Nairobi — Criteria that will form the basis for drawing boundaries for constituencies and other administrative jurisdictions are yet to be made public, five months after a team mandated to carry out the exercise was named.

The Interim Independent Boundaries Review Commission (IIBRC) has been accused of putting the cart before the horse by collecting views from the public before setting the criteria.

Gerrymandering

Already, there are fears that the commission could be used for gerrymandering purposes with politicians already pushing for selfish agenda. The IIBRC chairman, Mr Andrew Ligale, expressed confidence that his team was on top of things during sittings in Nyeri and Embu that attracted high turnouts.

But the task ahead might not be easy. Indeed, the politicians who turned out in numbers sought divine intervention for the commission whose work might turn out to be the most politicised. The commissioners are well aware of this. One of them, Mr Joseph Kaguthi, said in a telephone interview they would wish that politicians will slow down on politicising the work of the commission as it embarks on the enormous task ahead.

"We hope the politicians will give us a free hand in undertaking our mandate and achieve our goal of drawing boundaries that will serve as bridges for national cohesion," Mr Kaguthi, a former provincial commissioner, said. Another commissioner told the Sunday Nation in confidence that there was a simmering division in the team on the criteria issue.

The commissioner blamed the difficulties in deciding the criteria on the large number of politicians in the team. "The appointing authority made a mistake to include so many politicians in the commission which makes it difficult to arrive at simple decisions like the criteria to use," he said.

Mr Ligale has been an MP and assistant minister while two other commissioners, Irene Cherop Masit and Rozaah Akinyi Buyu, contested in the last General Election. MPs from Central Province led by Mathira's Ephraim Maina, who read their memorandum to the commission, demanded that the criteria to be applied be first established and publicised.

"Before the IIBRC can determine how the constituencies will be rationalised, it must first establish and publicise the criteria to be applied in delimiting constituencies and the criteria must lead to a fair and just result for all the people of Kenya," the MPs said.

Why the commission has been unable to state clearly in its meetings the criteria they will use is baffling. The constitutional amendment that established it, and specifically Section 41C, requires the commission to make recommendations to Parliament on the delimitation of constituencies and local authority electoral units and the optimal number of constituencies on the basis of equality of votes, taking into account density of population, population trends, means of communication and community interest.

Mr Kaguthi said the commission had an obligation to tell Kenyans the criteria to be applied in delimiting the boundaries. He said the commissioners will be discussing the matter now that they are through with visits to all the provinces.

"We will now discuss the issue as a matter of urgency and make an announcement on the formula to be applied," he said. He hinted that the commission will mostly likely adopt a middle ground where population as well as infrastructure will be key in delimiting the boundaries.

Another challenge facing the commission is time. Although the time duration for the IIBRC is 24 months effective from December last year, the commission seems to be behind schedule and out of sync with other bodies like the Committee of Experts (CoE) and the Interim Independent Electoral Commission (IIEC).

Gichugu MP Martha Karua captured the constraints facing the commission as far as time is concerned when she asked the team to move with speed. "It's important that your commission works with the CoE and IIEC to ensure the work is completed on time. This is important because Parliament might not give you more time since the next election cycle is almost with us," she said.

Particularly tricky is how the team will fit its programme into that of the IIEC. A report by IIEC presented to the Parliamentary Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs said the compilation of a voters' roll starts in December in preparation for a referendum slated for April next year.

Calls by leaders that the Ligale-led team should finalise its work before voter registration starts might, therefore, be difficult to meet. The referendum will be the culmination of the work of the CoE led by Mr Nzamba Kitonga which is currently in the process of drafting a new law that will be presented to Kenyans soon.

Being behind schedule, IIBRC might, therefore, be unable to crystalise its findings in the draft constitution. There is also the issue of which figures to use in determining the population size in the country. In Central, the commission was told that the leaders have no confidence in most of the figures that have been released by various agencies in the recent past. They particularly singled out the 1999 population census, saying it was outdated.

No agreement

They, however, did not agree on the statistics that should be used. While some said they would prefer the 2007 voters' register, others wanted the figures from the last Kenya Household and Budget Survey used.

Mr Ligale told the leaders that the government had assured the commission they will be among the first people to have access to the tentative figures from the recent population census expected in December.

Lastly there is the question of impartiality; how will the commission avoid being manipulated by politicians? In Central, the commission was told that it should not interfere with the boundaries of the newly-created districts as well as those of current constituencies.

However, Ms Karua came to the rescue of the commission when she asked the team to be bold and go ahead with their work the way they know best. In an interview with the Sunday Nation, Mr Ligale said "the commission will resist any attempts by politicians to influence the outcome of its work." Kenyans will be watching to see whether this will indeed be the case.