The tenth Parliament has a number of MPs who would never have been elected had their political parties been allowed to have a say on who should have been a candidate in the 2013 polls.

These members were elected on fringe parties despite either having won the party primaries and were locked out, or the tickets were paid for in cash. Others were handed the tickets by courts after their parties plotted to deny them the tickets after winning the primaries.

As such, party primaries are a red-hot affair ahead of any general election. It is this due to this desperation to conduct foolproof primaries that the Jubilee Party wants IEBC to conduct its nominations next year. This intention is guided by the desire to conduct primaries that are above board in order to forestall a fall-out.

In my opinion, using IEBC to conduct party primaries is a grave political miscalculation. It is a serious affront on attempts to make IEBC independent and must be rejected in toto. Here is why. First, the Election Laws (Amendment) Act 2016 gives room for IEBC to conduct party primaries but does not say who should pay for such services.

An earlier law that provided for political parties to pay whenever IEBC conducted its primaries was amended. National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale has indicated the Jubilee Party will apply to have the taxpayer foot the bill. The Jubilee secretariat has announced it has already written to IEBC to formally launch talks on the primaries.

IEBC, according to Mr Duale, is supposed to apply for this money in a budget estimated at Sh4 billion. What happens if all registered parties put in such requests? Not only is this impractical, it would also be an abuse of public resources.

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Secondly, given the election timelines for the General Election, IEBC’s core mandate is already suffering from time and budget constraints. As at today, we have no commission in place. We haven’t launched procurement of key materials and services. Yet, one of the key factors that led to disorder in the last polls was late arrival of election materials. I hold the view the incoming IEBC will be too constrained to afford time to focus on sideshows.

Thirdly, how would Jubilee handle the complaints and outright dissatisfaction emanating from such primaries? In 2013, tens of election petitions against IEBC were successful, an indicator that IEBC is incapable of holding a 100 per cent fool-proof exercise. How would the party handle the primaries petitions and still have faith in IEBC to handle the national elections? This is a precursor to disputed election results.

Lastly, and the most catastrophic, engaging IEBC in Jubilee internal affairs would convert it from an independent arbiter to a Jubilee client. The rumpus that will be raised by such a close relationship between Jubilee and IEBC is a recipe for chaos. Any direct link between Jubilee and IEBC will be exploited by the Opposition to create the perception that all parties are not equal before IEBC. Yet, the new commission will be struggling to instil confidence in the majority of Kenyans that the polls body is capable of announcing the deepest will of the Kenyan voters.

Democracy is expensive. Jubilee and other big parties must invest in their own internal mechanisms and structures to ensure they conduct fair nominations. They must invest in human resource capacity and infrastructure across the country and should only seek professional and technical advice from IEBC.

The electoral body must focus on smooth preparation for the 2017 polls to avoid instances where electronic gadgets fail to perform in the heat of the moment. They must struggle to prove that accusations of having held a shambolic exercise in 2013 were just mere politicking.