MPs concerned over IEBC's preparedness for the General Election

The electoral agency is behind schedule in hiring an independent firm to audit the voter register, prompting MPs to raise concerns about its preparedness for the August 9 General Election.

Among the issues raised is whether the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) will have a substantive chief executive officer, a post now held in an acting capacity by Marjan Hussein Marjan.

Five candidates, including Mr Marjan, have been shortlisted for the position, with commissioner Francis Wanderi hinting that the new CEO to succeed the sacked Ezra Chiloba will be known next week after interviews.

“I cannot say that any new person cannot do the job. We will complete the process next week for the CEO and deputy CEO positions,” he said.

Mr Wanderi and Mr Marjan appeared before the National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) over the IEBC’s audited accounts for the 2019/20 financial year.

Mr Chiloba was sacked in October 2018 over protracted wrangling with the commission, with Mr Marjan appointed to the position in an acting capacity.

With the General Election five months away, it is not clear whether a substantive CEO will have learned the ropes to manage the electoral process.

But even as the IEBC searches for a new CEO, Mr Marjan could not say for sure whether Kenyans will go to the elections with a clean voter register.

Mr Marjan fell short of admitting that the IEBC had violated the law by failing to hire an independent firm within the required legal timelines to audit the register ahead of the elections.

Mr Marjan said the law does not compel the IEBC to hire a firm to audit the voter register.

This is notwithstanding that the agency is required to hire a reputable firm at least six months before a General Election to audit the register.

Ugunja MP Opiyo Wandayi, who chairs PAC, and members Dr Otiende Amollo (Rarieda) and Dr Wilberforce Ojiambo (Funyula), demanded to know whether Mr Marjan’s comments meant that the voter register would not be audited.

“Are you facing challenges procuring the services of a professional firm to audit the register? If not, how do you intend to go about it?” wondered Mr Wandayi.

Mr Marjan said that the agency had done all it could to get the audit firm in place as early as possible but things did not work out.

“We started this process early but the circumstances are just beyond us,” Mr Marjan said.

His was referring to the IEBC’s first attempt to hire an audit firm.

Earlier this year, the agency had to readvertise the auditing job after it emerged that only one firm, which would later be declared unresponsive, had applied when the application period closed.

Yesterday, Mr Marjan admitted that “after we readvertised, more than one firm applied.”

Section 8A of the 2011 Elections Act provides that the IEBC may, at least six months before a General Election, engage a professional reputable firm to audit the voter register.

The audit includes verifying the accuracy of the register, recommending mechanisms for enhancing its accuracy and updating it.

But Mr Marjan noted that the wording of the law means that it is not mandatory for the IEBC to hire an auditing firm.

“The law says that the commission ‘may’, which means that it is not a must,” Mr Marjan told PAC, a watchdog committee.

But after lawmakers tore into his interpretation of the law, he said that cleaning up the voter roll is important in order to guarantee the credibility of the elections.

“For me, as a commission, it is important to audit the voter register. This is the first step of ensuring the credibility of the election,” Mr Marjan said in a bid to clear his name.

But Dr Amollo demanded that the agency take full responsibility for violating the law regardless of its interpretation of the law.

Dr Amollo noted that although the IEBC is recruiting an audit firm, it is well behind the legal timelines.

“Regardless of whether it is mandatory or not, can you admit that the commission has already violated the law for failing in terms of hiring a reputable firm to audit the register?” Dr Amollo posed as Mr Marjan said that the agency should not be blamed.

Mr Marjan skirted the issue, reminding lawmakers that the first attempt to hire the audit firm had failed.

He also admitted that the agency lacks the capacity to audit the voter roll “as it is too demanding”.

Mr Wandayi had sought to know whether the agency will use its own internal mechanisms to audit the voter roll in the event it fails to enlist an audit firm.

At a previous meeting with the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee, Mr Marjan said that unless additional money was provided, the IEBC will forgo some key legal requirements like voter verification.

That verification entails checking the biometric details of a voter in the Kenya Integrated Electoral Management System (Kiems) to ensure that they are in order. Where there is an issue, it is addressed so that voters are not caught off guard on election day.

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