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.