What we must do to tackle systemic failure at the IEBC

Livingstone Ntutu

In a period of much despair and dismal future prospects for the biblical Israelite nation, Prophet Ezekiel was shown a vision of the valley of dry bones; a vision that had portentous impact on its future direction. This account, recorded in Ezekiel 37: 1-28, tells us that the Prophet was carried in the spirit and set down in the midst of a valley full of dry bones, symbolic of the nation’s state: disenfranchised, exiled and hopeless.

A critical question that Yahweh asks him is: ‘Son of man, can these bones live?’ Just as this question was relevant for the Israelite nation at a time of great desperation, so it is for Kenya at this time of electoral crisis. By analogy, one may ask whether the bare bones of the systemic failure of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) can yet lay the basis for reform, restoration and reinforcement of electoral justice in Kenya.