Wafula Chebukati, the Chairman of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), has revealed that some of the commissioners who resigned after the 2017 poll left because they were opposed to internal audit calls.
Chebukati noted that the commission wanted to do an audit with the aim of finding out why the cost of the 2017 election was high.
“We retreated and reflected on where we have come from… from what we had seen the cost of election was too expensive.. we needed to do an audit to see how to reduce the cost… when we came back, we engaged an internal audit that was the beginning of reduction of the team… they didn’t want us to get into details… they were clearly opposed to it for reasons best known to themselves,” Chebukati said on Monday night during an interview with Citizen TV.
The three commissioners who resigned after board room wars are Paul Kurgat, Consolata Nkatha and Margaret Mwachanya.
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While announcing their resignation in a press conference in April 2018, the commissioners faulted Chebukati’s ability to lead saying under his leadership the electoral agency’s boardroom had turned into “a venue for peddling money, misinformation and grounds for brewing mistrust.”
However, the High Court in Nairobi invalidated their resignation saying that they failed to follow the proper procedures when they stepped down.
They tendered their formal resignation letters in December 2018 and were last month appointed by President Uhuru Kenyatta to be deputy mission heads for Islamabad (Mwachanya), Rome (Nkatha) and Moscow (Kurgat).
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Commissioner Roselyne Akombe left the commission before the October 2017 repeat election citing electoral malpractice.
The fallout left the commission with Chebukati, Prof. Abdi Yakub Guliye and Boya Molu.
In the last night interview Chebukati was in the company of the two.
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The chair said that he does not have the exact figures of how much may have been lost during procurement for the 2017 election. He, however, noted a report was forwarded to investigative agencies for further action.
The commissioners said the electoral body is capable of handling the next General Election amid calls for an overhaul of the team.
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