After two years wasted in political mischief, Kenya finally has an Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC). It is relatively youngish, energetic and ready for the difficult task ahead.
The challenge before Erastus Edung Ethekon and his commissioners is not the short time in which to deliver elections and boundary delimitations. It is in rebuilding the lost trust among Kenyans in institutions and structures. He has a sharp presence of mind, is highly exposed in managing different types of conflicts, and is conscious of what lies ahead.
He has initiative, drive, and a commanding presence that others follow. When National Assembly leadership—Speaker Francis ole Kaparo and Clerk Samuel Ndindiri—allowed a Parliamentary Internship Programme, for instance, Ethekon was one of the first ten participants from two universities. Other interns quickly identified him as their leader. Of the various election commissions, the Ethekon IEBC is the most disadvantaged in terms of time and resources.
There was Samuel Kivuitu, who had become ECK chair in 1996, conducted the 1997 election which Moi won, the 2002 election which Mwai Kibaki won, the 2005 Referendum, and was due to retire in 2006.
He did not retire because orchestrated chants of ‘No Kivuitu, No Election’ forced him to stay and conduct the 2007 election. Although Kibaki won narrowly, the accompanying disturbances forced Kenya to have a coalition government with Raila as prime minister.
With Kivuitu out, new election bodies were seemingly friendly to Raila. First was the one with Hassan as chair and Major James Oswago as chief executive that conducted the 2013 election. When Uhuru defeated Raila, Hassan’s team was accused of eating chicken and was hounded out of office. There followed Wafula Chebukati’s team to conduct the 2017 election, after which Chebukati was accused of electoral impropriety, for which the court ordered a repeat of the presidential election. Uhuru still won. In 2022, Uhuru was not a candidate and he supported Raila against Deputy President William Ruto. Raila lost again, and Chebukati was blamed.
When Chebukati retired in January 2023, the responsible authorities failed to appoint a new commission for at least two years before giving that responsibility to Ethekon. The delay, it appeared, was designed to create a constitutional crisis in order to postpone the election. Suspicion of ill motive intensified, thereby subjecting Ethekon to public distrust, especially because he had served as Turkana’s County Attorney when Josphat Nanok was governor of Turkana County. Nanok now works for Ruto at State House.
Since no other electoral body started its work under such a cloud of distrust, Ethekon needs to apply his expertise in conflict management to achieve three things. First would be to restore trust in IEBC as an institution, which means getting Kenyans to trust him to do the right thing.
In doing so, he would have to contend with the ghosts of past elections, such as the supposed Venezuelan electoral magic worker whom the Raila team blamed for their loss. There is also the ghost of Chris Msando who, having assured the public that tampering with the election was impossible, died. Despite the assurance, there were still claims of election tampering that supposedly denied Raila his electoral victory.
The second thing would be to deliver credible elections at all levels, starting with the looming seven Parliamentary and fifteen MCA seats as trial balloons.
Third, he will need to deliver on boundary delimitation within the available short time. To do it, he may have to reorganise various departments—perhaps even suggest creating new ones. All those things and others might help to improve the image of the IEBC in the public arena.
By-elections or boundaries pale when compared to the distrust fuelled by Rutocrats with their destructive tongues. These people actually need mouth speed governors. The chances of Ethekon persuading Rutocrats not to complicate his work with irresponsible utterances are not high, but he can try.Bottom of Form
