Nairobi Star (Nairobi)
Nzua Msau
9 December 2008
Nairobi — THE Electoral Commission of Kenya was last night preparing for an all-out war against the coalition government and threatening court action to nullify any decision by Parliament against them.
The 21 Commissioners believe there will be no future for them in Kenya if the Constitutional Amendment Bill is passed in its current form.
Parliament is this afternoon expected to shorten the process of publication of the Bill presented by Justice Minister Martha Karua from the mandatory fourteen days to enable Parliament to disband the ECK before Christmas.
Asked if they were lobbying MPs to defeat the Bill, the commissioners said they cannot do it directly but hoped they will see sense and reject it.
Four ECK commissioners privately briefed the Nairobi Star yesterday of their intentions and vowed to fight to the bitter end.
They said their court action two weeks ago to block government from dissolving ECK was only an interim step seeking interpretation of the law. They intend to lodge a more substantial case which will embarrass the political class.
"If I am condemned in the manner proscribed in this Bill, I have no future in Kenya. I cannot get employed anywhere in a public office. I cannot even get a certificate of good conduct and that's precisely why we are fighting back," said a commissioner.
The four, who claimed to speak on behalf of their all colleagues, refused to be named for fear of victimization by the MPs.
The commissioners singled out Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs r Martha Karua who they said had betrayed them despite having previously defended them against claims that they bungled the elections.
"I wish madam minister could explain her turnaround so we would know how to respond. It is very unfair, what they are doing to us," complained a commissioner from Central province.
The commissioners were particularly irked with the Serena Panel comprising James Orengo, Musalia Mudavadi, Sally Kosgei, William Ruto, Martha Karua, Mutula Kilonzo, Moses Wetangula and Sam Ongeri.
Cabinet has given the Serena Panel immense powers in determining the composition of the new Interim Independent Electoral Commission and its two subsidiary institutions- the Independent Boundaries Review Commission and the Interim Independent Constitutional Dispute Resolution Court.
"Constitutionally, the Serena Panel is amorphous and cannot be entrusted with such crucial roles as appointment of judges. Besides, it's purely composed of the political class who have brought us into this mess in the first place," another commissioner lamented.
"Why are they seeking us so vehemently? What wrong did I do as a person?
Some of us are very young now. If you condemn us so strongly what future do we have?" a relatively young commissioner said.
The commissioners described the decision to sack the ECK staff as a "vendetta" saying they only played a support role in the elections.
"If there was anything to answer for, it is not the ECK staff. It is the temporary staff mainly the returning officers and others who handled the elections. In any case, the staff are employees of ECK, not government," said another commissioner.
Siakago MP Lenny Kivuti and constitutional lawyer Gibson Kamau Kuria also criticised the decision to sack the more than 600 staff.
Kuria was highly critical of the Bill which he said reflected "a worrying expression of lack of confidence in Kenyans in general, the Kenyan judiciary and the electoral commission". He blamed the "moral and intellectual arrogance of the grand coalition".
ECK employees maintain that they will camp outside Parliament from today to pressurise MPs to reject the clause in the Bill that seeks to terminate their jobs.
The commissioners argue that the Interim Independent Constitutional Dispute Resolution Court would be unconstitutional since it takes over powers of the Constitution and Judicial Review division of the High Court.
They also doubt that the new electoral bodies would obtain the necessary independence with only the political class and specifically the Serena Panel determining their composition.
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