Why is Amarkhail’s seat still empty?

KABUL (SW): The Independent Election Commission’s financial and administrative deputy said the IEC had sent the names of Ahmad Jawid Habibi (Paston, resident of Maidan Wardak province), Abdul Basir Azimi (Tajik, Herat resident), and Khalid Fahim (Paston, resident of Baghlan) to the Presidential Palace on May 29 for consideration for the position of head of Secretariat of IEC, but so far no one has been selected for this position.

Mahazullah Dawlati, in a conversation with Salam Watandar said funding of human and financial resources is being mobilized through the Secretariat, and the delay in selecting the head of the Secretariat has slowed down the IEC’s work.

According to Dawlati, the IEC has asked the Presidential Palace to select one of these candidates for the position at the soonest possible. But why does the government delay the selection of the head of the Secretariat?

A credible source within the National Unity Government told Salam Watandar that President Ghani is “suspicious and hesitant” to pick one of the candidates for the position of head of Secretariat, and does not have full confidence on the candidates suggested for this position, which is why the selection of the head of the Secretariat has been delayed so far.  

According to the source, President Ghani is looking to control all of the election affairs and “this is a major reason for delaying the selection of the head of the Secretariat of IEC”.

Shah Hussain Mortazawi, deputy spokesperson for the Presidential Palace said the Presidential Palace has received the list of the candidates for the position of head of Secretariat of IEC only three days ago, and the head of the Secretariat will be selected after the careful considerations and formal procedures. However, Mortazawi rejected the news that President Ghani is delaying the selection of the head of Secretariat.

The importance and scope of the Secretariat

The 2014 election crisis was intensified when General Zahir Zahir, the former Kabul Police Chief stopped two vehicles loaded with election materials near the IEC building which under the order of Zial-ul Haq Amarkhail, the former head of the Secretariat of the IEC, were taking the election materials to an unknown location without the coordination with the police.

Although Zahir Zahir provided the media with a videotape to prove his claim, Amarkhail called the police intervention as interference in the work of the IEC and demanded an investigation.

The stopping of these cars was the beginning of a process that put Mr. Amarkhail in the spotlight of the political debates and the media concerning the widespread corruption in the election by supporters of President Ghani. After this, the release of several videos/audio clips which showed that he organized a massive fraud in favor of one of the candidates linked the name of Amarkhail and the head of Secretariat of IEC to the post-election political and electoral crisis.

Amarkhail has always denied the charges of organizing the election fraud, but what exactly is the scope of the authority of the head of IEC Secretariat?

Some believe that the head of IEC Secretariat is at the heart of the command center of the IEC, and that the coherence of all human and operational resources is under the control of the head of IEC Secretariat.

Mahazullah Dawlati said that the IEC Secretariat has had the role of the mind and heart of the IEC who carries out the main decisions of the IEC in the election process.

Zial-ul Haq Amarkhail, the former head of IEC Secretariat (under the Karzai government), said the main task of the IEC is to establish a strategy, adopt guidelines and oversight, however, all the executive powers rest with the IEC’s Secretariat and the intervention of members of the IEC in the Secretariat’s affairs is against the law and according to Mr. Amarkhail, the members of the commission are currently doing this.

According to the first paragraph of Article 20 of the Election Law, “the Commission shall have a head of the Secretariat for the advancement of administrative and executive affairs of the Commission”, and, in accordance with paragraph 4 of this article, “the Secretariat shall perform his or her duties in accordance with the provisions of law and procedures approved by the Commission, and will be responsible to the Commission for his or her deeds”.

IEC’s Secretariat in Political game

The presidential palace announced the election of Imam Mohammad Virmach as the head of the IEC Secretariat on the 2 March 2018 by releasing a statement to the media. Accordingly, Mr. Virmach was elected by the President from among eight candidates for this position. Virmach worked in the IEC under the former chairman of the organization, Mohammad Yousuf Nuristani, however, he did not last long in the position of IEC’s head of Secretariat and was dismissed, but why?

In response to why he was sacked from his post, Virmach said, as a result of the ethnic clashes between the members of the Commission and indifferences in political opinions, he was dismissed from this post. He mentions about a complex and invisible network that monitors the election affairs outside the commission and controls the mentality and function of the IEC members.

Mahazullah Dawlati, the IEC’s deputy commission for Financial and Administrative Affairs said the members of the Commission had pointed out the weak performance of Mr. Virmarch’s work attitude and he was dismissed by the president based on the suggestions of the commissioners.

After the dismissal of Virmach, Shahla Haq, head of training and capacity building of the IEC was appointed by the members of the commission as head of IEC Secretariat on the suggestions of the members of the Commission, but she quit her potion in reaction to the installation of the labels on the copy of the birth certificates during the voters’ registration process.

Shahla Haq did not respond to Salam Watandar’s queries about her resignation from the post of head of IEC Secretariat.

One of the former senior officials of the IEC who did not want to be named told Salam Watandar that according to the new election law, the creation of posts of deputy finance and administrative affairs and deputy director of operations has led to friction between the Secretariat and these two new posts.

According to the source, until the boundary between the head of Secretariat and the two new deputy positions are not identified and their duties of the head of Secretariat and the two deputies are not defined, the conflict of the Commission over the exercise of jurisdiction will continue to persist.

Currently, Auwrangzib, a resident of Paktia is working as the head of IEC Secretariat while Ibrahim Sadaat, a resident of Bamiyan is working as the head of IT, and Munema Mansoor Sadaat, a resident of Kabul is working as head of plan and procedures, Mansoor Farid, a resident of Kabul as head of Human Resources, and Sayed Abdul Rahim Nawkhatiyar a resident of Nangarhar as head of commission’s public relation and media communication department of IEC.

Because the head of Secretariat post is such an important position, it is not a surprise that all the eyes are fixed to seize this position, and most efforts are expected to be made to influence this post of the IEC, though, the seat of the head of Secretariat still remains vacant.

ENDS