By Gakuu Mathenge
The fate of the Interim Independent Boundaries Review Commission (IIBRC) is sealed and irreversible, Justice Minister, Mutula Kilonzo has said.
He wants IIBRC team, led by Mr Andrew Ligale, to leave by November 27.
The departure of IIBRC team will pave the way for the establishment of the Independent Elections and Boundaries Commission under Chapter Seven of the new Constitution, to take over functions of the IIBRC and Interim Independent Elections Commission (IIEC).
The commission advertised for recruitment of cartographers and statisticians two weeks ago.
However, the minister cautioned IIBRC to go slow and desist from engaging in any fresh financial commitment.
One commissioner, Ms Rosa Buyu, and the PM’s office have since issued statements dismissing Mutula’s marching orders as uncalled for and illegal.
Mutula said the IIBRC lost its opportunity to contribute to the constituency boundary review process when it declined an invitation to join the Parliamentary Select Committee in Naivasha during the constitutional review negotiations last April.
"PSC did IIBRC’s job by fixing the number of constituencies in Naivasha. What remains is to give the new constituencies names and gazette them. The proposed Independent Elections and Boundaries Commission will do that," Mutula said.
The law that created the IBBRC had granted IBBRC 24 months (two years from May 2009 when they commenced work) to review constituency, wards and administration boundaries.
The law says IIBRC should hand in its report 24 months from the time of commencement, or three months after Promulgation of the New Constitution "whichever comes earlier"
Despite the high hopes invested in the IIBRC, and the pivotal role its mandate was expected to play, it leaves nothing behind to be remembered for.
The biggest setback is failure to do any work on wards boundaries, which are key units of the county assemblies under the new Constitution.
The county assemblies are key institutions in devolution of resources, decision-making and grassroots representation, and their boundaries need to be defined.
Many minority communities and groups that have no hope of ever electing one of their own to Parliament or Senate any time soon look forward to the county assemblies for representation and voicing their concerns.
An actuarial scientist and regular commentator on devolution, Mr Johnson Sakanja said: "The wards and county assemblies are the grassroots units of representation and devolution.
"We hoped the IIBRC would address and rationalise the current over-allocation of wards in the country to a reasonable level by established the optimum number for purposes of devolution. It is sad they did not deliver on this one," Sakanja said.
The Ligale team was also yet to define urban centres, to facilitate application of the boundaries delimitation formula that applies the population quota differently in rural and urban centres.
A source within the commission who did not wish to be named because he is not authorised to speak to the press said IIBRC’s report is not ready that they have "miles and miles of verbatim audio tapes from public hearings which are yet to be transcribed".
PNU and ODM politics have weighed heavily on the constituency boundaries review process, mostly viewed as PNU agenda aimed at enhancing its electoral fortunes.
Although some key ODM strongholds in Nyanza and Western regions stood to gain most from constituency boundaries review, ODM also enjoyed support from many minority groups, especially in the Rift Valley and northern parts of the country, and hence did not wish to be perceived as insensitive to them.
The minorities were the biggest beneficiaries of gerrymandering that gave them an edge in parliament since colonial days, and throughout Kanu’s rule, but who now stood to lose that edge to proportional representation.
An IBBRC Commissioner, who sought anonymity, as he was not authorised to speak on behalf of the commission, said the Ligale team was being blamed for the failures of the Planning Minister, Mr Wycliffe Oparanya and his technocrats.
"The law requires that we use complete census results in working our constituency, wards and districts units and their boundaries. We only have partial results after Oparanya nullified results from some areas. Even if we worked non-stop to deliver before November 27, someone could go to court to stop us on the basis of using incomplete census results," said the commissioner.
He also argues that the delay in releasing the census results may have been a conspiracy to delay the boundaries review process.
Reached for comment, Ndaragwa MP, Mr Jeremiah Kioni, said any attempt to delay the boundaries review process would fail because majority parliamentarians agreed on available figures and projections.
