IEBC must prepare well to conduct polls with integrity

By RAPHAEL OBONYO

Recently, Parliament threw out proposed changes to the Election Act that were meant to address a high threshold placed on the Independent Electoral Boundaries Commission (IEBC) in conducting the elections by the Supreme Court decision of 2017 that nullified a presidential electoral victory.

Kenyans and politicians vying for various positions are now keen on the heavy task that has been placed on the IEBC to ensure that it earns their trust as it prepares for a highly contested transition election.

Without the proposed changes, one of the things that will now give IEBC a serious headache is the role of deployment of technology in conducting elections. It has failed in the previous two elections, denting its credibility after the nullification of the 2017 presidential results due to technological failure.

The 2017 General Election was the first to be held under an elaborate regime of electoral laws, including amendments to the Elections Act that introduced the Kenya Integrated Electoral Management System (KIEMS).

KIEMS is a device intended for biometric voter registration, and, on Election Day, for voter identification and the transmission of election results from polling stations simultaneously to the Constituency Tallying Centre and the National Tallying Centre for presidential results tallying.

In the 2017 election, IEBC announced results when all Forms 34A generated at the polling stations had not been submitted electronically to the NTC as required by Section 39 (1C) of the Elections Act.

The IEBC recently said it has acquired satellite modems for areas with no Internet network to enable the transmission of results electronically. To ensure this success, chief executive Marjan Hussein said they will work closely with the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA).

Mr Hussein claimed that the CA has submitted the GPS locations of all polling centres. Only 1,111 polling stations don’t have a 3G or 4G network.

Let us not forget that the only way to guarantee that past events witnessed after contested polls will not repeat themselves is to have a credible electoral process.

The IEBC must deploy enough human and material resources to ensure polls are credible and transparent.

The late enactment of electoral laws is another challenge. The Kriegler Commission report recommended legislation to be done at least two years before a General Election. The latest enactment only serves to undermine IEBC planning.

Insufficient time to prepare for elections is likely to expose IEBC to possible legal minefields, as we witnessed in 2017.

Other challenges facing IEBC include highly ethnicized and divisive politics. The IEBC officials have had to deal with ethnic profiling during election season, making them insecure and prone to attacks.

Having raised the bar higher on the importance of the role of technology in the electoral process, IEBC should now start engaging all the players including civil society in the electoral process and continuously demonstrate its preparedness for the task ahead. Confidence in IEBC has always waned as the election draws close.

The IEBC has not been able to prepare for elections early enough, a thing that has failed to inspire the confidence of Kenyans that it will conduct free, fair, verifiable, accountable, and transparent elections.

If the recently concluded voter listing and the allegations of tampering with voters’ register would be a pointer, the IEBC needs to work harder to inspire confidence in Kenyans.

Flawed elections have often eroded the trust of citizens in the democratic process- they become a source of disillusionment and violence.

The results of Kenya’s 2007, 2013, and 2017 elections were widely contested with blame-shifting towards the IEBC, and in two of the elections- 2007 and 2017, violent protests erupted.

Mr. Obonyo is Public Analyst