Resolve row over IEBC selection team or move on

Whenever politicians intend to take actions that suit their self-interest, they always allege that “Kenya is bigger than any individual”. Ironically, most times, they act in ways that fly in the face of national interest in the pursuit of that which will personally gratify them and mainstream their private agenda, often at the expense of public good.

The most recent case involves former vice resident Kalonzo Musyoka and the Wiper Democratic Movement, who are now holding the country to ransom over who should sit on the panel that will select new electoral commissioners.

At the heart of the dispute are two Mulis: Augustus Muli, leader of the National Liberal Party and Koki Muli Grignon of Wiper. The first was elected to the nine-member panel, but Wiper wants his name expunged and his slot given to the second on a silver platter.

Now the matter has been referred to the Political Parties Disputes Tribunal, which could take upwards of one month to resolve it. Were the selection panel to be put in place today, Kenya would have a new electoral commission in 90 days. But that is now in abeyance… because of a needless dispute that ought to have been resolved by now.

All other institutions mandated to select nominees to the panel have done so, indicating their willingness to take Kenya forward and fill the lacuna that has existed for the past 20 months when we have not had a functional electoral commission. This lacuna has left the country exposed to political risk, given that all the commissioners either retired or resigned, while one was fired for gross misconduct.

The upshot is that there is no constitutionally mandated body to either review constituency boundaries — which is already overdue by six months — or carry out civic and parliamentary by-elections that have been deferred for months. As a result, voters who deserve representation by right have no elected representatives in the affected wards and constituencies, yet the law provides that a by-election be held within six months of the seats being declared vacant.

It is interesting that Wiper, a coalition partner in Azimio, is the party clogging up the electoral justice pipeline, yet it and its partners have been most vocal about this issue and, to add insult to injury, Musyoka was co-chair of the National Dialogue Committee, which came up with the idea of broadening the panel that will pick the next set of Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission bosses.

Politicians who took part in the vote have argued that they settled on Muli in protest, meaning that even if they were to go back to the ballot, there is a reasonable chance that they would make the same choice again.

Since it will be some time before these complexities are resolved, the best option available now is for the eight members who are ready to work to be gazetted and sworn in to start work.

On a positive note, it is encouraging that two nominees who sat on the disbanded IEBC Selection Panel are back on the new one. Considering that they had covered a lot of ground, having had the opportunity to review over 2,000 CVs of the earlier applicants, their contribution will bring much needed institutional memory.

However, it is important that they reopen the application window to give new entrants a shot at being considered. Secondly, they must do everything in their power to make the process transparent and accountable to ensure it is not bogged down by litigation.

With less than three years to the next election, and with a lot of work awaiting the new commissioners, it is important that the selection is carried out expeditiously to give the incoming team sufficient time to learn the ropes and ensure a credible 2027 election, without which Kenya will slide back to the old vicious cycle of demands for electoral justice.

— The writer is the Editor-in-Chief of the Nairobi Law Monthly and Nairobi Business Monthly-