The prolonged crisis at the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) is taking a heavy toll on the country’s democratic process.
Having been reduced to a skeleton upon the resignation of some commissioners and expiry of others’ terms, the secretariat in place cannot handle its core mandate.
As such, not only have the electorate in Banissa constituency gone without representation in the National Assembly, for close to a year, but the 12-year constitutional deadline to review boundaries and therein the probability of adding more constituencies is also just weeks away before end month.
Their then MP Kullow Maalim Hassan died on March 29 last year and the constitutional 90 days within which they were to have a bi-election has long lapsed.
The mistrust between the political divides saw their battle over IEBC’s reconstitution in and out of court with eventual preference for dialogue.
This latest option portended a deal struck in the report of the national dialogue committee presented to President William Ruto and opposition leader Raila Odinga on Friday.
The bipartisan report recommends an amendment to the IEBC Act, of 2011 to reconstitute the selection panel increasing it from the current seven to nine members to accommodate a wide spectrum of stakeholders and interest groups such as the Law Society of Kenya.
To avoid a similar pitfall in future Mandera North MP Bashir Abdullahi is proposing that the IEBC CEO be empowered to conduct by-elections when the commission is not properly constituted.
Besides the February High court orders to the Nelson Makanda-led IEBC selection panel to immediately recruit the new commission within 90 days, the next constituencies and wards boundaries review ought to be undertaken and completed by this month.
Giverson Maina
