In the past week, the IEBC has been in the news almost daily with all manner of accusations thrown at it.
With less than 30 days to the elections, we are seeing sustained attacks on the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission from the political class.
Azimio presidential candidate Raila Odinga and his lieutenants have been claiming there is a plot to rig the election, with the insistence of the electronic register. Raila had even threatened to boycott the elections, if the IEBC did not have manual register at polling stations but changed his tune the following day.
The electoral commission has since clarified that the manual register is always available as the last resort. The commission explained that the printed register is printed from the digital version and that the IEBC had increased the backup gadgets from three to six per polling station.
In another sensational claim, Azimio also accused IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati of collaborating with Kenya Kwanza principal Moses Wetang’ula to rig the election. Wetang’ula has already instructed his lawyers to sue Suna East Junet Mohamed for the claims linking him to the company printing ballot papers in Greece.
Chebukati has dismissed the claims, which he says are because he and Wetang’ula come from the same Luhya sub-tribe. He has gone ahead to invite all the presidential candidates to travel with the commission to Greece to see how the ballot papers are being printed.
On the other side, Kenya Kwanza has insisted that it trusts the IEBC to conduct the elections but has at the same time accused Chebukati and the team of bending over backwards to meet the demands made by Azimio.
These kinds of shenanigans are not new to the country where at every election, politicians keep making demands and threatening the IEBC. We saw this in 2013 and 2017, when Raila made all manner of demands and claims against the commission.
In 2013, Raila, who was trailing Uhuru Kenyatta in the polls, kept saying the government was working with the IEBC to rig him out of the presidential race, despite the fact that he was Prime Minister in the same government. Raila also claimed the IEBC used the military to rig the election and skew the final result at Bomas of Kenya.
In 2017, Raila threatened to boycott the election over rigging and Jubilee also at some point made the same accusation. The same narrative was used in 2007 to discredit the then Electoral Commission of Kenya before the polls and when the results came, the country went to war because the opposition supporters had already been told that the election would be rigged.
This kind of behavior is unacceptable and should be brought to a stop. Discrediting the IEBC ahead of elections is not only undemocratic but also sets up the country for tensions and possible chaos.
There is a trend among politicians to discredit the elections agency before elections, to prepare the nation for accusations of rigging in case of a loss. And we have seen this happening not only at the national level but also in other elections.
Granted, the IEBC must be held to account and the institution must be put to task to conduct a free and fair elections. It is important that the commission gives constant and clear updates on all matters relating to elections.
Chebukati will be having weekly media briefings and interviews starting tomorrow. However, while this is commendable, it is not enough. We are at the point in the election cycle where we should get daily updates from the IEBC.
But that said, some of these accusations, if not channelled using the proper channels, will poison the well that we must all drink from. An all-out assault against the IEBC will cause tension and sow seeds of discord.
This election cycle thus far has been peaceful. It is imperative that we maintain this peace and should avoid doing things that may result in discord and anxiety among Kenyans.
The writer is a political and communications consultant
@MachelWaikenda
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