Implications of Akombe’s resignation from IEBC

The hint by electoral commission chairman Wafula Chebukati that he may resign if certain conditions are not met means the commission could find itself without two of its best-known faces after commissioner Roselyn Akombe resigned on Wednesday.

So what implications would such a move have on the planned election set for next week Thursday?

That commissioner Akombe’s exit from Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) dents the commission credibility is not in doubt. But hard as it may be, the blow is not fatal for purposes of transacting business as the IEBC act stipulates the quorum for the commission shall be five out of the seven commissioners.

The controversial Election Laws Amendment Bill that is currently awaiting President Kenyatta’s signature proposes to reduce the quorum to half of available commissioners as long as they are not less than three.

But the scenario would be more complicated if chairman Chebukati, too, throws in the towel. Besides the obvious political reverberations, his resignation would leave a void harder to fill under the current law.

Section 6 of the IEBC act requires the chairman to be a lawyer qualified to be a judge of the Supreme Court. Chebukati is the only lawyer in the current commission meaning none of his colleagues qualifies to inherit his shoes if he walks out.

But if assented to, the electoral amendments laws will effectively dilute the importance of the chairman to elections by delegating to the vice chair or any other commissioner the role of the chairman. It means, therefore, Vice Chair Consolata Maina, or any other commissioner would step into Chebukati’s shoes in an acting capacity.

But a poll presided over by an acting chairman would likely attract a challenge in court. A precedent has already been set when the High Court dropped corruption case facing former Transport CS Michael Kamau on the grounds that the commission that was lacking a chairperson at the time was not properly constituted.

There is also a likelihood that someone could move to court to stop the election from happening on the same grounds.  

The other likely scenario is that of Chebukati returning to the court for an interpretation of whether an election held under the mounting tensions and with Odinga’s boycott and those of his supporters would be valid.