The IEBC should hire a reputable external body to conduct an audit of the last elections because an internal one cannot work.
An external consultant would audit systems as well as individuals who were in different positions. Then based on this, they would be able to tell who was culpable and who was not.
The 2017 Supreme Court ruling on the presidential election spoke about a systemic issue with the IEBC. In that regard, they ought to have done proper systems audit including an electronic one.
Only that would ascertain what went wrong in the last elections. But an internal process, really, you cannot be the investigator, the prosecutor as well as the judge.
So, if the commission wants to have an honest opinion of what happened in the last elections, then it needs to get an external person.
The audit should be sincere, with clear terms of reference and guarantee of independence. Only that can tell us what transpired. But pulling a public relations exercise will not help.
A good audit cannot be done by one firm. It has to be done by an electronic expert who will look at the transmission of results and other processes. Then we have to do a proper legal audit, proper administrative audit and forensic audit on the culpability. It is only then that we can discuss how to move forward as a country.
The audit would reveal whether the commissioners are fit to handle the next elections. It will look at the commission and the role each commissioner played and the secretariat.
Such an audit ought to happen now when there is no election frenzy. I can see we are celebrating the handshake, yet we are not securing democratic processes.
Kenya is the only African country that has nullified a presidential election. This means irregularities were so grave to the level where we need to do a proper audit to define our next course of action.
It will tell us who was culpable and who was not and that is what will inform the next commission.
Brian Weke, a political activist told the Star