By ALEX NDEGWA
The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission headed by Isaack Hassan ended anxiety over the election date after talks with President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga failed to yield compromise.
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Isaack Hassan. On Saturday during the news conference Hassan conceded their discussions with the President and PM suggested the two principals were not about to agree on the election date. [PHOTO: FILE/STANDARD]
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On Friday at 10.30am Hassan and his team called on the President at his Harambee House office. After the meeting, the IEBC team crossed over to the PM’s offices for talks with Raila, which began at 2.30pm.
Grave accusations
Kibaki reportedly told the team MPs should be allowed to finish their term as the court had ruled. Although Raila insisted on a December date, he is understood to have asked the commissioners to ‘do what is best’ and allow ‘us to play the politics’.
The commissioners informed the principals given the deadlock they would go for the second option outlined in the court ruling, which culminated in the announcement the elections will be held on March 4, next year.
On Saturday during the news conference Hassan conceded their discussions with the President and PM suggested the two principals were not about to agree on the issue, which was causing anxiety among Kenyans.
Last month the commission had suggested in letters to the two principals that the ruling coalition is dissolved in October to facilitate preparations if polls were to be held in December.
The two instead gave conflicting signals in public with the President backing a March 2013 date while the PM preferred December.
On Saturday, the spotlight was on Hassan who chaired IEBC’s predecessor Interim Independent Electoral Commission, which salvaged the battered image of management of electoral affairs after the 2007 fiasco.
Hassan and commissioners Abdullahi Sharawe, Thomas Letangule, Mohamed Alawi, Joyce Wangai, Albert Bwire and Galma Godana have also completed one of the most delicate political tasks. IEBC has mapped out boundaries for each of the 290 constituencies and 1,450 wards, an exercise that had stalled in political acrimony.
During confirmation hearings for IEBC nominees in Parliament on November 3, last year, chairman of the Constitutional Implementation Oversight Committee Abdikadir Mohammed recalled Hassan’s impressive tenure at the IIEC.
"This Commission has received a lot of kudos from Kenyans of all walks of life for the way it has conducted itself in the past two and a half years. It conducted a very successful referendum and numerous by-elections for this House," Abdikadir said.
IIEC had salvaged the image of an institution battered by grave accusations of triggering a bloody conflict in which more than 1,200 people were killed and restored public faith in elections.
The University of Nairobi law graduate might have had 14 years in practice, but the task ahead as he took the new job in May 2009 was unsettling even to the most optimistic.
Baidoa, Somalia
Hassan was a commissioner in the Constitution of Kenya Review Commission (CKRC) between 2000 and 2005, when the proposed Constitution, after adulteration by powerful figures, was rejected at the referendum.
The abortive change in the 2005 referendum is widely believed to have sown the seeds of ethnic hatred that inflamed the country in 2007.
In May 2006, he took up an offer by the United Nations Political Office for Somalia as a legal consultant in the training of Somali Parliamentarians on constitutionalism and federalism in Baidoa, Somalia.
Around the same time, President Kibaki appointed him to the Kiruki Commission of Inquiry that probed the controversial activities of the Artur brothers, who had kicked up a national furore.
Hassan also served as a legal consultant for UNDP-Somalia for the Somalia Constitution Making Project between June and December 2008.
President Kibaki has honoured him with the Elder of the Order of the Burning Spear for his achievement in the management of the electoral body.
IIEC successfully conducted last year’s referendum at which the new Constitution was passed with a landslide vote.
As elections chief he has not been spared the brushes in the murky waters of politics. Last year Hassan came under fire from politicians for the first time in his largely uncontroversial tenure.
The IIEC boss was sucked into the factional battles raging inside ODM, pitting the PM against Eldoret North MP William Ruto’s camps over the revocation of nominations for 34 civic leaders.
Raila’s allies reacted angrily to IIEC’s action to recall the list of 34 ODM nominees it had forwarded to Local Government Minister Musalia Mudavadi for appointment.
"Why is he usurping ODM’s legal prerogative? Is he acting at the behest of William Ruto and company?" ODM Secretary General Anyang’ Nyong’o charged. One of Ruto’s allies, Livestock Assistant Minister Aden Duale, also accused the commission of initially favouring the ODM side allied to Raila.
ODM dissatisfied
Hassan advised Mudavadi to ignore the contents of IIEC’s letter dated June 30 that detailed names of civic leaders whose nomination ODM proposes to revoke and their replacement. The action, he said, had been necessitated by the fact that errors had been discovered in the letter and there was also new information from the Registrar of Political Parties.
ODM is dissatisfied with the polls dates announced on Saturday.
Highflying lawyer
Hassan is a University of Nairobi law graduate with 14 years in practice.
• Hassan was a commissioner in the Constitution of Kenya Review Commission between 2000 and 2005.
• In May 2006, he took up an offer by the United Nations Political Office for Somalia as a legal consultant in the training of Somali MPs on constitutionalism and federalism.
• He was appointed to the Kiruki Commission of Inquiry that probed the controversial activities of the Artur brothers in 2008.
• President Kibaki has honoured him with the Elder of the Order of the Burning Spear for his achievement in the management of the electoral body.
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