[wanabidii] HOW TO END THE IEBC STANDOFF WITHOUT DISBANDING THE COMMISSION

FOLKS,

The ongoing war of words as well as violence surrounding the Independent Electoral & Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has reached a crescendo and we need a resolution to this before it gets way out of hand. We must mitigate the damage and needless loss of innocent lives like so we don't r
epeat mistakes of the last several weeks. First of all, let me start by being brutally blunt and calling it as I see it from my view, this is a manufactured crisis, pure and simple – this is purely a Human Resources Administrative matter blown out of proportion unnecessarily for political consumption. Jubilee should have gotten in front of this before CORD baited them with it. Raila Odinga's petulant temper tantrums lashing out against the IEBC over the failed OKOA KENYA referendum initiative have gotten the best of CORD and this needs to stop – bottom-line. The CORDians are acting as rambunctious provocateurs while the Jubilee government is caught totally unprepared and rather than be pragmatic, they are compounding the problem by responding disproportionately with excessive police power instead, it isn't helping much.  They appear to be tone deaf and out of touch with reality, why they keep falling into the CORD's traps befuddles me. Methinks this is a severe indictment of an inherently and hopeless dysfunctional government, all the three branches of government, i.e. Executive, Legislature and Judiciary the consequences of which the rest of us are paying for in the form of corruption and a decaying society of which the current violent demonstrations is a perfect example. CORD is exploiting these systemic dysfunctions to advance its political agenda but at what price? What do we do about it?

IEBC MANAGEMENT IN NOT BLAMELESS AND NEEDS STRICTER OVERSIGHT

First let me say that I am NOT for replacing IEBC commissioners but rather building a layer of oversight on them to hold accountable for their actions and restore public confidence in IEBC. We are NOT replacing the institution but addressing the management gaps within the institution itself. So this talk of IEBC reform is misplaced in my view.  I am not giving the IEBC a pass or excusing them for their culpability in this mess because they themselves have done a lot to precipitate the crisis in the first place, they have themselves to blame as they have built plenty of discontent against the IEBC- a major segment of the public has lost confidence in the IEBC as the demonstrations clearly show but there has to be a reasoned sober way to resolve the impasse - God knows some of the commissioners are corrupt and incompetent which in turn is reflective of the entire commission – the commission is as strong as its weakest link, similarly if the Jubilee government has corrupt and murderous folks in its official ranks, the entire administration is tainted. Be that as it may be, we still have to solve this problem.  Like some of you, I have personally met IEBC Chairman Isaak Hassan many times and I consider him a friend because of our interactions, he is level headed and calm and I know he means well. God knows we have major differences speaking from the Diaspora point of view,  many of us in the Diaspora have a lot of bent up anger and frustration in the way the IEBC has treated and toyed with us over the years with respect to our right to vote, they have purposely disenfranchised us and adamantly refused to move an inch to do their job of registering the Diaspora to vote, they have simply run the clock and dragged us through the courts in resisting our rights to vote in the name of the so called "progressive" clause; so they have been derelict in their duty in more ways than I can explain here – my point here is that if there is anybody with genuine grievances against the IEBC it is us in the Diaspora, not CORD. Not to minimize CORD's case but let's face it, theirs is self-serving and driven as a consequence of the failed OKOA KENYA initiative which we now learn that a significant number of the signatures they tried to pass to get the referendum approved were obtained from a SAFARICOM database and were not verifiable. CORD got caught cheating and they are now lashing out at IEBC, their hands are unclean in this and so I am not too sympathetic to them. So what do we do?

INCREASED OVERSIGHT OF IEBC

As bad actors as some of these commissioners are, I am not necessarily a proponent of changing horses midstream especially given that we are so close to the elections. There is too much that needs to be planned between now election time and if the changes CORD now wants are implemented, they could be too severe, too expensive and too disruptive to be effective and necessarily defeat the purpose they are intended to serve. I think that both the public and the commissioners themselves confuse the term "Independent" with "Autonomy" and act as if they are an island unto themselves, IEBC is NOT an autonomous entity, its independence is only to ensure that it is impartial in dispensing its mandate, they still need to answer to somebody. CORD's reform proposal of partisan staffing of IEBC based on party numerical strength in parliament is a non-starter in my books because they are in essence proposing to institutionalize the same annoying partisan squabbling we see between parties to a supposedly independent IEBC, we must resist that. IEBC must remain independent at ALL times. The oversight secretariat's role is to ensure it acts within the rules and to restore and preserve public confidence in the electoral body.

 

So here is my medicine:

OVERSIGHT SECRETARIAT

We need to create a collaborative "IEBC oversight Secretariat" composed of representatives of all stakeholders – not just the political class as CORD proposes but one that includes the political class in Kenya, the Diaspora, the Labor Movement as well as Non-profits (NGOs). Again, we are NOT replacing the IEBC but improving its management and so it is only fair that we restore public confidence in IEBC by way of more stringent oversight made of the disparate interests in society to make sure the commissioners do what they are supposed to do given their extremely sensitive function in our society.

FUNCTIONS OF THE OVERSIGHT SECRETARIAT

Ø  Monitor the elections process from end to end including but not limited to voter registrations, staffing, voting, results verification and transmissions,

Ø  Elections Rule making and arbitrations

Ø  Budget review, approval, monitoring and Internal audit

Ø  CAPEX - Asset and Equipment Tendering & Acquisition

 

THE DEMONSTRATIONS:

In the meantime, but for their disruptive nuisance value and dramatic effects, I would let the demonstrations run their course if I were Jubilee. The opposition is trying to bait the government in the hope that President Uhuru Kenyatta would take the bait and react forcefully and disproportionately enough for them to then call for international intervention. It is a well-choreographed and orchestrated trap by CORD that the Jubilee government almost certainly walked into two weeks ago with the innocent deaths, to Jubilee I say don't, be foolish. Raila's career is dependent on militancy, it is in his DNA, he thrives in that environment, this IEBC episode is no different and Jubilee will be wise to let him write his own political obituary by reminding Kenyans why he is unfit to be president. Frankly, it is a political gift to Jubilee.

Jubilee government's role is to provide security to the demonstrators, bystanders and businesses alike. Where the demonstrators become disruptive or violent, police then must use surgical precision in their response and remove the bad elements, they must be very cautious and extremely restrain themselves, and only go after the bad apples within the crowds, the objective is CROWD CONTROL while preserving their constitutionally guarantees of freedom of  assembly and speech.