State agencies on the spot over exit of election bosses

Attorney-General Githu Muigai on Sunday said the government will from this week start formal negotiations with electoral commissioners to mutually agree on their send-off package.

Tension has been rising over missed deadlines in the quest to name a new team to run next year’s General Election.

ODM and Cord leader Raila Odinga on Sunday said the nine commissioners must vacate office by Saturday.

Earlier in the day, ODM Chairman John Mbadi had said the team led by Chairman Ahmed Issack Hassan must leave by October 15.

If negotiations on their send-off are concluded before Friday, there is a possibility that the commissioners will all resign before the end of the week by writing to the President.

Once the President receives their letters, then their positions can be declared vacant.

Opposition leaders have threatened to mobilise their supporters back to the streets to compel the government to act.

They have accused the National Treasury of sabotaging proposed reforms by shattering all the timelines created by a legislation passed in Parliament over a month ago.

According to Mr Odinga, the fact that IEBC commissioners are still in office is unfortunate because the matter was resolved and they were to leave office within a month after the deliberations of the Joint Parliamentary Select Committee on IEBC came to an agreement.

“The joint committee which was set up delivered its mandate and came up with a proper roadmap on how to resolve matter with clear timelines that within 30 days IEBC could be out and new members could have been appointed to take over.

“We don’t want these people in office by October 1, they should be given termination letters because they are still government employees and are still being paid,” said Mr Odinga. He spoke at the Aga Khan University Hospital in Nairobi after visiting veteran politician John Keen, who was being treated there.

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DISCUSSIONS UNDER WAY

And speaking in Kisumu, ODM chairman John Mbadi asked the Attorney-General, the Cabinet secretary for National Treasury and the Salaries and Remuneration Commission to explain why they were to come up with an exit package for the outgoing commissioners.

“These are deliberate tactics by those in Jubilee to frustrate the electoral reform process through non-adherence to the agreed timeline,” said Mr Mbadi.

“We must have the new commissioners in place by October 15. After all, what had been agreed on by the Orengo/Murungi led joint parliamentary committee was that the new commissioners be sworn in by September 30, which is no longer tenable.”

Prof Muigai said the State Law Office and the National Treasury held talks last week on how to engage on the matter and that technical teams from various State agencies would meet this week to start the negotiations.

“Discussions have commenced between the Treasury and the State Law office on an exit package for the commissioners,” he said.

However, the meeting could be a mere formality.

Already, the Treasury has proposed that the template used to create send-off package for the former Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission bosses should be used in the case of the IEBC commissioners.

This could mean that the government will spend about Sh200 million to compensate the commissioners before the expiry of their terms.

In the past, National Assembly speaker Justin Muturi and Siaya Senator James Orengo have blamed the National Treasury Cabinet secretary, Mr Henry Rotich, for delaying the exit of the IEBC.

“There needs to be a vacancy to necessitate recruitment. That requires resignations of the current occupiers of those offices,” Mr Muturi said but lamented: “There are no offers from the National Treasury. The Salaries and Remuneration Commission is also silent.”

Suna East MP Junet Mohammed also protested that most of the timelines set in the law had been ignored.

“Mr Rotich and all those officers responsible should now take responsibility. This is violation of laws passed by Parliament. The deadlines were not set in a vacuum.

We agreed that a new commission should be in place by September 30 which comes this week yet nothing has happened,” said Mr Mohammed.

IEBC DEMOS
He also said that the November 30 deadline set for the audit of the voter register was also likely to be missed.

“This is a crucial elections. We are going to use imported electronic gadgets which require proper planning and diligent procurement processing. We are smelling a rat in the delay,” he said.

Siaya Senator James Orengo said opposition supporters would resume demonstrations if the government’s reluctance on the matter continues.

However, Mr Odinga said that although protests had not been discussed, they were among the options available to the Opposition.

“The longer the delay, the more impatient people will get,” he said.

IEBC commissioners have been working even as they await their exit.

“Yes, the commissioners have been pushing on with important duties to ensure nothing stalls even as they await the processing of their exits,” said the IEBC communications manager, Mr Andrew Limo.

He said the commissioners were currently involved in several activities, among them formulation of regulations on political party nominations, review of voter education manuals and policies, training of constituency elections officers as returning officers, voter education, and the planning of next year’s elections.

However, in Kisumu, Ugunja MP Opiyo Wandayi said the commissioners should not be involved in the procurement of election materials.

According to him, their term in office was terminated by the joint parliamentary select committee chaired by Senators Kiraitu Murungi and James Orengo.

Additional reporting by Maurice Kaluoch, Nelcon Odhiambo and Eunice Kilonzo