The electoral commission must do everything possible to repair its wanting public image. As has been witnessed before, lack of faith in the capacity and the impartiality of the commission by the public has made it easy for politicians to attack the electoral process and disregard the election results, with overwhelming support from the public.
Kenyans have not been short of reasons not to trust the commission. In the run up to the 2017 general election, hardly two months to the polls, there were issues on tendering processes such as printing of ballot papers and the technology providers.
The chairman, who was just a few months with the commission, was not shy to tell Kenyans — few weeks to the polls — that he did not have faith in the ability of the commission to conduct credible polls. Message is always strongest coming from the horse’s mouth.
The nullification of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s victory leading to a repeat presidential election further stamped the narrative.
The commission has made public the steps it has taken to improve the situation. However, much remains to be done to get the commission in the good books of the public. That the commission is yet to enjoy full confidence of the public is in no doubt.
The voter apathy witnessed in both the enhanced and continuous voter registration exercises is very loud and clear evidence. Kenyans have expressed themselves in the media and stated lack of faith in the commission.
The theories of stolen votes and favouritism towards certain political camps have been so ingrained in the minds of Kenyans, and the IEBC seems not to have done their homework to reverse the situation.
A preliminary report released by the commission on the KPMG audit of the voters’ register shows a worrying number of erroneous voter records. Over one million voters are either dead, registered with IDs not their own, or have used invalid registration documents.
First, these issues should have been captured in the daily operations by the commission staff over the last four years. Dead voters, for instance, should be deleted from the register as soon as deaths are reported with the Office of the Civil Registration. This data should be collected by the constituency staff and changes effected continuously in the voters’ register.
The issue of identification documents ownership and validity should be captured by keen officials during registration. Besides this, there was a concern of irregular voter transfers that can only have been done by the commission staff. The chairman should take full responsibility for how well or bogus the work of the commission is.
In the recent nominations, the IEBC made some very open blunders that further dented its image. The first one was the clearance of Umoja Summit Party presidential hopeful Walter Ochong’a Mong’are alias Nyambane. As it later turned out, Mong’are did not produce a physical degree certificate, only his coursework transcripts.
The law is clear on the provision of the original degree certificate. That Chebukati went ahead to clear Mong’are without seeing his physical degree certificate does not sit well with voters.
These details were only revealed when Safina presidential hopeful Jimi Wanjigi was denied clearance because he also did not have in his possession a physical original degree certificate, but only transcripts.
Many would think that it took Wanjigi’s knowledge of Mong’are’s situation for Chairman Wafula Chebukati to notice his error. In the current situation with Nairobi UDA governor aspirant Senator Johnson Sakaja, upon the revocation by the Commission for University Education of the recognition of his degree certificate, the IEBC should already have shown firm leadership by revoking his clearance awaiting any legal redress that the politician may take.
An even better approach in light of this fiasco would be for the commission to require all aspirants to present their papers in advance, way before clearance time. During the period in between, the commission legal team should be tasked with verifying all the documents and only inviting those with valid papers for clearance.
The commission and the leadership are in the limelight. As I have said, the image of the commission has been brutally battered. Chebukati, who is the chief/presidential returning officer and the public face of the commission, needs to show more firmness and organisation to inspire trust and confidence.
He needs to prosecute matters and run the systems in a manner that assures the voters and all citizens that he is in charge of the process and give them a reason to trust the commission he leads.
Appearing to make one decision today and being shown his mistake by a politician on national TV four days later does not reflect well on him and the team he leads.
Just like Caesar’s wife, the IEBC leadership, staff and the institution itself need to be beyond suspicion.
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