Hassan Noor Hassan, the IEBC Commissioner nominee, had a hard time explaining why his relation with Suna East MP Junet Mohamed was a nonentity in the issue of forming a new electoral commission.

Appearing before National Assembly’s Justice and Legal Affairs Committee on Saturday, May 31, Hassan had to confirm to the country that indeed he is related to MP Junet.

“I am related to Hon. Junet Mohamed. I am his brother-in-law. As his brother-in-law, I existed long before Junet was born.”

Post-election violence

The ghosts of the 2007/08 Post-Election Violence came to haunt Hassan, who was at the time serving as the Rift Valley Provincial Commissioner, a region that was hard-hit by the skirmishes.

He told the committee that he was a key part of the response team that helped restore order during the post-election violence. Hassan blamed the post-election violence on rogue politicians who incited the public.

“I was awarded the best public officer of the year in 2007. I got the Kenya National Human Rights Commission award as the best public servant of the year in the way we managed conflict in the province at that time,” Hassan said.

And even after the skirmishes, Hassan said that he led a programme dubbed ‘Rudi Nyumbani’ that saw over 70% of the affected populace back to their farms.

He also distanced himself from the National Youth Service corruption scandal, insisting that he was wrongly linked, but was cleared.

“NYS investigations were done, people were taken to court, being one of them, but we were acquitted for lack of evidence. I was not convicted, I was acquitted of the charges in 2018,” he told the committee.