Gladys Boss Shollei: I have helped restore voter confidence

GLADYS BOSS SHOLLEI, 42, is the deputy chief electoral officer at the Interim Independent Electoral Commission (IIEC). Her mandate has been to restore public confidence in the electoral body, something she believes she has been able to attain. She is now ready to move on to the next challenge. She spoke to SHIRLEY GENGAThey say that if you have seen farther than others, it is because you stood on the shoulders of a giant. For me that giant is my mother who was a no-nonsense disciplinarian. For her, 90 per cent was never good enough; only 100 per cent was acceptable. Gladys Boss Shollei, the deputy chief electoral officer at the Interim Independent Electoral Commission (IIEC). Her mandate has been to restore public confidence in the electoral body. [Photos: Martin mukangu/ STANDARD]She instilled a sense of hard work and discipline in my siblings and I. I remember our primary school in Eldoret was 37km away from where we lived and mum would wake us up every day at 4am in order to be in school by 6am; and she never woke anyone up twice.Back then, I never understood why she pushed us so hard but as I have grown up, I have come to appreciate that I would not be where I am today were it not for her. I got my confidence from my father. He was always full of praise for us. He would tell me I was the greatest and the best, even when I obviously was not. I, therefore, grew up with a high self-esteem. Once when I was in Form Two, I was reciting a poem on Parents Day and my father was the only person standing in a room full of seated parents and students. I have never forgotten the pride on his face as he nodded me through each stanza. Today I am a self-assured woman. My desire to practise Law was not really a childhood dream but a path I chose while in high school after watching the court drama series, LA Law. I joined the University of Nairobi to study Law from 1988 to 1991. By the time I was done at the Kenya School of Law, I had identified the area I wanted to specialise in –– Environmental Law. I was called to Cornell University in the US but my boyfriend (now husband) convinced me to go to Cape Town University in South Africa, instead. He was working for an international company there, thus we would be able to meet. I came back from South Africa in 1994 with a Masters in Maritime Enviroment Law. My research paper had been on the Regional Seas Programme, a project by United Nations Environment Programme (Unep), so when they advertised for an International Waters Consultant, I applied and they hired me. The position was senior and being young, I was a little intimidated. But I came to realise that even though I was young I had something valuable to offer. I got married to my husband in 1994.TeachingAfter a year I left Unep and practised Law privately before joining the University of Nairobi to teach the Law of the Sea. I tremendously enjoyed teaching.I, also, served as the Jessup International Moot Competition team coach. It’s the equivalent of World Cup for student lawyers. They appear before a mock International Court of Justice. We took home the African Cup five times. By 2001, I felt an itch; I needed a bigger challenge. Around that time Parliament passed the National Council for Law Reporting Act. I was hired as the assistant editor. The salary was a huge drop but I understood the importance of what we were embarking on. Since Independence, Kenyan court judgements had remained unreported. We had to collect cases from all over the country. Many were handwritten and so we had to type them. It was a lot of work. Having worked at the university, I knew that students performed public service as part of their degree programme so we would send students all over to collect judgements, photocopy them and send them to us through Akamba buses. In 2003, I was promoted to Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Thus, in 2004, I finally resigned from teaching.I learnt a lot as CEO, especially with regard to management. Luckily, my husband is in management and finance and I remember I would go home with problems and he would know exactly what to do. Since my management skills were jua kali, I decided to go back to school to do a Masters in Management between 2007 and 2008 at Jomo Kenyatta University of Science and Technology in Nairobi. By 2009, I had done everything as CEO at the National Council of Law Reporting. We had digitised all judgments since Independence, we had a fully-fledged Kenya Law Report website, we were recognised as an authority internationally and had won several awards. There was nothing else left for me to do. I began to itch for a new challenge. At around that time the reform of the electoral commission was taking place. I applied for a job and was appointed the Deputy Chief Electoral Officer at the IIEC in January 2009.Taking the job was not an easy decision. I was moving to a new place where there was no public confidence. My mandate was to bring back that confidence. Every one on the team was learning for the first time how to manage elections. We had all never been involved in politics, but I believe that sometimes, there is power in not knowing because it makes you listen more and work harder. I had just had my youngest son and was immediately thrown knee-deep into work. I did not even have time to clear my old office until four months later. Our plan was to finish the new voter registration exercise within 47 days and we were told it was impossible. But I always stick to my guns and do not believe anything is impossible. In 47 days we had our voters registration list. The challenge that followed next for me was the referendum. It was a lot of hard work and I remember I did not sleep for four days during the referendum period. But after the referendum Kenyans were satisfied with the results. General electionNow our new challenge is the upcoming General Election. This time things are a little different, as there will be six ballots — for the Governor, Senator, Woman representatives, County representatives, County Assembly Member and Member of National Assembly. We are planning to educate the public on the new changes. We also want to increase our registered voters from 12.6 million to 21 million and stage mock elections.I never look for a job I go out to make a difference. I stay until I have done that. I feel that I have done what I intended when I was appointed Deputy Chief of the Electoral Commission. We have restored public confidence. That is why I applied for the position of Deputy Chief Justice and Chief Registrar. I was honoured to have been short listed for the interview for Deputy Chief Justice. Gone are the days when you had to know someone in power in order to be short-listed. I was also shortlisted for the position of Chief Registrar.

Gladys Boss Shollei: I have helped restore voter confidence

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