What you need to ask yourself: Why was Dr. Roselyn Akombe Kwamboka leaving in a huff back to the United Nations office in New York even before her IEBC contract expired?
What you need to wonder about: Why did she lie, in documents she presented to immigration officials at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, that she was going to Dubai?
The Law: Did she lie while applying for the IEBC job and appearing for interviews, as the law forbids an IEBC Commissioner to work part-time? And because of this, did someone bring this to her attention, and made her easily manipulable, knowing that she was a walking criminal?
On 23rd January, this year, Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson to the United Nations Secretary General, held his daily press briefing at their offices in New York, USA.
It was like any other press brief, updating the world about their progress with sending relief to the displaced in Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan. There was even an update on the King of Bhutan contributing $10,000 to the UN Trust Fund for Assistance to Victims of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse.
That’s also the day Luxembourg was admitted to the Honour Roll after paying her regular budget dues in full. The updates ended with information on the Holocaust Exhibition in Romania.
But that’s not where the news is.
When the floor was opened to questions from journalists, it took more than five attempts for someone from the audience to mention that name – Dr. Roselyn Kwamboka Akombe.
For those asking why Dr. Roselyn Kwamboka Akombe was arrested attempting to board a flight to the United States, here is a brief background:
Dr. Roselyn Kwamboka Akombe has a PhD from Rutgers University. The 249-paged Thesis, approved in 2005, is about the challenges of regional integration with regards to the COMESA economic bloc.
She is an employee of the United Nations office in New York, USA, where she works at the Department of Political Affairs, as a P5 staff.
A P5 staff, according to the United Nations job grading system, is a mid-level professional with a minimum of 10 years experience. With that level of exposure, she qualifies to be a Senior Political Affairs Officer and can even head the political section, with programme officers working under her. She’s one grade away to qualifying for the Under-Secretary Position, in any of the United Nations Agencies.
On 23rd January, this year, when that journalist stunned a press room to ask about Dr. Roselyn Kwamboka Akombe’s absense from her duty station, it was justifiable for an answer to be given. It emerged that Dr. Akombe had just asked for an unpaid leave from the UN to come back to Kenya and take up her role as an IEBC commissioner, after a successful application and interview.
The leave was approved, on condition that she adheres to the internal policies that binds all UN members of staff for she was still one of them.
The response from the Spokesperson was telling, quote;
“…she has been granted special leave without pay to serve in the Kenyan Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission. She’ll provide technical electoral support to the Commission in preparation for the 2017 elections and support efforts to prevent post electoral violence in Kenya…”
The arrest of Dr. Akombe is steeped in lies and damn lies and it seems either side – IEBC and the Government – is avoiding to expose the backside of each other.
For once, as NASA heads to the Supreme Court, Jubilee needs a near unanimity within the IEBC commission on how to approach the litigation, considering that the very credibility of the commission is now a matter of conjecture. Because of this, Jubilee, or the executive, is avoiding opening a war-front within IEBC.
Don’t forget in the backdrop of all these is unresolved murder of IEBC ICT manager Chris Msando.
It is precisely because of the fear inherent within the commission that made Kenya’s social media space burn out after initial revelation that an IEBC commissioner was ‘escaping’. To know what happened is to skim through the loads of shit and bullshit the public is being treated to.
IEBC on one hand, through tweets and press releases, is downplaying the incident as mere bureaucratic confusion, for which the offending government agency, in this case the Ministry of Interior, has apologized. The commission even goes ahead to claim the Dr. Akombe will be back by Sunday, making a trip to the US such road to to Namanga border and back to Nairobi.
However, the ministry of Interior, and sections of the presidency, are adamant that the commissioner did not follow laid down procedures in seeking to travel abroad. It is the group that has also revealed that Dr. Akombe initially misled immigration officials on her destination, making her be ejected from a plane to the USA.
In a letter she purportedly forged, her destination was Dubai, not New York. The question is: Is Dr. Akombe an IEBC official, thus an employee of the Republic of Kenya; or is she an employee of United Nations?
Even more egregious, can she be both? Was IEBC aware? Was parliament, that approved her appointment as an IEBC Commissioner, aware? Did she circumvent the rules? What does all these say about her probity as a public official?
Email your news TIPS to Editor@Kahawatungu.com — this is our only official communication channel
