Issack Hassan defends new CEO, says IEBC out to defend democracy

Independent Electoral and Boundary Commission (IEBC) Chairman Issack Hassan has defended newly appointed Secretary and Chief Executive Officer Ezra Chiloba Simiyu, over questions regarding his suitability.

He said it is too early to judge Chiloba, who takes over office next week. Opposition leaders had questioned Chiloba’s ability to deliver. However, Hassan said: “He is not a stranger to the commission. He worked closely with us while at the United Nations Development Programme from 2009-2013. He stands out as a curious professional with a drive for excellence.”

The IEBC boss also defended the commission over credibility questions, saying managing elections in the country’s politically polarised environment is not an easy task.

British printing firm, Smith and Ouzman recently claimed to have bribed IEBC officials in the infamous ‘chicken gate’ to win tenders. Opposition leaders have since accused the firm of having colluded with the electoral body to rig the 2013 presidential elections.

However, in response, Hassan said the British firm is yet to make any formal accusations against the electoral body and defended their decision to award Dubai based Al-Ghurair firm the contract.

“Lets us wait for the allegations against the defunct Interim Independent Electoral Commission to come to us formally. I do not want to speak on prejudice or speculation,” he said.

He went on, “We do not chose who prints ballot papers or does business with us. We advertise and a process follows. There are new players each year and new technologies and solutions. Whoever scores high in the evaluation of the tender wins.”

He said the commission is working to steer implementation of a new strategic plan to ensure democracy prevails as a symbol of national unity and not division.

“We reach out to all stakeholders including political parties, civil society, and the private sector to help us forge forward. We will soon be sharing with them our strategies for 2017 currently under development because we want them to provide their inputs.”

Legal gaps

On proposed plans to stagger the 2017 General Election, Hassan said, “We have deliberated on the issue extensively. The bottom line is how to increase efficiency while maintaining costs.

Most of us seem to agree that a polling station should not have more than 500 voters. That means having many polling stations and many polling officials.” He said the commission had initiated the review of electoral laws in a bid to address legal gaps and challenges experienced in the last polls.

“It will be prudent for this process to be fast-tracked to avoid late amendments that severely inconvenienced our operations in the run-up to the March 4, 2013 General Elections. This is a critical process that requires input by all stakeholders and IEBC is ready to work with them,” he stated. He said that even as IEBC restructures, they will continue to work closely with the office of Registrar of Political Parties to strengthen internal democracy within political parties.

“Restructuring has more to do with reforms systems of operation rather than changing office holders. What is currently taking place is filling of positions that may have become vacant for one reason or the other,” noted Hassan.

He said the changes proposed to the electoral law should make it a lot easy and more efficient to run elections.

He also said the commission has huge financial reforms and clear budgets and procurement plans, saying they are looking into ways of cutting down on the overall cost of elections.

The IEBC boss further noted the commission was confident of delivering free and fair results in the Homa Bay and Kajiado Central by-elections and urged Kenyans to accord it an enabling environment by keeping the peace.