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Nairobi, 10th December, 2011
Although the road to 2012 general elections is paved with huge administrative and statutory timeliness that must be adhered to, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), is nonetheless committed to give Kenyans credible and all inclusive elections. That is our business and our resolve.
The new elections are challenging not only for electoral management body, but also for the voters and the political actors. It is a combination of First Past the Post (FPTP) and the Party List system. Voters will vote for six (6) candidates in a day (President, MP, Governor, Senator, Woman Rep and County Rep).
As an inheritor of both the Interim Independent Electoral Commission (IIEC) and the Interim Independent Boundaries Review Commission (IIBRC), IEBC is keen to build on the success of the two institutions so as to deliver free, fair and transparent elections.
Most processes and activities required to hold a huge election like the one ahead of us, are sequential and therefore an activity can only start once the preceding one is complete. For example, Section 28 of the Elections Act, 2011 requires registered political parties to submit their party membership lists to the Registrar of Political Parties (RPP) at least 3 months before they nominate their candidates. The IEBC is required by section sections 16 and 17 of the Elections Act to receive party nominations at least 21 days before an election. But to start with, Political Parties cannot have a list of members if voter registration and the verification of the register are not accomplished.
The Constitution, the IEBC Act, the Election Act and the Political Parties Act all set clear guidelines and timeframes within which each exercise is to be completed; commencing from 14th November, 2011, the date the IEBC Commissioners were sworn in. The commencement of the Political Parties Act (2nd Nov., 2011) sets a rigorous 180 day timeline which political parties and candidates must comply with. The Commission has a role to ensure that the rules are followed. For example, candidates must not participate in public fund raising or Harambee 8 months before the general election.
There are also administrative and logistical processes and activities that require strict adherence of the law. The procurement of materials is guided by the Public Procurement Act, which also has timelines and processes, which depending on the amounts involved, could take not less than two months to complete.
To meet these legal timelines, the Commission has developed its own timelines which it strives to implement with some clockwork tenacity. We will strive to meet each of these legal requirements even though they do not congregate towards the achievement the ultimate deadline.
High on the Commission’s priority list is the delimitation of boundaries and voter registration. The IEBC Act dictates the manner and timeframe within which the Commission should deal with issues arising out of the first review of constituency boundaries.
The IEBC Act, 5th Schedule Section 2(2) lists these issues and sets a maximum of four months for the completion of the process.
We have this far studied and interrogated the IIBRC report and that of the Parliamentary Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs. The necessary infrastructure, equipment and personnel have been sourced and critical work is going on well.
A preliminary report is scheduled to be ready, by first week of January. The commission will share this report with the public and other stakeholders. The following are the time allocations for the execution of the mandate on boundary delimitation:
21 days for IEBC to seek public views and publish a report
14 days for IEBC to revise the report based of public views and submit to Parliament
14 days for Parliamentary select to table report to Parliament with its recommendations
7 days for Parliament to consider and forward report to IEBC with its recommendations
14 days for IEBC to prepare final report and gazette it
30 days for any aggrieved party to file an application in the high court
30 days for High Court to hear and determine any related cases
30 days for IEBC to conduct public education on the new boundaries
On voter registration, the Commission plans to register 8 million more voters (from the registered 12.4m). But registering voters and when delimitation of boundaries is going on poses huge technical and logistical challenges for the Commission. It means that some voters will have to be transferred to the polling stations of their choices when the exercise is over. Yet waiting for the boundaries to be determined first before embarking on voter registration, could mean delaying the publishing of the voter register and subsequently elections.
To mitigate these challenges, the Commission plans to recruit and train staff especially for the new constituencies. Due to time constraint, voter registration will be conducted in strictly 30 days and there will not be any extensions as has been in the past. The Commission, in partnership with civil society, media and other stakeholders, plans to carry out an intensive voter education exercise. The Commission must also conduct voter registration for Kenyans living abroad and prepare a Diaspora Register. All voter registration exercise must come to an end 90 days before elections and voter will be given 30 days to inspect the register and confirm their details.
The Commission’s timeframe is optimistic, if not ambitious. It has tried to compress and fast-track processes. It has assumed the best case scenarios where objections and court cases will not further delay the process. It hopes that potential voters who do not have ID cards will acquire them in time for voter registration. It prays that political parties will meet their side of the bargain. It hopes that the required funds will be available and on time. But even with the best case scenarios, these timelines simply overrun the runway!
Ahmed Issack Hassan, Chairman IEBC. |
