ECK chair, Samuel Kivuitu is a former MP for Westlands constituency—then called Parklands constituency, so he is not a novice in the game of politics.
It is now emerging that the ECK chairman has taken a huge gamble by sending a circular to all political parties warning them that their nomination papers for candidates may not be accepted if they have not fielded a presidential candidate. The most affected party in this matter is of course the President’s PNU party which is banking on the support of numerous affiliate parties who will not field a presidential candidate. Not everybody supports this interpretation of the law by the ECK chairman but there is no arguing that he is supposed to be the boss (at least until December 2nd this year) when it comes to all matters electoral.
But it would appear that the real objective of the experienced ECK chairman is to put the president in a difficult situation where his failure to renew Kivuitu’s contract will be seen as an attempt to control the electoral process in his favor. It is the kind of gamble that can easily backfire but it is also the kind that can work like a dream. After all Kivuitu has nothing to lose because it is clear that currently the president has no intention of prolonging the ECK chairman’s tour of duty.
So let’s see what happens.
