Without unquestionable integrity, IEBC cannot conduct elections without a violent aftermath. It must therefore step aside and pave the way for a more credible IEBC.
But current IEBC says it will continue to stay in office because it has done nothing wrong and can only be removed legally.
Be that as it may, opposition to IEBC says it must go for two reasons.
First, the dispute is not over legality of their actions or method of removal but their integrity, credibility and trustworthiness. Once a good number of people have no confidence with IEBC, it must not conduct elections.
Second, already the Church, civil society and opposition don’t trust IEBC to conduct credible elections.
Yet, wisdom has it that the disease that returns is the disease that kills. Those who ignore instinct or better judgment end up in trouble. And majority is not always right.
When the scorpion begged the frog for a ride across the river, the frog was rightly fearful that the scorpion would sting and kill him but he was convinced against his better judgment to give the scorpion a ride. But as nature would have it, the scorpion ended up killing both the frog and himself in the river. If the frog of Kenyans ends up trusting the IEBC scorpion to give it a ride across the river of elections, the scorpion IEBC will end up killing both itself and the frog of the people in the middle of the river elections.
Though most Kenyans wrongly believe everything good is the work of majorities, again, wisdom teaches that great changes in the world have been the work of minorities.
When Nyerere sent out a team to investigate whether most Tanzanians wanted to continue with one party dictatorship or change into multiparty democracy and 80% wanted one party dictatorship against 20% for multiparty democracy, he overruled the majority in favor of multiparty democracy that the world wanted. As in Tanzania, not even the majority can be right in retaining a tainted IEBC in the office.
Like Caesar’s wife, IEBC must be above suspicion. Even when Caesar’s wife was investigated and found innocent of any misdeed, that her integrity had been questioned was enough to lose her marriage to Caesar. If IEBC is the wife of Kenya and some people are murmuring about her integrity, she must lose her marriage.
Already IEBC has been suspected of chicken scandal corruption, the same sin many fear she will commit with elections.
In addition, during the presidential petition, chairman of IEBC expressed open bias against Raila Odinga which disqualified him from conducting any election that could be called free and fair.
In court, when an accused person suspects the integrity or impartiality of the judge, he has a right to ask the judge to recuse himself from the case or suffer the fear he will get no justice from the judge. When a judge is accused of partiality, whether guilty or innocent, he must step aside and allow another judge to conduct the case with the confidence of the accused person. When IEBC refuses to vacate office when asked to do so, it is suspect of ill intentions.
As I write, many Kenyans feel both IEBC and Supreme Court should be reconstituted before elections not just to conduct elections more fairly but also adjudicate over electoral disputes more fairly.
Though elections are political, playing politics with elections and IEBC is like playing Russian roulette with Kenya’s survival. Government and parliament should do everything they can to resolve electoral disputes before matters get out of hand.
As for opposition, when they attempt to use force to disband an electoral commission that they helped to set up, they too are playing Russian roulette with Kenya.
While opposition have a constitutional right to picket and demonstrate outside IEBC offices, they have no right to break down doors or unleash violence similar to what Kenya experienced in 2007/8. Kenyans must learn to demonstrate peacefully as people do in Europe and US.
As for solution, composition of new IEBC must be above political parties whose political interests are likely to overshadow national interests.