IEBC must work as a team to deliver credible votes

The problem between the commission and the secretariat at the electoral agency has lasted a long time.  

It goes back to the days of CEO James Oswago and chairman Issack Hassan, spilt into the tenure of CEO Ezra Chiloba and current chairman Wafula Chebukati, and now acting CEO Marjan H Marjan and commissioner Molu Boya.

This tells you fighting at the electoral agency is nothing new.

It is for this reason, you will realise, that the Building Bridges Initiative is trying to cure this problem by putting in place a good governance structure at the commission.

It is extremely important that the commission works as a team, both the commissioners and the secretariat. We have a number of by-elections and a referendum to hold.

Next year, we will have a general election. This means the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission has a very tight calendar of events.

The commission must immediately put its house in order to conduct credible by-elections and the referendum probably in mid this year.

Moving forward, in my view, the commission should be restructured after the BBI process is finalised.

The Supreme Court in September 2017 nullified President Uhuru Kenyatta's reelection and called for a new election.

The ruling said the presidential election held on August 8 was not conducted in accordance with the Constitution and applicable laws, rendering the results invalid, null and void.

Even though the ruling did not mention who was at fault, the whole commission was tainted.

Election management is done by the electoral agency, which is the IEBC. When an election is nullified, then it is an indictment on the commission.

So my humble opinion is that there is a need to restructure this commission before the next general election. As for the forthcoming by-elections and the referendum, the commission should do all it can to deliver a credible electoral process.

The elections expert spoke to the Star