The hidden trust problem for IEBC in 2022

The belated process to fill the four Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) vacancies entered a crucial stage with the start of interviews for 36 shortlisted candidates last week.

Live TV coverage of the interviews has afforded the recruitment a measure of transparency that will hopefully reduce suspicions about the usual monkey business by the political elite – for now.

The pattern of questions by members of the selection panel so far suggests they acknowledge the credibility crisis the electoral agency faces ahead of what is shaping up to be another challenging general election.

Like many of us, they also appear to believe the problem for the IEBC has to do with the presidential poll. 

That’s understandable, given the heavy flak the electoral agency took the last time out for its incredibly clumsy results transmission and vote tallying during the 2017 presidential election.

The landmark Supreme Court judgment overturning President Uhuru Kenyatta’s re-election victory made the IEBC look uglier than it probably is.

Yet restricting the scrutiny of the IEBC’s election management flaws to the presidential race grossly understates the trust problem.

A review of the legal issues from the 2017 election by the Carter Center found that a total of 388 petitions challenging the results of the down-ballot races – for governor, senator, woman representative, MP (National Assembly), MCA and party nominees – were filed by August 10, 2018.

IEBC’s strategic plan

The number of election petitions more than doubled from the 188 disputes handled by the courts in 2013.

Although only a small number of these petitions resulted in nullifications and by-elections, they no doubt cost the IEBC some trust among the aggrieved candidates and voters who may have accepted the outcome of the court adjudication only reluctantly.

The large number of disputes from down-ballot races are equally costly to the taxpayer, having turned the IEBC into a cash dispensing machine for lawyers.

The electoral commission, which hardly ever has enough money to register voters, paid a cool Sh202 million to law firms in 2017 alone!

Chief Justice Martha Koome, in her speech read during the launch of IEBC’s strategic plan last month, challenged the IEBC to find a way to cut down its election disputes, citing the situation in Ghana where the courts only handled seven such cases.

“Is it that the people of Ghana trust the electoral commission more than we do, or is it that Kenyans are more litigious than our brothers out there?” she posed. 

Well, this question of trust is perhaps the most important question the IEBC has to answer as it prepares for the 2022 elections. But it won’t solve the problem by focusing on the presidential election while paying lip serve to the down-ballot races.

Going by the experience from recent by-elections, every race in places like Mt Kenya where a localised succession battle is under way will present a big test for the election officials.

[email protected]. @otienootieno