IEBC to enlist 4 million new voters ahead of 2017 general election

Kenya: The Independent Electoral and Boundary Commission (IEBC) is targeting to register four million new voters ahead of the 2017 general elections.

IEBC Chief Executive Officer Ezra Chiloba says the commission will mount at least two exercises to enlist voters before the polls so as to reach the target. In the run up to the 2013 elections, the commission registered 14.3 million voters. It now wants to take the tally to slightly above the 18 million mark.

Although the law provides for a continuous registration of voters, the exercise has been interrupted due to budgetary constraints. The commission received a paltry Sh12 million out of the requested Sh60 million.

“The law requires us to enlist voters in a continuous exercise but the results have been low and the main constraint has been budgetary. We are consequently working with the National Assembly’s Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs to set aside a budget for two exercises towards the elections,” Mr Chiloba said.

The IEBC boss spoke to The Standard in his Anniversary Towers office in his first interview with journalists since he was appointed early this month.

Chiloba hinted that the commission will not rush to implement electronic voting ahead of 2017. IEBC had said in 2012 that by 2017, Kenyans will vote electronically.

He argues that the polls agency is learning from the structural failures of some of the Information Communication technology (ICT) systems that were deployed during the last elections. This includes Biometric Voter Registration (BVR), Electronic Voter Identification Device (EVID) and Electronic Results Transmission (ERTs).

“Technology has got its limits when it comes to election management. This time round, there is caution and we will not be quick to adopt any new technology during the elections.

We will want to strengthen what we already have such as EVID, BVR and ERTs. For instance, although ERTs has worked, there were challenges and we need to work hard to make them efficient,” he said as he prepared to leave for Mombasa where the commission is retreating to draft its Strategic Plan.

Four Ss

IEBC commissioners and senior management have retreated to finalise the development of the 2016-2020 strategic direction ahead of the 2017 General Elections.

“The overall goal of the commission is to conduct free, fair and credible elections that are efficiently and effectively managed,” IEBC said in a statement yesterday.

 

Chiloba was optimistic that the commission will rectify the structural failures that marred the last elections to build public confidence in elections management.

The CEO, acknowledged that Kenyans had immensely lost trust in the commission but said it is time now to engage, strategise and streamline the agency.

Chiloba said his leadership style will be based on four Ss: Structures, Systems, Stakeholders and Staff.

“My main strategy of the four Ss is to answer queries on how to do business processes within the IEBC to enhance efficiency, how to implement polices internally, ensure systematic procurement, streamline finance systems and capacity build staff to manage those processes,” he explained.

Chiloba who inherited an office marred by allegations of corruption, mishandling of mega procurement of election material and most recently the ‘Chicken scandal’, says that such claims have impacted negatively on the credibility of the IEBC.

“The ‘Chicken’ thing is one of these things that wear this commission down and we need to confront reality and ask ourselves, when did the rain start beating us?”

“I have no choice other than to work with everybody who is in the commission and as you know, the matter is under investigation by EACC. On our part, we have internally agreed to support the probe. By last week we had given the anti-corruption agency all the necessary information they sought.”

He further stated that, in the ‘Chicken’ scam, only individuals were mentioned and not the whole IEBC. “The commission will always remain as a strong institution but individuals come and go.”

IEBC is also under pressure form a section of politicians with the Opposition, CORD, pushing for its disbandment for allegedly mismanaging the last general elections. However, Chiloba said yesterday that such pressure will not stop the commission secretariat from strategising on how to run the next polls.

“The discourse out there of whether to disband the commission or not is really not for us to determine but for politicians. They can make any decision but most important is us, the secretariat, to implement the law.”

The IEBC chief further said the Office of Political Parties Registrar has big role to play in streamlining parties to ensure they are strengthened and democratised.