Independent Electoral and Boundaries (IEBC) has appointed Marjan Hussein Marjan as the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
The appointment comes 4-years after the departure of the previous CEO, Ezra Chiloba, who was recently appointed the director-general of the Communication Authority of Kenya.
Chiloba left the IEBC under a cloud of suspicion that he botched the 2017 presidential elections.
Marjan’s top job will be to build public confidence and trust in IEBC and break from the past perception of incompetence and corruption within IEBC stemming from the actions of previous CEOs.
Chiloba’s predecessor, James Oswago, was also suspended from IEBC after being charged with allegedly unlawfully procuring electronic identification devices in 2013 in a corruption deal worth Kshs 1.39 billion. (Approx $12,300,000).
The Chiloba-managed 2017 elections made history in another dubious and unprecedented way.
In a historic moment never seen before in Africa, Chief Justice David Maraga annulled the presidential election results calling it “invalid, null and void” because it had not been conducted in accordance with the constitution.
In his ruling, Maraga said the IEBC failed to verify the results before announcing them.
The court found IEBC had announced the results prematurely without reviewing thousands of forms 34A, which confirms the results at a polling station, prompting Justice Philomena Mwilu to describe the IEBC vote-tallying process as reckless like a matatu.
Drama followed Maraga’s ruling, which was praised worldwide as a sign of the maturity of Kenya’s democracy and judicial independence.
President Uhuru Kenyatta called the justices “wakora,” and former Prime Minister, who had been declared the loser in the race, celebrated the outcome and lashed out at the IEBC.
“It is now clear that the entire [electoral commission] is rotten,” Odinga said.
Marjan is taking over the helm at IEBC at a time when the electoral body is viewed with suspicion and a historical moment when it has expanded voting opportunities to Kenyans outside Africa.
Despite the major milestone, the voter registration exercise turned into a colossal failure, registering only 2959 new voters in 18 registrations centers in the diaspora, leaving both the IEBC and diaspora voting advocates wondering what happened.
Diaspora organizations have blamed IEBC for the voter registration fiasco. They have claimed IEBC’s plan was not realistic and doomed to fail from the beginning.
The IEBC gave diasporans 15 days to register in several consulate offices. The turnout was inexplicably poor. Some have argued the time was not enough, and IEBC did not give Kenyans enough notice to prepare or involve the Kenyan community in the process.
Others have said the time given to register did not matter because the requirements of a valid passport for Kenyans outside Africa presented an obstacle many with expired documents could not overcome.
They argued IEBC was acting in bad faith by requiring them to have valid documents when they could not renew them due to worldwide pandemic-induced lockdowns.
Four days before the diaspora voter registration deadline, a Kenyan court ruled to allow all Kenyans abroad to register using a valid passport and Kenya’s national I.D. But the ruling came too late to change the failure trajectory, and the IEBC did not provide an extension in light of changed circumstances.
While Marjan is no stranger to diasporan grievances, he has, however, flown under the radar, leaving Chairman Wafula Chebukati to absorb voters’ ire. But having been confirmed CEO, he will now have to take ownership of IEBC’s failures and successes.
On top of his desk, he will find a petition filed against IEBC, naming Chebukati and all the commissioners as respondents.
The petition by diasporans Dr. Bernard Saisi Marasa, Eliud Matindi, and the Kenya Diaspora Alliance-USA accuse the IEBC of several violations, including the following:
1) Refusal to adopt measures to ensure diasporans could exercise their rights under article 38 of the Kenyan constitution.
2) Refusing to conduct continuous registration for diasporans,
3) Breach of the oath of office,
4) Deliberate mismanagement and sabotage of registration as voters of Kenyans residing outside Kenya.
5) Refusal to implement the policy on voter registration and voting for citizens residing outside Kenya, adopted by the IEBC in 2015.
Details of the accusations and supporting evidence are unknown. But the petition filed on March 4 under the Certificate of Urgency awaits a ruling by Justice Anthony Mrima on March 23, 2022.
In pursuit of Kenya diaspora right to vote, we happy to inform our members and friends that on behalf of @kenya_usa we have filed a petition against @IEBC, the AG and the Commissioners. We refuse to be compelled to vote at night! @KaranjaMatindi @DrRoselynAkombe @JerotichSeii pic.twitter.com/djrYXU0Z48
— Dr. Saisi Marasa (@marasab) March 8, 2022
In February, Mrima excited the diaspora when he ruled to allow all Kenyans to have the exact identifications requirements– national I.D. or valid Kenyan passports– to register as voters.
Marjan is not named in the current petition, maybe because as an acting CEO, he was not seen as a principal IEBC official, but things are likely to change now that he is confirmed as CEO.
The IEBC and the diaspora have a frenemy relationship. In December, Commissioner Justus Nyanga’ya and his team led multiple successful outreaches via Zoom teleconferencing in the U.S., giving hope to the diaspora community that this time they would vote.
Marjan now has to build on Nyang’aya’s foundation, repair the strains brought about by the failed voter registration exercise, and develop a plan that would yield better results.
To succeed, he’ll need to work closely with the diaspora community and develop a long-term plan for voter registration that factors in the complexity of life overseas.
Diaspora organization leaders have called in IEBC to adopt technology to register voters, but IEBC has refused, saying online voting is not allowed by the Kenyan constitution.
Marjan comes into the job with impressive academic qualifications. MBA in Strategic Management, Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Nairobi.
He is a certified public accountant (CPA-K) with several other professional affiliations within accounting, auditing, and information systems management.
He will head a team of 348 IEBC officers, including 2 deputies and 9 directors. Marjan has served as the acting secretary and CEO since October 2017. It’s unclear whether he was compensated as a CEO or his benefits would be backdated to cover for the years he served in an interim capacity.
The general election is scheduled for August 9, 2022. It will pit Deputy President William Ruto and his Kenya Kwanza Alliance team against Odinga, who has joined forces with President Kenyatta in the Azimio la Umoja Movement.