The Joint Parliamentary Select Committee on the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission completed its public hearings last week. The committee will be retreating to deliberate on the way forward. The climax of the hearing was the commitment by the commissioners to a ‘dignified exit’ of office through a ‘political settlement’. The conversation on the performance of the commission and its commissioners is ongoing. Meanwhile, there are nearly fifty five accusations levelled against the commissioners by different stakeholders and sixteen specifically against the chairman which the Parliamentary committee will be grappling with. But this article addresses itself to the form and manner in which the transition should be held.
Throughout the presentation to the Kiraitu-Orengo led committee, one could not fail to appreciate the in-depth mastery of electoral processes and systems across the world exhibited by the commissioners. Some members of secretariat could also be seen to match this level of experience and knowhow-of course others are still new in the office like the ICT Director. And therein lies the problem. If the country goes for an overhaul of the commission then the next general elections could at best be projected as drama.
In good corporate governance practices, succession planning and management together with talent management is crucial to stellar performance. Boards (Commission in the IEBC) should not be overhauled. Best practice requires scheduling of retirement of the directors or commissioners both for organizational history and succession. The same case should apply for the top management team. A typical example in the IEBC scenario is that the ‘new’ ICT director who has been in the office for a year or thereabout could not confidently respond to the parliamentary committee queries.
It took interventions of the Chairman to paint a clearer picture. Assuming Isaak’s commission and the secretariat are sent packing within this month, then debate on the formula if setting up a new commission rages for another one month, the earliest a new commission shall be in place is November. This will give the commission less than seven months to acquaint itself with electoral laws, procedures, and public sector practices among other aspects as it prepares for an election in which more than eighteen million Kenyans are supposed to vote for six representatives. This would be recipe for a chaotic election.
A delicate-diligent solution may therefore work for us. The commissioners and members of the secretariat who may not have been mentioned in any scandal should be retained during the transition phase. The remaining slots should be given to seasoned electoral gurus like Gabriel Mukele. In doing this, the 1997 IPPG root should be used, that of allowing political parties to propose names of commissioners on a pro-rata basis.
Dr. Walter Ongeti is a Strategy and Governance Scholar and Consultant
