Ahmed Issack Hassan, the former electoral commission chairman whose team was hounded out of office in 2016 after opposition leader Raila Odinga led weeks of protests, has narrated how he sought a handshake with the former Prime Minister.
Mr Hassan, who has been a critic of Mr Odinga, said he was inspired by the March 2018 handshake between President Uhuru Kenyatta and the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party leader.
Appearing before the National Assembly Administration and Internal Security Committee, the former Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) chairman told lawmakers how the handshake between Mr Kenyatta and Mr Odinga inspired him to seek a truce with the ODM leader.
“When the handshake happened between Raila and Uhuru Kenyatta, I called the former Prime Minister to shake hands for the sake of peace. So I called my former commissioners but only four agreed to go with me, others were still very bitter with him,” Mr Hassan said.
However, Mr Hassan did not disclose the commissioners who agreed to accompany him and those who did not.
The former IEBC boss told the Narok West MP Gabriel Tongoyo-led committee that he has come to learn that nobody can rule peacefully without involving Mr Odinga
“I have come to realise that you need Baba (Raila) to govern peacefully in this country. You cannot do without him. I applaud him for that. We have seen it from Kibaki, Uhuru and now Ruto,” Mr Hassan told MPs.
“My experience is that politicians will always talk and agree and those who suffer are the civil servants,” he added.
The former IEBC boss was responding to a question from the committee vice chairperson Dido Raso who asked what legacy he is bringing to Ipoa since he was kicked out of office at IEBC.
“Yes we left, we resigned. It’s a long story that I have captured in my book--Referee of a Dirty Game. I will provide a copy to each member,” Mr Hassan said.
He told the committee that at the height of the call for their resignation, there was sustained pressure which was baptised as teargas Monday and it was no longer tenable for them to remain in office.
“Because we were approaching elections, we opted to resign for the sake of public interest. The joint committee assured us that we will get our full salary for the remainder of the term, pension and ex gratia payment,” Mr Hassan said.
He told MPs that he is proud of his legacy at IEBC saying he left a strong secretariat which still consults him to date on electoral matters each electioneering period.
Mr Hassan maintained that they did a free and fair elections in 2013 with results in all the elective seats not contested except for the presidential one which the Supreme Court upheld.
He however said that soon after the Supreme Court upheld the 2013 presidential election, a petition was filed in Parliament seeking to remove them from office based on the presentations that were made at the apex court but the petition was dismissed.
“However, when we were approaching the 2017 elections, the politicians now came together and the joint committee was formed and we had to go, this is when I realised that politicians will also talk and its civil servants that suffer,” Mr Hassan said.
The joint committee that finally sent Mr Hassan together with other eight commissioners home was made up of members of the Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (Cord) and Jubilee coalitions and was set up to investigate malpractice claims levelled against IEBC commissioners and recommend the fate of the team.
Mr Odinga had been at the forefront of political pressure to kick out the electoral team bosses following a perceived loss of confidence in their ability to manage the 2017 General Election.
Mr Odinga, together with other Cord leaders Kalonzo Musyoka and Moses Wetang’ula, organised countrywide weekly protests that came to be known as teargas Mondays in a bid to force the electoral team out of office.
The commissioners sent packing together with Hassan include Lillian Mahiri Zaja who served as the vice chairperson, Yusuf Nzibo, Albert Bwire, Kule Galma, Abdullahi Sharawe, Mohamed Alawi, Muthioni Wangai and Thomas Letangule.
