Infighting at the electoral body undermines our democracy

The purported suspension of Independent Electoral and Boundaries commission’s CEO Ezra Chiloba by the commission’s chairman Wafula Chebukati and other recent on-goings at the commission do not serve any public interest.

Granted that all commissions and public institutions are put in place to serve the public for common good, it is clear IEBC has chosen the forbidden path. How else can any sane Kenyan understand that a group of individuals who are paid by the public to be in office to serve on important electoral, governance and democratic issues cannot agree on anything?

How can one explain that such a public body like IEBC cannot agree on basic matters administrative? What’s ailing the commission?

Dysfunctional

On IEBC and the game of ping pong being played, there are several observations worth noting.

First, it has been clear for a while now that the Chebukati-led commission is dysfunctional. Ever since the current IEBC came into office, it has been moving from one crisis to the next. We all remember that even before elections last year, IEBC seemed unprepared.

Ever since, there have been sharp divisions at the electoral agency over many administrative matters including sending its CEO Ezra Chiloba home.

For starters, last week’s attempt was not the first attempt by the chairman to oust his CEO in the last one year. It was the third after last year’s presidential election. In the latest attempt, while Mr Chebukati sent Mr Chiloba home for three months “to allow audit of the 2017 election financial processes”, his Vice Chairperson Connie Maina is reported to have broken ranks with him and asked Chiloba to report to work.

What this means is that the commission is divided down the middle and can no longer make decisions on how to run the critical institution. And if they cannot make any decision on how to run IEBC, what then is their mandate when they continue drawing huge salaries while “cat-walking around” and feeling important?

Secondly, if these intrigue-prone commissioners are not tamed, they could infect and spread their infighting to the secretariat. If and when this happens, imagining that it has not started happening, that would be start of the end of IEBC itself and a precursor for worse things. From a management perspective, when working in a team, all must work towards a set of objectives thus increasing efficiency and productivity.

In IEBC’s case, the commission’s plenary discussions and team work is supposed to inspire ideas and creativity from the different levels of experience among the team. One cannot understand why they cannot see it this way.

Thirdly, it’s now very clear to every Kenyan that The Chebukati-led commission is incompetent.

The Chair of the commission should have left long time ago, because as the chair, he has clearly failed to provide leadership. On this, he cannot blame anybody because his leadership skills have been called to action and the result is clear on everyone’s mind. He cannot blame anybody, pass the buck or name anybody.

He is the boss

He is the chairman. Kenyans know no other. With his inability to guide the commission to provide policy direction on electoral issues, Kenyans are not inspired anymore, not on him alone but the commission. For all we know, a leader can have a compelling vision, rock-solid strategy, excellent communication skills, innovative insight, and a skilled team, but if people don’t trust leadership, results will be nowhere.

Leaders who inspire trust garner better output, morale, retention, innovation, and loyalty while mistrust fosters skepticism, frustration and low productivity. Trust affects a leader’s impact on the company’s performance any other single thing. Chebukati’s leadership is wanting.

Fourthly, the Chebukati-led commission has become too political. It has become evidently clear, that The Chebukati-led commissioners are hopelessly divided along partisan lines. The current IEBC’s history itself shows that this commission was the product of bad politics –ill-advised political compromise.

The divisions within the commission make it easier for interest groups to take advantage of the current situation to push a partisan agenda – at the expense of what is best for Kenya. This is a situation which cannot be allowed to happen.

As a matter of national interest, we cannot have a key institution that is dysfunctional. Given IEBC importance, Kenyans have to consider removing the commission to safeguard the future.

Self-destruct mode

So although it is obvious that the IEBC is a constitutional office whose commissioners enjoy security of tenure, it is also clear that the Chebukati-led commission is in self-destruc mode. A leader’s degree of selfishness will affect his followers, whose responses constitute a form of feedback.

A feature of leader prone to destructive behaviour is a persistent failure to take responsibility for own actions. That’s what Mr Chebukati is doing. And that is why the impending implosion has already compromised IEBC’s ability to meet its constitutional mandate.

What all these means is that we cannot continue with this status quo where Kenyans pay for services they do not get. Simply put, the current state of affairs at IEBC is bad for Kenya because it doesn’t serve any public interest.

Dr Mogambi, a development communication and social change expert, teaches at the University of Nairobi. hmogambi @ yahoo.co.uk