Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) chairman Wafula Chebukati is set to embark on a benchmarking tour that will cost Ksh30 Million.
Chebukati, who will be accompanied with commissioners Abdi Guliye and Boya Molu, are expected to travel on Monday 25,2019.
The three will travel to six countries including South Africa, USA, Canada, Australia, India and Nigeria to benchmark on boundaries review.
Chebukati together with the two commissioners will commence their tour with a visit to the US.
However, this trip has raised concerns especially after South Africa was included in the list despite not having constituencies hence no need for boundary review.
Speaking to the Star, Jack Tumwa, a former commissioner of the ECK, Kenya has more boundaries experts hence the trip is unnecessary and a waste of tax-payers money.
“Most of the people who worked with Andrew Ligale in the last boundary review nine years ago still work for the IEBC, and their expertise could easily be tapped,” he emphasized.
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Additionally, the Election Observation Group claimed that IEBC’s costly trips will only deepen Kenyans’ mistrust of the commission, given that the agency has already been blamed for financial mismanagement.
Chebukati’s trip comes a few days after he survived an ouster at the National Assembly.
According to the Speaker of the National Assembly Justin Muturi, the report that sought the removal of the IEBC chair was “offensive to the law of the land” hence could not pass.
The Auditor General had recently reported that IEBC could not account for almost Ksh1.5Billion in relation to the 2017 general elections.
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