Besieged IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati and two remaining commissioners were pondering their next move yesterday, as political bickering began over their future and the commission's fate.
Reliable sources confided in the Star that the three had reached out to Deputy President William Ruto in a move to salvage the situation, amid mounting pressure for them to quit.
During a meeting at their Anniversary Towers offices, Chebukati and commissioners Abdi Guliye and Boya Molu also explored suing Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet for withdrawing their security.
The police guards were recalled on Monday afternoon, hours after vice chair Connie Maina and commissioners Paul Kurgat and Margaret Mwachanya resigned, accusing Chebukati of poor leadership.
“We are consulting and taking legal advice on this matter before we proceed,” one commissioner said.
The withdrawal of security provided under their contracts has exposed them to danger and made it difficult for them to perform
their duties, they say.
In a statement on Tuesday, the commission said “provision of security to the chairman and members of the commission during their tenure is within their contract of service and this obligation ceases only when the contract expires.”
Chebukati had at least eight armed bodyguards and two chase cars complete with a siren.
His homes in Nairobi and Kitale were also guarded round the clock by armed police.
Other commissioners also had a bodyguard and a driver and their Nairobi and rural homes were guarded by police.
But as the commissioners came to grips with the reality of losing three colleagues, politicians from both sides of the divide were busy crafting their future.
Yesterday Chebukati failed to appear before the National Assembly Justice and Legal Affairs Committee, saying he, the two commissioners and other officials were overseeing by-elections in Ruguru and Kinondo wards.
The committee had summoned him last week to explain the crisis that has seen chief executive Ezra Chiloba sent on compulsory leave and three commissioners resign in 10 days.
Chebukati wrote to Clerk Michael Sialai requesting postponement of the meeting to next week. Committee chairman William Cheptumo said they had started drafting amendments to the IEBC Act to fill the vacancies created by the resignation of the three commissioners.
Cheptumo said, however, the committee would not push for the resignation of Chebukati and remaining commissioners Guliye and Molu.
“It is not the business of this committee to prevail upon the remaining commissioners to resign. I believe those who resigned did so in their own motion. The issue here is replacement of the remaining three vacant positions,” he said.
"Some leaders want the remaining three to go home, while others think they should remain behind,” he said, emphasising that his committee was solely interested in resolving the crisis that had arisen from the resignations.
The committee is now considering changes to the IEBC Act to form a permanent panel to be in charge of recruiting the chairman and commissioners whenever there is a vacancy.
The panel that recruited the current commissioners stood disbanded immediately it finished its job.
It was not clear if the committee was considering scenarios drafted by the commission on restructuring the electoral body. The proposals include creating a leaner commission of three executive commissioners along the model of the Commission for the Administration of Justice, commonly known as the Office of the Ombudsman.
Other models include a small commission with executive powers and a supportive secretariat or a part time commission with a strong executive secretariat.
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URGENT
Political leaders yesterday agreed on the urgency of resolving the crisis at the commission. It is required to conduct a preview of electoral boundaries within 10 years, which lapse in 2022.
There are also by-elections pending from the last elections that must be conducted within 90 days of seats being declared vacant.
However, as presently constituted, the commission cannot make any policy decision because it does not have a quorum.
Decisions of the commission are made in plenary that requires the presence of at least five members in attendance and four in support of any resolution.
National Assembly Majority leader Aden Duale and his Senate counterpart Kipchumba Murkomen insisted that chairman Wafula Chebukati and Commissioners Guliye and
Molu should follow suit and quit to allow reconstitution of the commission.
Duale said there is no way out of the crisis other than for the three to resign. He said Parliament will soon amend the First Schedule of the IEBC Act to
allow for a transitional exit for the remaining commissioners.
He said the process of amending the First Schedule could take about 50 days. Speaking to the Star at his Parliament office, Duale said the commission is incapacitated.
“As we speak, the commission
lacks the quorum
to discuss any motion or make any binding decision. Plenary meetings
cannot be fully constituted as envisaged in law,” he said.
But Minority leader John Mbadi disagreed.
He said while there was urgent need to carry out radical surgery, the remaining commissioners should not resign until both sides of the political divide agree on how to replace them.
“We want a complete overhaul of the IEBC, complete restructuring of the commission and the secretariat. Before the three remaining commissioners leave office, we must sit down and agree on what happens next,” Mbadi told a press conference in his office.
“Pushing for the entire commission to leave now is akin to saying ECO Ezra Chiloba should come back,” he added.
He said reforming the IEBC should be among the top priorities of the dialogue committee that was set up by President Uhuru Kenyatta and Opposition chief Raila Odinga last month.
“We want a new commission in place but the methodology of selecting the next team must be properly discussed and agreed upon by all the stakeholders.
Some of the current officials were serving the interests of their masters,” he said.
However, Senate Majority leader Kipchumba Murkomen accused Mbadi of trying to frustrate reforms. He insisted that the three remaining commissioners should leave office to allow for constitution of a new team.
“Mbadi and NASA are not genuine. It is time for the remaining commissioners
to leave and if they do not ,then they be investigated and if they are innocent, they will stay in office,” Murkomen told the Star on phone.
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