NAIROBI: Kenyan electoral commission initiated a three-day emergency meeting to end an escalating crisis over who to blame for the Supreme Court's nullifying of the recently held presidential election. Dispute within the agency over responsibility for alleged illegalities and irregularities in the August 8 ballot is anticipated to affect the integrity of the repeat election in east Africa's dominant economy scheduled for October 17.
“If they don't calm the tension, the political class will start discrediting the commission to say they're not capable of running the election and we'll end up in a political and constitutional crisis,” said political analyst Duncan Otieno. In the first such ruling in Africa, the election result was voided by the court after challenger Raila Odinga appealed against incumbent Uhuru Kenyatta's victory, alleging widespread rigging. Atmosphere within the agency has been described as “toxic” by commission officials.
The current crisis places commission chairman Wafula Chebukati and his supporters against chief executive Ezra Chiloba and his surrogates. Chebukati appointed six people to oversee the repeat election, in effect bypassing Chiloba and his deputy. This prompted a backlash from Chiloba's commission supporters and both presidential challengers, who said they had reservations about the team's neutrality. Chebukati issued a three-page memo demanding answers to 12 concerns about the election was leaked to the media. His concerns included the failure of the electronic results transmission from a quarter of the 40,883 polling stations, use of unofficial results forms, and the use of almost 10,000 times of an unauthorised account in the chairman’s name to access the commission's computer system.
Meanwhile, diplomats worry that the commission will struggle to organise a credible re-run by next month without everyone involved making compromises. Twelve western ambassadors released a joint statement saying, “Kenyans from across the political spectrum will need to work hand-in-hand and in good faith with the IEBC if it is to deliver a better election in October.”
