Why Uhuru has no option but to dump the IEBC

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By OTIENO OTIENO
Posted  Saturday, July 20  2013 at  18:01

For obvious reasons the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) holds a special place in President Uhuru Kenyatta’s heart.

The commission stood by President Kenyatta throughout his battles at the Supreme Court fending off the petition challenging his election and has graciously taken the flak arising from the controversial election.

So, even as the commission and its senior officials continue to fight for their lives, they can still count on the presidential romance to keep them on the job.

The President’s Jubilee coalition packs quite some punch in Parliament as well and would be more than willing to use its numerical strength to defeat any moves by the Opposition to send the commission packing.

But even the President and Jubilee can only hold onto the IEBC skunk for so long. Beyond the sentimental and the bravado, the IEBC – as it is currently constituted at the top – is of no much use to Kenyans apart from the fat lawyers collecting millions of shillings in legal fees for their services in the hundreds of election petitions challenging the commission’s decisions all over the country.

Burden to taxpayer

But the fact that the commission is turning out to be a burden to the taxpayer is not the real reason President Kenyatta will dump it when the right time comes. It is simply not in the President’s selfish political interest to risk national stability on an institution that is increasingly becoming a figure of hate and sectarian politics.

Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s Opposition Cord coalition has indicated that it will be seeking to have the commission reformed or disbanded through constitutional means. Of course that may include the prospects of street agitation if the government conspires with Parliament to block the reforms.

On that score alone, the authorities should consider the IEBC more of a destablising factor than Mr Odinga’s harmless aide Eliud Owalo, who was last week grilled by CID officers for allegedly plotting to destablise the government.

Equally important, the emerging political divisions around the commission puts its existence at odds with the President’s publicly stated wish for national reconciliation following the divisive election.

Recent opinion polls have shown that the Kenyan political landscape has yet to change much, with the President’s approval ratings floating precariously around the 50 per cent mark, roughly the same as his controversial electoral vote tally that was widely attributed to the tribal “tyranny of numbers”.

I dare say the public confidence in the IEBC must be such that the only elections it can conduct without attracting a cloud of suspicion are those for the President’s TNA party or some village cattle dip in Gatundu or Sugoi.

Otieno Otieno is chief sub-editor, Business Daily. kkotieno@ke.nationmedia.com. Twitter @otienootieno