Prime Minister Raila Odinga. Photo/FILE
By KIPCHUMBA SOME ksome@ke.nationmedia.co.ke
Posted Saturday, March 17 2012 at 22:30
Posted Saturday, March 17 2012 at 22:30
IN SUMMARY
ODM complained that IEBC could be working at the behest of its political competitors
The country is once again staring at the risk of going into a General Election with one of the main political parties expressing doubts about the independence and impartiality of the body charged with managing the polls.
The debate over when the next General Election should be held has exposed deep divisions between Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s Orange Democratic Movement and the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).
While ODM insists that elections be held this year, preferably on December 17, President Kibaki and the MPs allied to him favour March next year. The latter date was also favoured by IEBC, which on Saturday announced that the elections will be held on March 4 next year.
ODM has bitterly criticised the IEBC decision, claiming the body could be working at the behest of its political competitors.
That position calls to mind the highly polarised sitution going into the 2007 General Election.
ODM disputed the outcome of the presidential result in the 2007 poll set off a month-long wave of violence that claimed more than 1,000 lives and displaced thousands more.
Rather unfortunate
Rather unfortunate
Mr Onesmus Murkommen, a law lecturer at Moi University and a political analyst, says:
“It is rather unfortunate that it seems we shall go to the next elections with some players crying mischief again. We are looking at a situation where we will be fighting over electoral outcomes again and that basically reverses all the gains we have made in making this country more cohesive.”
Kenyans went into the 2007 General Election as a deeply divided nation. President Kibaki had set the stage for the opposition claims of a rigged election by unilaterally appointing the commissioners to the Electoral Commission of Kenya.
This is not the first time that ODM is expressing dissatisfaction with the conduct of the electoral body. Last year, some staff from Mr Odinga’s office criticised IEBC’s predecessor, the Interim Independent Electoral Commission, accusing it of being partisan.
In a number of scathing articles in the opinion pages of local newspapers, Mr Odinga’s former adviser on coalition affairs, Mr Miguna Miguna, accused the IIEBC of leaning to one side of the coalition divide.
He accused the defunct body’s chairman, Mr Isaack Hassan –now the chairman of the IEBC – of serving the whims of certain political parties.
IIEBC’s independent investigations reportedly found similar articles in the personal computer of the personal assistant of its chief executive officer, Mr James Oswago. A section of PNU MPs accused Mr Oswago of being an ODM supporter.
In Kenya and much of Africa, elections have become a matter of life and death quite literally.
But it was in this climate of mistrust that majority of the IIEBC commissioners were rejected during the vetting for the new electoral and boundaries body. Only two commissioners from the IIEBC and Mr Hassan, were chosen to serve in the new body.
In Kenya and much of Africa, elections have become a matter of life and death quite literally. It was in view of this fact that the Johann Kriegler-led commission that investigated the 2007 election malpractices recommended that the new electoral body must be above board.
The new constitution grants the electoral body complete freedom and independence from political machinations. But even the new body seems to have failed to gain the trust of a section of the political class as illustrated by the ODM’s misgivings.
It was thought that having been publicly vetted by an independent body, rather than being appointed by the political class as it was under the old constitution, the new commissioners would restore trust by political parties in the electoral body.
However, it seems those hopes are quickly disappearing following ODM’s doubts about the IEBC and its work. It remains to be seen now what steps both parties, more so the IEBC, will take to reassure ODM and the public in general that it is a neutral player.
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