What has happened to the IEBC really was beyond our our predictions. Initially I had thought that chairman Wafula Chebukati would rise to the occasion and provide real leadership.
What I mean by leadership is bringing the Commissioners together and deliberating the way forward in view of the suspension of the CEO Ezra Chiloba.
However, this dramatic resignation yesterday of three Commissioners has now shifted the situation. Now half the commission is gone and just three Commissioners are left.
This means the Commission is completely paralysed, it cannot perform its functions, there's no forum to make decisions.
Under the IEBC Act, five Commissioners are required to constitute a quorum; with the exit of vice chair Nkatha Maina, Margaret Mwachanya and Paul Kurgat, there is no business going on.
Even if these three – Chebukati, Abdi Guliye and Boya Molu – remain, they cannot make a decision. There is no CEO with Chiloba's exit. Things are grounded.
The remaining three Commissioners should follow suit, Chebukati has no Commission to lead. Once half the Commission is gone and he remains with a Commission that cannot make decision, he needs to make the right decision.
They all need to go so the country can then sit down and reconstitute the IEBC.
This Commission brought it (disbandment) on themselves. Remember, in the last Commission it was the outside forces that brought about the disbandment through street protests. But this Commission is the architect of its own departure.
Now the chairman needs to do the honourable thing. He has not been an effective leader, there's no commission to lead. Can he lead but two Commissioners?
Just park up and go. They cannot even survive a petition if it is filed. Why should the country go through this?
The IEBC is a crucial commission and ordinarily there should not exist a vacancy but now the powers that be should face reality. The best thing to do is to reconstitute a panel under the IEBC Act.
But this time we need to look carefully at the character of the people we are bringing on as Commissioners, especially the chairman of the electoral body.
Most problems stemmed from the chairman. All along we have been urging him to provide leadership. He failed to do so. It's time to go.
The writer is a former IEBC Commissioner