Although the two warring political scions in the East African nation of Kenya are now reconciled, as Kenyans would say, it is not yet uhuru in the political domain. The latest rupture in Kenya’s electoral body buttresses the fact.
Three officials of Kenya’s Independent Electoral Boundaries Commission resigned this week over the suspension of the body’s chief executive officer who was sent on compulsory leave. The leave was ostensibly to pave the way for full investigations into the commission’s conduct in the two elections held last year.
A report said the three commissioners complained that the suspension of their boss, Ezra Chiloba, did not follow due process. According to them, “The challenges of the 2017 elections call for the commission to self-reflect and to institutionalize best practices. However the institution has continued to be dysfunctional with arbitrary decision making and leaking of internal documents”. They said the Chairman of the commission had failed to be “the steady and stable hand that steers the ship in difficult times.”
The country’s main opposition party led by Raila Odinga claimed some commissioners in the seven-member electoral authority were heavily involved in electoral fraud in the first election held on August 8, 2017, in which the incumbent president, Uhuru Kenyatta, was declared the winner. The vote was, however, later nullified by the Supreme Court.
It will be recalled that the Chairman of the Independent Electoral Boundaries Commission, Wafula Chebukati, had also suspended Ezra Chiloba during the repeat election held on October 26 last year after the opposition protested his involvement. President Kenyatta won the re-run election after Mr. Odinga boycotted it citing lack of electoral reforms.
The silver lining on the horizon is that President Kenyatta and Mr. Odinga have papered through their differences in the greater interest of Kenya.
