Contrary to the timid image she portrayed in public, Ms Nkatha Maina never shied from a good fight.
When three commissioners stepped out on Monday to announce their resignation from the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), it was Consolata Nkatha Maina who stood out from the pack.
She was the senior-most having served as vice chairperson of the troubled electoral agency. Conventionally one would have expected her to lead the other commissioners-Paul Kurgat and Margaret Mwachanya- in announcing their departure, but she didn’t. Instead it was Ms Mwachanya who made the exit announcement flanked by her two colleagues who didn’t utter a single word.
Unknown to many, this has been Ms Maina’s typical style of handling things in public. She prefers to keep her voice low, but her actions loud.
In fact during her short spell at the IEBC, someone would barely pick her out from the team of commissioners, whose vocal and most visible members were chairman Wafula Chebukati and former commissioner Roselyn Akombe.
Insiders, however, said that despite Ms Maina’s low public profile, she was a fighter behind the scenes and took on anyone holding a view she disliked, including her boss.
Unlike in the past life of the commission where the vice charpersons towed the line of the chairperson, Ms Maina took a different path, often disagreeing with her boss.
Her radical side perhaps best played out when she publicly contradicted a memo by her boss Mr Chebukati which required the IEBC chief executive Mr Ezra Chiloba (now suspended) to respond to a raft of concerns over the annulled August 8, 2017 Presidential Election results.
Ms Maina in a surprise show of dissent issued a statement which stated that: “We wish to clarify that the contents of the said memo (to Chiloba) were not discussed and sanctioned by the Commission Plenary. The commissioners came to know of the memo through the media like everyone else. We wish to reassure the country that the commission is in the process of preparing for a fresh presidential election.”
Interestingly, then commissioners Kurgat and Mwachanya swiftly dissociated themselves with Ms Maina’s stance ---raising concerns over the IEBC’s dysfunctionality. Mr Kurgat later made a hasty retreat and supported Ms Maina’s statement.
Critics from opposition benches cast aspersions on Ms Maina’s supposed “friendliness” with the Jubilee Party, especially after she emerged the beneficiary of amendments to the electoral laws bulldozed by Jubilee legislators despite protest from the opposition.
The changes had empowered the vice chairperson to act in the capacity of national returning officer of the presidential elections and even declare a winner “in the absence” of the IEBC chairman.
The ruling party had at the time suffered a scare after Ms Akombe resigned as commissioner while on her official trip outside the country.
Jubilee legislators and advisors felt there was need to fill the gap, in the event Mr Chebukati too bolted. The changes further reduced the quorum of the commission from five to half of the existing members but not less than three.
That meant that if for any reason Mr Chebukati would have failed to announce the presidential result, Ms Maina would have declared the next President after the October 26 re-run.
The High Court two weeks ago, however, declared the amendments to the electoral law and the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Act last October invalid—reinforcing views by critics that the rushed changes were mainly targeted at boosting Jubilee’s chances of staying in power.
The resignation of Ms Maina, Mr Kurgat and Ms Mwachanya leaves the IEBC heavily crippled with only two commissioners; Abdi Guliye and Boya Molu and the chairman, Mr Chebukati.
The IEBC’s secretariat also has leadership vacuum after Mr Chiloba was last week sent on three months’ compulsory leave pending an audit on procurement matters.
For now it remains unclear what Ms Maina’s next move will be even as Mr Chebukati and the two remaining commissioners vowed to stay put despite rising public pressure to throw in the towel and allow for fresh blood at the electoral agency.
Born in 1960 in Meru County, Ms Maina attended primary and secondary schools in Meru and Nairobi counties and holds two diplomas from London Chamber of Commerce and Industry, one in public relations and another in business studies.
She also has a Master of Science degree in Public Relations from University of Stirling in Scotland and diploma in public relations.
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