IEBC yet to pay election staff

By Kipchumba Kemei

Staff hired to conduct the General have claimed that the Election Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has not paid them, one month after the exercise.

Presiding officers, their deputies and clerks who took charge of the exercise in 33, 000 polling stations have accused the commission for what they called undue delay in paying them, claiming the electoral body had reneged on the agreement they had that they would have been paid immediately after the completion of the exercise.

Officials drawn from all over the country said it was not the first time that the commission had gone back on its word, claiming that it delayed paying them for the work they did during the 2010 referendum on the new constitution and during the last year parties nomination exercise which IEBC conducted.

"We are tired of the delays. The commission promised to pay us immediately after the General Election but it has not done so. We have incurred debts in the hope that after being paid we would settle them," said Yunis Khalif, who presided over the exercise in one of the polling stations in Mandera County.

Speaking on phone, he wondered why the commission had delayed payments yet it was allocated billions of shillings by the Treasury to conduct the polls and demanded its chairman Isaack Hassan to tell them when they will be paid to save them time they spend traveling from their homes to towns to enquire from banks if they money had been deposited.

• .

  Keep Reading

• 
  UDA sibling rivalry intensifies in Narok ahead of party elections
• 
  Vote counting starts in Solomon Islands as China, US trade barbs
• 
  Jobs and rights on young voters' minds for India polls

The commission, they alleged promised to pay their money through their bank accounts.

"We were told to open bank accounts where the money will be deposited. We were not told how much we will be paid. The secrecy will give room to corrupt commission officials deducting our pay," said a presiding officer who was station in a polling station but declined to be named because she is a civil servant.

A senior official with IEBC who declined to be named because there was a department dealing with the issue, said the payment issue was long overdue and wondered why officials who took part in the exercise were being mistreated.

"The delay serves to dent the image of the commission. It is time it puts it acts together and pay for the services the officers delivered. The commission which had a good name before is now behaving like the defunct Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) on matters of payments," he told The Standard.

The Commission Corporate and Communication Manager Tabitha Mutemi asked those who were hired to conduct the General Election to be patient because their payments were being processed.

"The commission is currently processing their payments. It will ensure that they are paid as soon as possible, probably next week," said Mutemi.