IEBC officials in crisis meeting over court ruling on signatures requirement

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has been holed up in a crisis meeting following a High Court ruling outlawing the requirement of presidential aspirants' submission of 48,000 signatures for clearance.

With the clock winding down to 33 days to the General Election, the electoral commission is back to the drawing board. IEBC commissioners spent the better part of Wednesday holed up in a crisis meeting to ponder on justice Anthony Mrima’s order vacating the mandatory need for presidential aspirants to submit at least 48,000 signatures and copies of identification cards or passports.

Following the setback, the commission is pondering all the available options at its disposal. The commission convened the meeting that included its legal department. The Mrima ruling essentially gave a lifeline to all those who were weeded out by the stringent requirements.

With the ruling in force, the country is staring at a very populated presidential ballot unless the commission appeals against the decision.

One of the independent candidates Reuben Kigame while welcoming the ruling wants the election postponed claiming the commission cannot go into the election under the leadership of its chairman Wafula Chebukati. Kigame claimed that in being knocked out, the IEBC Chairman was contemptuous to his candidature.

"For a chair of IEBC, Wafula Chebukati is the wrong person," Kigame said. "Even after leaving me out of the nomination process, he did not include me among the four that were nominated as candidates."

Judge Mrima quashed at least four sections of the Elections General Regulations 2012, as amended in 2017. Key among the regulations declared unconstitutional are sections requiring independent presidential aspirants and other persons eyeing various elective seats as independent candidates to supply copies of national identity cards of registered voters backing their bids for clearance by IEBC.

This requirement according to justice Mrima was discriminatory and differential treatment in violation of the constitution

Justice Mrima ruled that IEBC had access to personal data of all registered voters, including copies and numbers of their national identity cards or passports, and should not have compelled presidential aspirants to supply the same information to ascertain support for their bids.

According to the High Court judge, IEBC was in breach of the Data Protection Act, and aspirants had no legal basis to collect personal details of registered voters.