Monday, August 15, 2011

PNU, ODM in silent tussle over proposed IEBC rules



By ALEX NDEGWA
Though Orange Democratic Movement welcomes the new enhanced vetting standards for new election managers, it is wary of proposal that the National Security Intelligence Service vet the applicants. The party is also suspicious about the level of independence of the State organs proposed to vet those applying to join Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, such as Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission and NSIS, which it fears can be used to lock out those that its coalition partner — Party of National Unity — want excluded.
The party has protested the requirement for applicants to obtain clearance certificates from the State agencies, which some MPs claim could be used to influence the composition of the new team, whose task begins with carving out the 80 new constituencies and execution of next year’s election.
But PNU has accused its coalition partner of a tendency to discredit national institutions based on perceptions, arguing the latest campaign targeting the NSIS is designed to shield individuals with questionable backgrounds.
As the rival parties traded accusations, the Selection Panel, which will recruit IEBC commissioners, clarified that only short-listed candidates would be required to obtain the clearance certificates. "Only short-listed candidates would be required to seek the clearance certificates from these agencies," Dr Ekuru Aukot, the chairman of the seven-member panel, told The Standard.
Mistrust
The tough conditions in an advertisement last week calling for submission of applications sparked a furore from ODM, which pointed to deep-seated distrust between the coalition partners.
The Selection Panel met on Friday to deliberate objections that ODM legislators raised after it released the stringent vetting conditions on Thursday. They said any applicants who will be short-listed would be vetted on their individual merit and not on political party affiliation.
Some ODM members claimed they viewed the requirement for prior screening by NSIS with suspicion, alleging the agency could do political bidding for some quarters in government.
But the panel dismissed the fears expressed by ODM arguing all they were asking is for national institutions to furnish them with information on the integrity of those who will be short-listed. "The NSIS can for example tell us the person participated in post-election violence or was actively involved in campaign violence and it is due diligence on our part to establish those facts," said one member of the panel.
The Panel resolved that all they were looking for from NSIS was the records they keep and not individuals like the Director, Mr Michael Gichangi.
ODM Nominated MP Rachael Shebesh, however, claimed NSIS ‘gate-keeping’ role might be abused for partisan political motives.
"The NSIS was a player in the last elections, which ended disastrously," she said, adding it was yet to be restructured in line with the new Constitution.
ODM contends that President Kibaki unilaterally reappointed Gichangi.
"There is the fear that NSIS could be used to eliminate some people for reasons other than integrity or intimidate others from putting in their applications. It is an open secret that NSIS also recruits people to work for them," Shebesh said.
Disagreements
Though she spoke alone, the sentiments she raised run deep in the two sides of the coalition and both PNU and ODM MPs readily confess the silent row has taken the pattern of past disagreements and suspicions between the two coalition partners.
"If applicants have to get certificates from the NSIS, it must be prepared to make full disclosure of all those they reject and reasons for doing so. We will not accept the opaque process in which there is no telling how the vetting was conducted," she added.
But Dr Aukot was emphatic those picked to IEBC must meet the stringent requirements set out in the advertisement published last week in local dailies to ensure a credible and independent team.
"We need to give Kenyans the assurance that the elections will be managed by people of integrity who would ensure free and fair elections," Dr Aukot said.
He added: "The advert is out there and we encourage all Kenyans to apply and may the best candidate win."
The panel in its first announcement locked out all those who have held elective political seats in the last five years and those adversely mentioned in the reports of Judicial Commissions and Parliamentary Committees. It also decreed applicants must get clearance certificates from Kenya Revenue Authority, KACC, Criminal Investigations Department, Higher Education Loans Board, Director of Public Prosecutions, and heads of the professional organisations to which they belong to where it is possible. It also added a rider that the applicants "may be" vetted by NSIS.
But PNU’s Ndaragwa MP Jeremiah Kioni dismissed ODM’s protests and instead accused the party of maligning NSIS to intimidate it from doing its job.
"It is the character of ODM to cast in bad light all institutions in the country from the Judiciary, police force, and now the army. Their fear is that the truth will emerge and they would rather the country always dwells on perceptions," Kioni said, before sensationally claiming that ODM protests were a ploy to shield from scrutiny by NSIS some unnamed individuals with questionable background.
"The ploy is to discredit the NSIS so it doesn’t carry out a thorough background check in order to cover up for individuals with excellent papers, high sounding rhetoric but poor track records," he claimed.
Kioni said it was curious ODM’s latest protests on IEBC comes hot on the heels of the bitter falling out in the party over the smear campaign against the Interim Independent Electoral Commission. Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s advisor Miguna Miguna was suspended without pay last week over his spat with IIEC.
After the bungling of the 2007 polls by the defunct Electoral Commission of Kenya, which led to the violence in which 1,200 people were killed and more than 500,000 displaced, the Panel is under pressure to select an independent and incorruptible team.
Justice Minister Mutula Kilonzo asked the Panel not to be intimidated by politicians and urged them to put public interest first.
"You will be harassed and labelled all kinds of names by the political class, in an attempt to shape your thinking in a particular way. But you must not lose focus," Mutula advised.
Last week Chief Justice Willy Mutunga warned the members of Panel as they were sworn in: "You be ready to put your lives on the line, this is not idle talk, you might actually be shot at."
"The minister said you will be harassed and lobbied, but consider that you might be shot at, so Mr Minister the security of these commissioners for me is a national priority. As they start working ensure they have security," Justice Mutunga added.
The vice chairperson of the Panel is Prof Marion Mutugi while the rest of the team members are Justice Isaac Lenaola, Mwanyengela Ngali, Ms Rosa Buyu, Ms Irene Keino and Ms Sophie Moturi.

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