Former top IEBC official seeks to stop recruitment

NAIROBI, KENYA: A former senior official of the electoral agency has moved to court to stop the ongoing recruitment of a deputy chief executive, who is also the deputy secretary.

Wilson Shollei, former deputy CEO of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), claimed he was unfairly dismissed and now wants the court to stop the short-listing of candidates for the position until the matter is concluded.

Last month, the commission sent home Edward Karisa (Finance director), Dismas Ong'ondi (Information director, Willy Kamanga (Procurement manager) and Shollei over alleged shortcomings in procurement and financial mismanagement.

Appearing before Justice Maureen Onyango Thursday for an inter-parties hearing, Shollei, through his lawyer Edwin Sifuna, said his dismissal was unfair and undertaken in an unconstitutional manner.

He added, in a sworn affidavit, that he had not been subjected to any disciplinary process during his tenure that would consequently warrant his dismissal.

Sifuna said his client had in August this year been served with a letter listing ambiguous and vague charges on which the commission intended to sack him and asking him to show cause as to why IEBC should not terminate his services.

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"The allegations were totally unexpected and had never been raised by IEBC at any time during the course of my employment and appeared to have been inspired by an anti-corruption case against me pending in court," Shollei said.

IEBC, in a sworn affidavit signed by acting CEO Betty Sungura, maintained: "Knowing the management of elections is an important constitutional process and IEBC needs to prepare within the electoral cycle, it is in public interest that key positions be filled." The court will deliver its ruling on October 17.