Urgent action needed to save situation at IEBC
By Editorial.Team, October 25, 2023Confessions by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission chief executive Marjan Hussein Marjan over paralysis at the agency is a time bomb given the issue of electoral reforms has become a can of worms.
Testifying in a case in which a voter has petitioned the High Court to compel the commission to conduct by-election for Banisa parliamentary seat, Marjan gave a chilling account of how operations at the agency remain halted due to the absence of commissioners.
According to him, voters in at least six constituencies have been deprived of representation in the National Assembly. Several wards, where the courts nullified the 2022 election results or respective representatives died, have also remained unrepresented in various county assemblies. Besides this, Marjan says preparations for the delimitation of boundaries and constituencies scheduled for next year are in abeyance.
The back and forth shuttle over electoral reforms by Kenya Kwanza and Azimio la Umoja is not doing the country any good.
Demands for electoral reforms have been a constant feature of every election cycle since the reintroduction of multiparty politics 30 years ago. The script has always been the same, with demands by the Opposition for changes to level the playing field being rejected by the ruling class. This is usually followed by violent confrontations between the police and the so-called reformists.
Within a short-while, politicians, ostensibly acting at the behest of Kenyans’ interests, cobbled together slew of last-minute minimum reforms.
And in what appears to have turned the agitation for electoral reforms into a game of musical chairs, these changes do little to enhance credibility of the ensuing poll or to prevent conflicts in future lessons.
As has always been the case, calls for electoral reforms have taken centre stage in the ongoing National Dialogue Committee formed to resolve pertinent issues that arose from the election of 2022.
As the Bipartisan Talks committee retreats to Nakuru to write its report, the nation awaits the outcome of their outcome with bated breath.
The anticipated electoral reforms hold the potential to reshape the country’s democracy, and ensure 2027 elections will be testament to fairness, transparency and the will of the people.