CORD demands resignation, prosecution of IEBC officials over alleged graft during 2013 polls

The Coalition of Reforms and Democracy (CORD) has demanded immediate resignation and prosecution of all IEBC officials and former officers mentioned in alleged graft scandal during 2013 General Election.

Here is CORD’s full speech: REVELATIONS ON KENYA ELECTORAL TEAM:
Ladies and Gentlemen;

Very damaging and very shameful information is coming out of a London Court on the integrity and veracity of our elections and electoral processes running into 2013.

The integrity of the people who ran that process and the integrity of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission and the many other public institutions to which some of the former election officers have been deployed is in serious question. The case in London by the Serious Fraud Office puts our prosecution and our Ethics and Anti- Corruption Commission to serious shame and credibility questions.

That Kenyan election officials pocketed millions of shillings in bribes to award lucrative printing contracts to Smith & Ouzman over a two-year period, then those same people proceeded to manage our critical 2013 polls is an unacceptably strong statement on how low we sank and how much some of us insist we must remain in that hole.

This same team that was asking for “chicken” from the printing company proceeded to procure for the high stakes 2013 elections, taking their corrupt ways, integrity questions and credibility gaps into an election whose significance was at par with the one held just before independence. Of concern beyond the corruption allegations is that:

a) Smith & Ouzman, apart from giving bribes to the Kenya election officials, also printed additional ballot papers for Jubilee which were used to rig the 2013 Presidential elections.

b) Gladys Shollei, who was fired as the Registrar of the Judiciary amidst similar corruption allegation, presided over the scrutiny of the IEBC tallying of the ballot on behalf of the Supreme Court in the 2013 election petition. Before joining the Judiciary, she was an official at IEBC and is implicated in the corruption at IEBC.

c) During the tallying scrutiny at the Supreme Court, Jubilee was represented by Mr Davis Chirchir who was also a former colleague of Gladys Shollei at IEBC and is similarly implicated in this scandal.

d) Some former members of this same team have gone ahead to be appointed to critical public positions like Cabinet Secretary for Energy, held by Mr Davis Chirchir.

e) This same Chairman of IEBC, seeing nothing wrong with his conduct, is equally insisting on staying to manage our future elections.

We maintain that we cannot let the past and its ghosts rest. We reject the doctrine of “accept and move on” while our nation suffers.

We must take charge of the future.

We therefore demand

1. The immediate resignation of all the officers and former officers mentioned in this scandal, their immediate arrest and their immediate prosecution. The acountability must begin at the top with the arrest and prosecution of Mr Chirchir and Mr Hassan.

2. We demand the investigation and audit of all the commissioners and principal officers of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission. Such investigation must also be extended to the all those who worked with this commission but who have since been deployed elsewhere or sacked.

3. We demand answers on what the government knows and when they knew it. We refuse to be party to the conspiracy of silence. What is being adduced in court in London point to a serous, baffling and shameful integrity and credibility gap on the part of these present and former officers and an indictment of the Jubilee regime. It cannot be that Jubilee does not know what these officers did. We have an intelligence service that is required to do background checks on people before they are appointed to key public positions like that of Cabinet Secretary.

4. We demand that the EACC show cause why it cannot be disbanded, and investigations opened into its officers. This development puts to great shame our prosecutors, particularly the Director of Public Prosecutions and the anti-corruption agency officials who have yet to nail anyone for these offences.

5. We demand the immediate arrest of Mr Trevy James Oyombra who is reported to have been the Kenyan making hefty payouts to Kenyan officials to influence the award of printing contracts to the UK firm. He must be sought and held to account.

6. We demand that the Kenya Commercial Bank, to which money was transferred for Mr Oyombra for onward distribution, must help the investigations and disclose how much was transferred to the officials implicated.

This scandal kills completely the credibility and global standing of our nation. We have reason to believe that this international corruption network remains intact in government. It is wreacking more havoc on our economy, compromising provision of public services while at the same time raising the cost of those same services, shoddily rendered.

As the Serious Fraud Office has rightly said, “Corruption in the public sector hampers the efficiency of public services, undermines confidence in public institutions and increases the cost of public transactions.

The integrity of the IEBC has been brought into serious question. So is that of any other public institution led by any officer who participated in this fraud.

All individuals and institutions mentioned must account.

Signed…

Rt. Hon Raila Odinga

Hon Kalonzo Musyoka

Sen. Moses Wetangula.

NOVEMBER 18, 2014.