IIEC boss takes aim at Kivuitu over 2007 polls

By Vitalis KimutaiThe former chairman of the defunct Electoral Commission of Kenya, Samuel Kivuitu failed to interpret the gravity of the moment during the tallying of the presidential votes in 2007 General Election.Interim Independent Electoral Commission (IIEC) Chairman Isaack Hassan said when arguments were heated Kivuitu took the matter too lightly.Isaack Hassan"Kivuitu is a good person who likes making jokes. I even invited him for lunch when I was appointed to the IIEC, but the standoff over the vote tallying at KICC did not call for jest. He should have handled the situation differently," Hassan said.The IIEC chair made the startling observation during his vetting on Wednesday for the job of chairman of the new Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) at the Kenyatta International Conference.He said IIEC staff have been adequately trained to handle Kenya’s biggest-ever General Election due next year, and there will be no need for panic.The IEBC looks set to be unveiled soon, perhaps even by next week, after interviews for the new commissioners ended on Wednesday.Hassan was among the last three candidates vetted for the chairperson’s job.The end of the vetting also means the mandate of Dr Ekuru Aukot’s IEBC Selection Panel will draw to a close once they forward the names of the IEBC nominees to President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga.The panel will forward three names for the chairperson’s job, and 13 names for commissioners. Kibaki and Raila will then pick one chairperson and eight commissioners and forward their nominees to Parliament for approval.Hassan sat and answered questions from the panelists for close to three hours on Wednesday, as the search for the person who will lead transitional 2012 elections hurtled towards its grand finale. The end of the interviews coincided with a report by the Dr Kofi Annan-led Committee of Eminent Persons that warned the new electoral body could either midwife a new democratic dispensation, or fail the country altogether."Failure to effectively and efficiently manage the electoral process would certainly fail the country. It is important, therefore, for attention to be paid to institutional preparedness," they added.The interviews were laced with drama, as a candidate was disqualified for allegedly lying to the panel.Hassan put up a strong performance, telling the panel he has a strong character, and professional qualifications to steer the IEBC to a respected world-class electoral institution.Contradictory accountsIn response to a question on how he would ensure the IEBC is corruption-free, Hassan dismissed reports in the media of nepotism in employment and graft in the IIEC’s procurement, saying, "The media are in business." He added that, the media "are neither a friend nor an enemy" and that the Fourth Estate is a "double-edged sword".Hassan, however, acknowledged that the media were a good ally of the commission during the referendum on the Constitution, last year, and subsequent by-elections. But said the media, as a friend, "cuts both ways".But a candidate who came in after Hassan, George Njenga Wakahiu, was disqualified for allegedly lying to the panel that he was a member of the Institute of the Certified Public Secretaries of Kenya (ICPSK) when he had actually been deregistered.While he indicated in the Public Service Commission application form that he was a member of ICPSK, a letter from the organisation to the panel indicated he had been deregistered.The panel accused Mr Wakahiu of giving contradictory accounts on the state of his membership in the organisation."I have never been an ICPSK member because when I applied to be one, I was asked to choose between being a lawyer and member of the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) or being a secretary. I chose to remain a lawyer," Wakahiu said.Though he maintained he never became an ICSPK member, his application indicated otherwise, according to the panel before citing a letter from ICPSK indicating Wakahiu was deregistered for failing to meet certain obligations. While being questioned by Justice Lenaola, the lawyer admitted that he was barred from interviews by the Judicial Service Commission recently because he had failed to repay loans advanced to him by the Higher Education Loans Board (Helb) while studying at the university.He said that a few days ago, he updated his Helb account by remitting the payments through M-Pesa.But he could not explain why he registered and operated two law firms – GN Wakahiu and Company Advocates and George W Wakahiu and Njenga Company Advocates.He could not explain why he had indicated he was a legal consultant in his own law firm.PartisanWakahiu was also probed over registration of two non-governmental organisations, one with his office secretary, and another with a member of the public. The lawyer was disqualified after consultations between the team. Panelists include Marion Mutugi, (vice-chairperson), Justice Isaac Lenaola, Ambassador (retired) Mwanyengela Ngali, Rosa Buyu, Irene Keino and Sophie Moturi.Hassan said if appointed chairman of IEBC, he would engage his team to build on the success of the IIEC in managing the next General Election and restore local and international confidence in the electoral process.He said that the IIEC, under his chairmanship, had restored voter confidence following the bungling of the presidential poll tally by the defunct Electoral Commission. He said he would make IEBC a model institution. "I would strive to build and leave at the end of my term a world class electoral system, and make IEBC a brand like the one in India," he added.Hassan was interviewed for two hours and fifty minutes instead of the standard one and a half hours allocated to each candidate.He said that with fellow commissioners at IIEC, he had maintained high standards of integrity in the institution since being appointed."I have been called names, accused of being partisan, and even received phone calls from people wanting me to bend the rules, but I have always stood my ground and operated within the law," Hassan said.The IIEC chairman said staff had been taken to Philippines and Southern Sudan to study the electoral process in those countries, as they are similar to the ones Kenya adopted.For people to respect the electoral process, the integrity of the process of picking the commissioners, and the process and systems of elections has to be safeguarded, he said.The country, he said, had the capacity to fully embrace electronic voting in the 2017 General Election.

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