts a lot of things in perspective.

Democracy is not just about elections and in a multiethnic democracy like ours that many perceive as a ritual that brings together ethnic kingpins who mobilise their people against the rival conglomeration of other ethnic groups.

No serious leader should glorify elections and repudiate talks poised to pull Kenyans beyond the contested elections.

Serious political issues, including law making, are often looked at from ethnic-tinted spectacles, discoursed along political expediency with little recourse to the greater good of the citizenry.

These characteristics of the Kenyan political dispensation coupled with the trends witnessed in neighbouring countries like Uganda and Rwanda where term limits have been abrogated, means there are high chances that despite the constitutional term limits, the ruling party and the president have immense power on the electoral processes that should be limited.

The words of the former commissioner are echoed every day in political rallies and indeed if there was some deep state or powers that tried to influence the elections, to what extent are those powers likely to emerge in 2027 and to whose benefit?

We would serve our country better if leaders put more concerted efforts into strengthening our institutions, empowering the citizenry’s understanding of constitutional term limits, and illuminate the role of the state in elections and how to deal with shadowy elements called the deep state that lurk beneath the neutral state to manipulate the will of the people.

It is, therefore, unfortunate for a former IEBC leader to cast aspersions on the talks between President William Ruto and Azimio leader Raila Odinga because we spent billions in the elections that his commission did very little to make more credible than the one they bungled in 2017.

One, together with his team, he presided over the 2017 presidential election that was invalidated by the Supreme Court for illegalities and irregularities.

In real democracies where elections are respected as critical pillars of democracy, they would probably be culpable and may not have presided over the 2022 elections. Probably his fears are the retributive justice that awaits him if at all we are serious about electoral justice and revisiting past electoral injustices.

Second, just recently, some of these folks who say we paid the commission billions to conduct the elections were telling us that Azimio did not have agents in polling stations! Where was IEBC when all the malpractices were contested in court?

The critical question is not why have dialogue post elections, but why pay billions for to an institution that cannot guarantee a fair and just process that all Kenyans can easily verify and congratulate the winner and ask the loser to fight another day?

Why should we pay IEBC billions and still pay agents in a country where politicians have perfected the act of either buying everyone and everything or if not buyable eliminate?

A team of commissioners who left a legacy of a bungled elections, a nullified elections and legendary infighting amongst themselves cannot give Kenyans counsel on democracy and inclusivity.

After serving their full term they left IEBC the way the found it: an organisation that since the return of multiparty democracy, has presided over elections that leave all Kenyans on the edge during the tallying and after announcement of results contestation.

The good former commissioner and his colleagues, having successfully served a full term, should not be prescriptive on what should or should not be done, he should tell us the landmark contributions they made in advancing our democracy.

— The writer is PhD candidate in political communication