The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission has been advised to start packing up to allow a new body to conduct the 2017 elections.
The Ombudsman has told the commission that the expiry of its term conflicts with the election cycle and this may plunge the country into a constitutional crisis.
The term of the current IEBC team led by Issack Hassan ends on November 9, 2017, three months after the next election.
The IEBC commissioners’ six-year term can only be extended through a constitutional amendment via a national referendum.
The Ombudsman said the various timelines related to a contested Presidential poll, including a possible run-off, would take the election cycle to December 2, 2017.
“By this time, there would be no substantive chairperson or commissioner at IEBC. The foregoing creates the possibility of a constitutional crisis due to the role of the IEBC chairperson in Presidential elections,” the Ombudsman said in a statement signed by chairman Otiende Amollo.
He added, “the IEBC Commissioners should be encouraged to voluntarily and honourably leave office...to enable appointment of their successors in good time to prepare for the 2017 General Election.”
The advisory by the Ombudsman comes at a time when Jubilee and Cord are in a war of words over the IEBC.
The IEBC has insisted that it is ready to conduct the 2017 elections and has even published an operational plan to this effect.
“The Commission is committed to delivering free, fair and credible elections in 2017 and beyond. We urge all stakeholders to play their part to ensure that this is realized,” IEBC chairman Issack Hassan said.
The IEBC says that it has come up with a strategy to deal with the deficiencies that challenged the commission at the 2013 elections.
It plans to establish a backup system that will help to avoid the disastrous breakdown in the transmission of election results witnessed in the last election.
According to its 2015-2017 Election Operation Plan, the IEBC notes that during the election in 2013, application of technology faced challenges as a “result of late procurement and delivery of equipment”.
The IEBC says this affected the training and testing of the technologies, leading to the collapse of the systems.
The IEBC says it will develop a results accountability plan as fatigue among polling officials hampered the voting and tallying process.
Cord leader Raila Odinga has said the IEBC, as currently constituted, should not conduct the next elections and asked for its reconstitution.