Weeks of anti-IEBC demos over alleged bias have hurt staff morale, but the commission is now well-funded and determined to deliver a flawless election next year after technology failures in 2013, says CEO Ezra Chiloba. He spoke to the Star political writer Felix Olick.
1. What challenges have you experienced since your appointment as CEO?
I joined the IEBC [on January 12 last year] at a time when public perception was largely negative due to the disputed 2013 presidential elections. The challenge has been how to turn the situation around to inspire public confidence in the electoral process.
We have had to deal with the effects of structural and system weaknesses not uncommon for young institutions. These are now being addressed systematically, and I believe in three years, IEBC will be a different place.
[And the huge pending bills?] Many Kenyans do not know that if the commission were a corporation, we would be under receivership by now, due to the Sh4 billion claims arising from the 2013 general elections. Luckily, with support from National Treasury and Parliament, we are almost out of the woods on this one. For those who have not been paid, I plead for a little more patience.
We are refocusing the organisation towards a better, stronger and more effective entity executing its mandate with sustained momentum.
2. How will the commission ensure the 2017 polls are free, fair and credible?
The past 12 months, the commission has audited its capacity, systems and procedures. It has identified the challenges from the 2013 elections and developed a five-year Strategic Plan (2015-2020) and the 2017 Elections Operations Plan (EOP). The EOP provides the framework and a clear roadmap of all the phases and actions required to ensure a flawless election on Tuesday, August 8, 2017. These documents are public and are very useful for anyone seeking to understand plans for the next elections.
The commission is redeploying and recruiting new staff to enhance its capacity. We have created a new directorate of procurement and, with support from donors, engaged consultants to help streamline procurement, human resources, communications and warehousing in preparation for next year. This capacity building will cover all key areas. To ensure optimum delivery, we have now introduced a new performance management and appraisal system (PAS).
On the actual election preparations, the commission is continuing with voter registration. In February-March, we carried out phase one of mass voter registration. A similar undertaking will be rolled out early next year before we close the voters' register for the election. In the meantime, we plan to launch a public inspection of the voter register in August. Other preparations around electoral technology, logistics planning, results management, voter education campaigns, are on course.
3. You have opened tenders for the re-engineering of various IT infrastructure. What is your target?
We use technology to register people (Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) kits to create an electronic register), identify them when they turn up to vote (Electronic Voter Identification Devices (Evids)), and to transmit the (Results Transmission System, RTS) to tallying centres from all the polling stations in the 290 constituencies to one national tallying centre. We are upgrading all these technologies to ensure efficiency, availability and integrity in voter identification, nomination and results management.
4. In 2013, electoral technology largely failed. Will it deliver next year?
The technology faults of 2013 were identified and solved in subsequent by-elections. Most of the Evids failed because of uncharged batteries, while some voters' data was not in the electronic register. All these problems are now being addressed and will be tested for stress, readiness and resilience at least six months before the elections, unlike last time, when the gadgets were received a few days before the elections. The commission has advertised for a consultancy to upgrade the election management system. When it is set up, all stakeholders will be taken through to ascertain its functionality and efficiency. We must also remember that credibility of elections goes beyond technology and therefore we must get all other intervening variables right.
5. When will you procure new Evids, and what will they cost?
Procurement in public sector is based on Parliamentary approval. As soon as Parliament approves the 2016-17 budget, we can proceed with our elections plan.
6. When will procurement of critical electoral materials be finished?
Procurement is a multi-stage process. For example, we cannot tender for voting materials long before we have determined the exact needs. All election goods and services, except ballot papers and statutory forms, will be procured by May next year, in time for distribution, training and testing.
7. You are procuring new Evids after allegedly donating some during the Burundi elections. How comes?
The commission never donated Evids to Burundi. In 2014, the National Independent Electoral Commission of Burundi (CENI) requested East African countries for computers, cars, office printers and ballot papers under the framework of regional cooperation. In consultation with the Kenyan government, the commission contributed 150 laptops via the Foreign Affairs ministry. These were taken out of a pool of 30,000 Evid laptops and done in compliance with our laws and intergovernmental protocols.
The transfer was permanent and the gadgets were devoid of any software or content. It was up to them to install whatever operating system they chose in line with their needs during the elections. This type of arrangement is common in the Southern Africa and now East Africa has picked up.
8. What is your take on the plans to discuss IEBC reforms between joint Parliamentary teams of Jubilee and Cord, as directed by the President?
That is a political process. We can only offer our perspective of what is good or desirable for the country; at least as experts in this field. In the end, the rule of law must prevail.
9. There have been demonstrations against the IEBC for weeks but specifically targeting commissioners. Has it affected operations in the secretariat or affected staff morale?
We cannot ignore the impact of such generalised attacks on the commission's staff morale. However, most staff remain focused on performing their work and the preparations as scheduled in our work plan. There is no doubt that all players know that the elections will be held next year and it would be imprudent to tamper with the technical preparations or fail to meet the critical timelines for this election. Managing the multiple-layered elections is not easy, and we hope good sense will prevail in the deliberations about the future of the commission.
10. The commission was allocated Sh19.7 billion in the new financial year. How much are you expecting from Treasury next year for the polls?
I think the figure for the next 2016-17 financial year is slightly below the Sh19 billion, following further adjustment in Parliament. Compared to the situation pre-2013, this is a major success in funding of elections. The National Treasury and Parliament have been supportive, and I believe we shall be resourced adequately as we move forward. Our development partners have also stood by us, which shows that many actors want to see a successful general election next year.
11. Is Diaspora voting and election hanging in the balance because you don't have accurate statistics of where they live?
Nothing "hangs in the balance" here. It is an issue we are closing in on, and soon, we shall provide details on how we plan to facilitate Diaspora voting.
Source
No comments:
Post a Comment