Why Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission can't register new voters, buy election kits

A long queue of voters at Moi Avenue Primary School during the March 2013 General Election. At least 31,000 electronic voter identification devices (EVID) failed during the elections, leading to long queues in polling centres. [PHOTO: FILE/STANDARD]

Kenyans will have to wait longer for the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to carry out the long-awaited voter registration exercise.

The commission has no money for voter registration and is also saddled with a Sh4.8 billion debt that was carried over from bills before the last elections.

Treasury has validated the payment of Sh2.7 billion from the Sh4.8 billion it had audited for payment, but about 50 per cent of the pending bills were set aside because of some documents to be provided by suppliers and service providers were missing.

The Sh4.8 billion debt was validated as legitimate dues for payment from the Sh5.2 billion claims submitted to Treasury after the 2013 elections.

That aside, the commission urgently needs money to not only register voters, but to also put systems in place in good time and ensure credibility of the next General Election.

“We need to procure reliable electronic voter identification devices (EVID) that can store power for long and then test, retest and test them again at least one year before elections to avoid mistakes made in the past,” IEBC CEO Ezra Chiloba told The Standard on Sunday.

Manual registers

Subject to the approval of other stakeholders, the IEBC boss will be requesting for the acquisition of new EVIDs. The ones they already have will either be resold or offloaded to other institutions. The new purchases would perhaps save IEBC the embarrassment it faced during the last elections where 31,000 computer-based EVID kits failed because they ran out of power in remote parts of the country, leaving only 3,000 hand-held gadgets functional.

The EVID and biometric voter registration (BVR) kits were procured at Sh4.2 billion of tax payers’ money, but a large consignment of the latter failed to function. The commission resorted to the use of manual registers as Kenyans protested, questioning the integrity of the results.

A lot of pressure and negative publicity was exerted on the commission as the Opposition cried foul, claiming the results had been doctored. “For us to succeed, we need to have done at least 70 per cent of the work by December 2016 because last time, IEBC received the ICT kit a few weeks before elections and Kenyans saw what happened,” said Chiloba.

Looking and sounding confident, Chiloba, an ambitious free-talking CEO operating an open door policy at IEBC, insists he will push for preparations to start soon so the next polls can be planned properly. Also top on their priority list is the law reform agenda to extend the dispute resolution period for presidential elections, and for pre-election disputes like the controversy over nomination of candidates by political parties.

Apart from voter registration that is set to take place within 12 months from now, other key tasks to be accomplished within that period include training of IEBC staff to execute their mandate in a manner that would win the confidence of Kenyans.

The commission was in existence barely 15 months before the last election and therefore never had time to invest in capacity building for staff. “We never had time to build staff and institutions to develop norms and practices that are realised over time and therefore we have been relying on quick fixes before elections, which is not good for democracy,” the CEO said.

To set the ball rolling, the commission will next month launch its strategic plan that is currently in the final stages of development. Also to be launched on the same day is the Election Operation Plan (EOP), which will inform the sequence of events to be undertaken before the next General Election.

Eroded trust

The June 17 event will be preceded by voter education week to be held around the country next week  as part of the civic education exercise to respond to burning questions on the IEBC electioneering systems.

“Time is of the essence because we have only two years to put all proper and water tight systems in place and that means we begin now so that we can avoid a last-minute rush,” said Chiloba.

Among the challenges IEBC faces is an eroded public trust. Opposition leaders, led by former Prime Minister Raila Odinga who narrowly lost the last presidential election, have demanded that IEBC be disbanded because it lacks credibility to preside over free and fair elections.

Chiloba blames weak procurement processes for the hurried acquisition of kits that failed to function properly in 2013.

To remedy that, he has recommended that all integral weaknesses at IEBC be dealt with first by streamlining and strengthening procurement processes to make them more accountable and transparent.

Financial management is another problem area Chiloba wants fixed so that every penny is spent properly to develop an electioneering process that will stand the test of time and become a model for other African countries.

The IEBC also needs to regain public confidence, but it does not have a lot of time left to redeem itself and assure Kenyans that what happened in 2013 will not recur.

“There is an urgent need for stakeholder engagement to restore confidence in the institution so that our investment in IEBC can be supported by all for the long term,” says Chiloba.

To regain public trust, the CEO has proposed that the Treasury and other partners look at the option of revamping the commission’s ICT system and its data security. Currently holding the largest biometric database in the country, IEBC needs to have the latest data recovery centre that does not depend on vendors or third parties who complicate matters during emergencies.

“We have our own experiences with the kits used in 2013. So do we revamp what we have or do we go for what Ghana and Nigeria are using?” asks Chiloba.

Computer-based EVIDs used by IEBC need six batteries daily while the hand held gadgets require three charged batteries daily. Nigerians use hand held gadgets that use swipe cards while Ghana has similar equipment operating on more reliable dry batteries.

It may be difficult for IEBC to meet its deadlines because the funding programme for the next elections was planned by Treasury in the Medium Term Expenditure Programme (MTEP), which gives ceilings for the next three years (2015-18).

But 62 per cent of that budget is earmarked for the 2017-18 financial year, which starts barely two months before August, the month when elections will be held, unless Parliament changes the date to December 2017.

“By the time they give us that money, we will not need it,” Chiloba declared.