Tag: IEBC

EACC Exonerating Isaack Hassan Tactical, IEBC Reforms Must Go Beyond Commissioners to Secure Fair Polls in 2017

Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission chairman Isaack Hassan

The incompetence of IEBC is not about chicken gate alone; the body itself admitted that there were numerous electoral malpractices in the 2013 general elections. The Supreme Court, which is the highest court of the land despite its ruling on the presidential petition, also noted that the 2013 polls had problems.

Nothing much has been done to reform the body, and the country is now 13 months to the next general elections. The opposition has held several street protests demanding the disbandment of the current IEBC; the calls have seen the formation of Joint select committee look into concerns raised about the credibility of the electoral body.

Dilly dallying can be seen from quotas that are anti-IEBC reforms. Perception has now been created by the Chepkonga led Justice and Legal Affairs Committee (JLAC) that IEBC carried the day after its chairperson Issack Hassan was cleared of any wrongdoing in the procurement of BVR kits that failed immensely during the 2013 polls. Any seriously thinking Kenyan knows that the people who benefited from the 2013 malpractices cannot support the disbandment or the current IEBC or removal of its chairperson.

Clearing Hassan is a ploy to insulate him from facing prosecution. The public cannot be fooled that only the former IEBC chief executive James Oswago is responsible for the infamous chicken gate scandal alongside other three ‘small’ accomplices the committee allowed to be prosecuted. It’s a pity that EACC has also turned to be a clearinghouse for highly connected. Oswago said that he was not allowed by EACC to complete the statement he had begun making a month ago. “Any accused person must be given time to defend himself. The EACC may be trying to divert public attention from a particular matter”, said Oswago.

The electoral environment has not changed since 2013, and it’s absurd for Hassan to celebrate and sit pretty preparing for next polls. Serious reforms are needed to secure proper elections in 2017, and the reforms must go beyond the commission. Voter registration must be seriously conducted without favouring any region and issues on technology to be used must be resolved.

Leaders of IEBC must inspire the nation, and the Hassan led commission lacks public confidence, and something must be done within the timeline. Relevant teams must put the country first and work expeditiously hard to reform the IEBC and avoid pushing back the election date which can be very expensive for the country. Change of election date extends the term of the president which can only be affected through a referendum.

It’s sad to note that time wastage through unnecessary debates between JLAC and Joint Select Committees may force the nation to push back election date. AG Githu Muigai, for instance, is asking for the 2017 poll date postponed allowing proper reconstitution of the ongoing reforms including putting in place new IEBC commissioners. The constitution is clear on the election date, August 8th, 2017.

Attempts to postpone elections will be seen as a plot by the president to extend his term which may plunge the country into more arguments. There is enough time to reform IEBC and have the next elections held as stipulated in the constitution.

July 24, 2016
Why I Support Wetangula’s Call For Raila To Give Up His Presidential Bid

Bungoma Senator Moses Wetangula

On Thursday the political temperatures shot high with streets buzzing with the debate sparked by Bungoma Senator and CORD’s co-principal Moses Wetangula. He had earlier in the day called out for his counterpart Raila Odinga to give up his political ambitions following his previous unsuccessful bids. Weta argued that Raila has made more than enough shots, and it’s the right time he gave up and let others like him attempt their luck.

The argument as anticipated was received with mixed reactions, Raila opponents applauded Weta for it and ran away with the story to escalated grounds. Raila’s supporters were on the other end unamused in what they say are impairing efforts by Jubilee to weaken CORD. The majority language is that Weta has been bought by Jubilee and joining likes of Ababu, the CORD rebels said to have been heavily pocketed by the monied jubilee.

While trading accusations is a political norm, I don’t see anything wrong in Wetangula calling for Raila to call off his bid. In a healthy democracy that CORD fundamentals are supposedly built on, is a good sign of maturity and free speech space. CORD supporters should take pride in having space where one is allowed to express himself and challenge the leader.

What a better time for this debate to come than now when Jubilee leadership in Central Kenya has sent a stark warning to all aspirants that vying on any party other than JAP and supporting anyone other than President Uhuru would be severely consequential. This shows the minimal democratic space within the party, exhibiting dictatorial tendencies.

By CORD having space for anyone to raise a voice and challenge the de facto leader is a good move in the right way. The times of ‘ndio baba’ Moi era politics is long gone and should never make a comeback. Presidential nominations for CORD should be fair, Raila is not the ordained candidate, the coalition’s secretariat has made it clear that the candidate would be picked through a constitutional process. Weta as a hopeful is right in fighting for his space. As an art of war, deal with the biggest threats first.

As to whether Wetangula has the muscle might to head CORD and win elections is another matter. The Senator has been fumbling with no firm position on his political future, as we had reported earlier on a Kenya Insights Weta is also eyeing the Nairobi gubernatorial seat. Close sources confide in me that he’s financially limping and would take up any attractive deal including joining Jubilee. If Ababu with all that my DNA is ODM and his blood incompatible with Jubilee shenanigans changed overnight what can stop Weta?

Talking of which politics and politicians are about securing personal interests, that’s the unwritten law, and there’s nothing wrong politicians will see in shifting allegiances as long as their interests are guaranteed. What’s wrong with joining Jubilee after all? Let Weta dance and let Raila fight for his place, and it should never be a silver plate service.

Save

Save

July 22, 2016
Toothless EACC Fails To Tackle the Sh.52M Chickengate Scandal as Deadline Lapses

Integrity House, the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission headquarters in Nairobi

The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has apparently embarked on a cat and mouse games in dealing with the Chickengate probe- the Sh.52M bribery scandal involving National Exams Council and the electoral commission. The EACC Chairman Philip Kinisu in February promised that the investigations into the matter would be concluded in under a month.

On March 18, the EACC boss Halakhe Waqo appearing before a parliamentary committee said that the report was finished, and he would forward the files to DPP Tobiko for the prosecution of those involved by 30th June. As it turned out, this was all a bluff, and the commission seems to have done zero investigations or is sitting on the report.

The scandal involved inflation of ballot papers prices as part of the kickbacks from the UK’s printing firm, Smith and Ouzman Ltd in the heights to 2013 elections. IEBC Chairman Issack Hassan tops the list of Kenyan officials who ‘ate’ the chicken. Others named in the scandal Davis Chirchir, an IEBC Commissioner then (he was rewarded with Energy CS post in Jubilee and was later sacked over graft allegations), James Oswago, Gladys Boss Shollei.

While the Kenyan counterparts are roaming free with no fear, a London court sentenced two directors of the printing company involved in the bribery scandal to jail. UK government even handed over the files and pieces of evidence they used to imprison the bribing US firm to the Kenyan authorities. EACC was tasked to investigate then forward files to the DPP.

Mentioned in the Chickengate scandal. From left: Mr Davis Chirchir, former Energy CS; Paul Wasanga, former KNEC

EACC is yet to do what they were mandated to do. Less can be written home about EACC effectiveness, countable or no prominent graft case that they’ve successfully solved. In the latest budgetary allocations, EACC got Sh. 2B more to their kitty. Kenya loses approximately Sh. 700B annually to corruption and most, if not all of it, is never recovered.

The anti-graft commission has been actively viewed as a pro graft body with critics saying it’s not free from executive control.

In the height of NYS scandal, EACC did ‘investigations’ and gave the then Devolution CS Ann Waiguru a clean bill of health. It later turned out money was lost in NYS and the ‘clean’ Waiguru was named as the mastermind of the nearly a billion-shilling rip off scheme.
Some people jokingly refer to EACC as the clearing commission, a quick refuge for the graft kings.

They rush here for clearance after looting. The legitimacy, reputation and integrity of the anti-graft body is highly questionable and leaves more to desire. The CEO Halakhe has also been named in several scandals with many critics accusing him of being subject to compromise by the corruption cartel.

Why is it taking EACC long to act on the Chickengate scandal, what more do they need when the UK government already made work easier and handed them over the evidence for the prosecution and nailing the suspects.

July 14, 2016
Peter Kenneth’s obvious call to Issack Hassan and IEBC Commissioners

09 June 2015 – Peter Kenneth (PK), a 2013 General Election Presidential candidate who is thought to be yearning for the Nairobi Governorship seat has written to IEBC Chairman Isaack Hassan begging with him to vacate office.

PK urged the under-fire chairman to read the mood and know its to quit rather than keep clinging on to a losing cause.

Peter Kenneth is the latest to join the #IEBCOUT! chorus that has been speareheaded by the Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD).

Here is the letter by PK.

An open letter to Issack Hassan IEBC Commissioners

“It’s time

It’s time for you to step down and let the country move forward, how many more people shall die, get injured, businesses destroyed?

There are serious doubts over IEBC’s ability to preside over a free election in this country, without the results being clouded with doubts.

It you have not noticed the political debate is no longer about whether you will leave but the mechanics of your exit and how to replace you.

Forget the politics; forget the protests-the ultimate truth is your exit is already a foregone conclusion. It is a matter of when not if.

Do the honourable thing. EXIT

Save the government the tear gas and the bullets; save the protesters the energy and tears and the country the pointless drama.

Do the honourable thing. EXIT

Put country first; The country is Greater.”

Peter Kenneth

The current IEBC office bearers has been under extreme quit calls from all quarters including the government.

June 9, 2016
IEBC Standoff: Gentlemen Hold on And Lets Talk

Police putting off fire lit up by rioters in Kisumu during the demos

Weeks continue to pile and so has CORD’s anti-IEBC demos that have intensified and spread through the country. The standoff is over IEBC that the opposition wants bundled out, and the ruling party Jubilee is vowing with a clenched fist to retain.

In their stand, CORD says IEBC marred with integrity issues backdating to flawed 2013 elections that allegedly flocked with fraudulent stints. The chicken-gate scandal that has been haunting the Isaack Hassan led commission for the longest time with their UK counterparts serving jail time.

As clock ticks towards 2017 general election, the stakeholders i.e. CORD and Jubilee have resorted to standing their grounds despite calls for them to loosen up. Last week, the president had invited the CORD principals for a luncheon in the Statehouse where they are said to have discussed the contagious IEBC topic and struck a deal.

In a quick twirl, the Jubilee divide rubbished off claims by CORD that they had hit a deal. Further stirred confusion making CORD stage another demo having called it off a week earlier to give room for dialogue.

Demonstrators in Kisumu carry away body of one of their own shot dead by police

Demos staged countrywide would see a terminal end in Kisumu where two protestors were confirmed dead and scores injured. The number adds to the previous fatalities in the Luo Nyanza region to five, previously police had killed three people.

With the two parties maintaining stiff standpoints and the only persons landed baggage being the citizens who suffer casualties, a voice of tranquility is highly needed. It’s worth noting that, as it stands, the IEBC turmoil is way beyond constitutionality, reduced to supremacy and dick measuring battle.

Puffed ego between state who are determined to show the opposition who runs the show and has the muscles. The opposition who are hell bent to put the state on its toes with pressured demos until they give in.
But really, do we have to continue counting the dead bodies, shed more blood, watch mothers mourn their sons to wake up to the reality?

Shattered walls of Tumaini Supermarket in Kisumu by rioters

Historically, rough demos resulted not only in deaths but humanity deliberating policies. However, as one Martin Luther King, Jr. once put it, “violence never brings permanent peace. It solves no social problem, and it merely creates new and more complicated ones.”

As a country we can’t solve IEBC impasse with violence and think it will solve it, we’re simply breeding more problems given the sensitive period we’re in heading to 2017. It is time as one the late Prof. George Saitoti once put it that it comes a time when the interest of the nation is more important than the individuals.

A pledge goes to the president and the opposition leader, call a cease-fire, let’s sober down, put aside our personal interest and put the nation ahead. Swallowing pride might be a hard one to swallow, but history will judge you right as having statesmanship spirit.

A demonstrator in Homabay

IEBC standoff will not go away, and apparently the commission has lost almost half of the country’s confidence given political dynamics. For a free and fair elections that will be acceptable and paramount to peace, an electoral commission must be seen trustworthy and of high integrity, something current group lacks.

As of my recent article on the IEBC topic, a political solution, as opposed to constitutional, will bail out the botheration. Now more than ever Mr. President and Rt. Hon, the country needs you, don’t allow a single drop of blood.

As I ink this, a kid in Kisumu has had a bullet removed from his back after being shot by a police officer who apparently opened fire in the residential areas. This young boy will never live a normal life, apart from trauma, his physical condition is bound to twist.

I watched the photos of the kid wreathing in pain and I didn’t like it, and I want to believe it disturbed you too. Gentlemen, swallowing your pride doesn’t equal weakness, leadership requires wisdom and knowing you hold livelihoods of many at your hands, sobriety is vital.

Rise above your egos and don’t abscond to the call of leadership and save the nation. Lastly, Swallow your pride occasionally, it doesn’t fatten.

Save

June 6, 2016
Parading Of Injured Cops A Disastrous Propaganda

Following Monday’s IEBC protests that CORD staged countrywide, and that turned murderous with police accused of turning brutal against peaceful demonstrators. According to confirmed reports with grapevines having bigger numbers, a total of three people were shot dead by the police with scores hospitalized with serious injuries.

In what apparently seemed like an order from above, the officers dispersed the crowds using live bullets as opposed to teargas and water cannons that they’ve been using in the past protests leaving to the bloodbath.

In what would be read as a grave warning to the relentless opposition, the police applied ultimate force in containing the situation. The brutality got to the extreme that the silent foreign envoy and human rights lobby groups came out of their mansions to condemn the government for using force.

US ambassador, Goddec, led in calling for a quick solution condemning the brutal police force on citizens.
Despite video evidence showing protestors staging peaceful demos before the police disrupting with teargas and live bullets, the police insisted most of the protestors were violent forcing them to use live ammunition.

The cops being received by CS and Police IG at the Wilson Airport

In a bid to justify the killings in Nyanza, the police did what has now lived to become the biggest muff of the decade, decided to airlift ‘injured’ officers from Kisumu to Nairobi for specialized treatment.

Undoubtedly, the event was given maximum publicity with senior security officers from Permanent Secretary to Police IG being on standby at the Wilson airport to receive the injured police officers. All media houses were giving up to the second updates, government social media accounts giving up to microseconds update, the hashtag commandos were pushing the injured cops hashtags, shedding all tears in the world.

Meanwhile, photos from Kisumu Airport where the injured officers were to board their choppers, showed a different story, the officers seemed okay with bandages to their arms to signify slight injuries if there were any.

A journalist covering the event from Kisumu Airport pointed how comical it was to watch one officer who was limping to the chopper then suddenly remembered he had left his luggage behind, dashed off as fit as a fiddle before coming back limping.

The hawkeyed Kenyans on social media sensed foul play pointing out blunders. Most of the injured officers were seniors in the ranks, traditionally in violent situations; the senior officers wouldn’t take front lead exposing them to danger.

Nearly all of them were injured to the arms and specifically to the left, a coincidence that threw all eyebrows up the forehead. Officers who were pictured walking to the choppers by themselves in Kisumu on reaching Wilson now couldn’t walk by themselves, had to be helped and taken away in stretchers. All red flags.

Instead of taking the officers to the Forces Memorial where injured officers are treated or even Kenyatta Hospital the government’s facility, they were taken to a down small hospital in Nairobi West; some commentators even called it a brothel hospital whatever that is.

The thing here is, this was a misguided propaganda meant to gain public sympathy and justify the brutality and killings of the police an issue that was piling pressure on the state from local and foreign bodies.

However, this move that would also be read as a justification for police brutality on citizens shortly acted in the opposite by humiliating the police force which before the public should be seen as immortal and robust enough to protect them.

Now here we saw brutalized police who were now overpowered by civilians with rungus and stones yet the police had guns. The police in this move came out as overwhelmed by the demonstrating civilians. It would also expose the police for future assaults should any protest arise.

The desperate measure led to even a hopeless situation, and now we have a weak police force before the face of the world which isn’t the case. If the officers were indeed injured Jaramogi referral hospital in Kisumu or Eldoret, have the capacity to handle such. Using the police to score political points is misguided and ended up deflating the police muscles before the public eye. A deadpan propaganda gaffe.

June 4, 2016
The Die Is Cast For Isaack Hassan And His IEBC Team

Following prolonged and weekly anti-IEBC demos spearheaded by CORD, the coalition at last called off the protests that in the last phase turned tragic with more than five people fell by police bullets and scores injured in the countrywide demonstrations.

CORD leadership in retreating said they were giving the government side a window period to consider dialogue on the smooth transition of the electoral body. However in a quick rejoinder, legislators allied to the Jubilee party laughed off opposition’s demands saying parliament is the only deciding factor in the IEBC turmoil, this given their monopoly in parliament will provide them with a smooth sail.

Elsewhere, despite the deafening loud cries, the Isaak Hassan led commission has stood its ground vowing never to resign come Jesus or devil. In the latest pompous assertion, the IEBC chairperson said they would rather go to jail than quit; this was in line with the chicken gate scandal.

Like most of past public interest cases like that of former finance minister Kimunya who famously said he’d rather die than resign, to Waiguru, who rubbished off resignation calls, Isaack, and his team has adopted the familiar sound of standing firm despite public pressure.

Police going after a protestor during the anti IEBC demos

As history would have it, most of those who publicly defied the pressure did so just for a moment before the kitchen caught fire and they stormed out. The die is cast for Hassan and his team. However, much high and hard faced they might want the public to see.

As an electoral body, public trust and integrity are a significant factor in upholding its existence, and as things stand, IEBC doesn’t meet the threshold.

Demographically, half of the Kenya’s electorate figures given political factors that are CORD vs. Jubilee and rest who are pro-IEBC have lost trust in the electoral body. This in the spirit of public interest disqualifies the current IEBC as it is to oversee the incoming elections.

IEBC still have a corruption scandal, the chicken gate to deal with, while the corrupt counterparts I the UK are in jail surrounded by police, in Kenya the chicken gate fellows are also having police protection only that they’re inside their offices, free.

Translucently, IEBC is still under focus following the failures of the BVR kits during the last elections that was highly contested and recently according to sources, and the same tools loaned to Burundi where again the elections were allegedly marred with inconsistencies.

Adding up all these fundamental issues makes IEBC, not one of the best to go on with into the next elections. Integrity is critical and also given Kenya’s history with post-election violence blamed on skewed polling system, the country can’t afford to gamble with its existing or assumed peace.

Alternatively, away from the unending fiasco, the debate can be brought to rest with a political solution. We must agree as a constitutional body, and IEBC should only be removed within the constraints of law, but that won’t be possible given the political temperatures and legislative composition which will give one side an open upper hand.

Kenya must adopt a political solution rather than constitutional in ending the IEBC standoff.

An old lady trapped in the lethal smoke of teargas lobbied by the police during the demos in Nairobi

Synchronically, the opposition, CORD, have called off the weekly demos to give space for a dialogue a political path that should move towards untying the tight knot. Giving their demands, CORD proposed for Jubilee to nominate their choices to IEBC, and they will also do and bring in a neutral body, advising UN to oversee the incoming elections that the opposition have largely accused the government of plotting to rig. This system applied in South Africa during the post-apartheid period when Mandela came home from jail. Like a hen whose head has been cut off, Isaak Hassan and his team can jump up and down but it’s only moments before they go silent.

June 4, 2016