Efforts to push through electoral reforms gained fresh impetus yesterday after the Parliamentary Committee on the Constitution picked members body meant to spearhead transformation. Nairobi lawyer Miller was appointed chairman of a nine-member Interim Independent Electoral Commission, which replaces the Electoral Commission of Kenya. Focus now shifts to Parliament, which has to approve names of officials before the team can begin Its work. The first task will Lie to establish an efficient and effective secretariat and conduct fresh registration of voters as well as a new voters register.
We will make the selection of the eight members of the IIEC later this afternoon and hopefully table our report in Parliament tomorrow morning,” said PSC chairman Abdikadir Mohamed yesterday. The new commission will also have to handle the expected by-elections in llomachoge and several other seats, which fell vacant for different reasons. The speaker of the National Assembly cannot issue writs to set the stage for the by-elections since there is no electoral body to communicate to.
ECK was accused of fiddling with the 2007 election. The appointments end a month of jostling which saw 43 people express interest in the position of chair to the new electoral body. Over 2,000 people had applied to be members of the team, but only 60 were shortlisted. The new commission will face its biggest test in restoring institutional legitimacy and public confidence in Kenya’s electoral system, which has been deeply eroded due to the flawed December elections. Kenyans have lost confidence in institutions of governance and this is one thing that the commission must endeavour to change, ” said Tiberius Barasa, apolitical analyst with the Institute of PolicyAnalysis and Research (IPAR,), “The team will have to con-tend with public skepticism to succeed in its mandate since Kenyans want the reforms.”
A new report on the performance of the grand coalition Government casts doubt on the commitment of the establishment in pushing for reforms. -So far, them has been minimal progress on a number of issues . It’s noteworthy that publie perception of Government commitment to Implementing reforms is as low as 30 per cent:.
The survey was commissioned by the Panel of Eminent African Personalities chaired by LIN Secretary General Kofi Annan, Who brokered a peace deal in February last year . The formation of the commission could also see the High Court lift the suspension of election petitions which were put aside in January as they could not be heard -without electoral officials, following the disbandment of ECK. Some 39 petitions were flied soon after the December 27,2007 General Election,How-ever, more than 20 petitions have already been disposed, some through technicalities. The establishment of the new electoral commission was a key recommendation by the Krigler Commission, which called fora raft of electoral reforms. Parliament sealed the fate of ECK— which was headed by Samuel Kivuitu. — last year by voting for the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill 2008 that sought to replace it with the IIEC. The Kriegler Commission called for constitutional and other legal amendments before the next polls to avoid a repeat of the orgy of violence that engulfed the country last year.
