Home » Media Centre » Blogs » Election Petitions and the Establishment of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission
By Mzalendo Contributor - Moreen Majiwa (@mmajiwa)
Since 2007 there have been unprecedented number of election petitions.
Kenneth Marende, the Speaker of the National Assembly recently declared the
Kamkunji parliamentary seat vacant after the High Court allowed an electoral
petition filed by Ibrahim Ahmed disputing the results of the 2007 election in
which Simon Mbugua was declared the winner. The Speaker is also expected to
declare the Ikolomani parliamentary seat vacant following an election petition in
which the High Court nullified the results of the 2007 election.
A fair number of MPs have lost their parliamentary seat in the wake of election
petitions filed after the 2007 elections: Bonny Khalwale (Ikolomani) Omingo
Magara (South Mugirango), Joel Onyancha (Bomachoge), John Ngata Kariuki
(Kirinyaga Central), George Thuo (Juja), Dick Waithaka (Makadara), Abdirahman
Hassan (Wajir South), Simon Mbugua (Kamkunji), Ali Chirau Makwere (Matuga)
and Margaret Wanjiru (Starehe).
The flaws in the last election can be attributed in a large part to the inefficiency
and lack of the independence of the now defunct Election Commission of Kenya.
The sheer number of election petitions and MPs who have lost their seats to
such petitions points to a flaw in our electoral system, and/or the country’s
election oversight body.
In two weeks the Bill to creating the Independent Electoral and Boundaries
Commission (IEBC) will be tabled before parliament. The Chairperson of
Parliament’s Justice and Legal Affairs Committee, Ababu Namwamba, yesterday
stated that he expects to table the Electoral Act Bill on 17th March 2011, and the
body to be established 14 days after the law is enacted.
The IEBC is one of the 11 eleven commissions that parliament is mandated to
create under the new constitution. The IEBC will be responsible for overseeing
the election of the President, the National Parliament and county assemblies
and governors. It will also be responsible for demarcating constituency and ward
boundaries, for tackling problems with party nominations e.g. failure by parties to
follow their procedures, vote buying, and the replacement of winners by others
and the violence these practices cause.
The IEBC has a few things that favor its ability to properly carry out its mandate
and foster its independence. Unlike the ECK, IEBC commissioners will not be
chosen by the President alone and should have a degree of independence as
the constitution requires that IEBC commissioners are not closely connected to
a political party. Further that no one who has stood for election to Parliament or
held office in a party in the past five years can be appointed to the IEBC.
Lets hope the Electoral Act Bill maintains these provisions and gives the IEBC
the independence and the teeth that it will need to do its job properly.
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