Fundamental changes a must for IEBC to run a credible poll

The whole world knows the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) is a total disaster. Kenya’s chief electoral agency has zero – zilch – credibility. Kenya’s Supreme Court – hitherto viewed by legal scholars as conservative, pro-establishment, and cautious – has thrown the entire book at the IEBC. In the court’s historic ruling, the IEBC was virtually deemed a criminal enterprise.

It committed election offences, many of them an abridgement of the Constitution, with impunity. That’s why the court ordered a fresh presidential poll. But one question remains – how can a “criminal enterprise” conduct the fresh election? Criminals belong in jail, not at the IEBC. That’s why there must be radical – and I mean fundamental – changes at the IEBC for it to run a credible election.