Fresh IEBC reshuffle as it struggles with tainted public image

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has reshuffled its officials across the country ahead of elections.

The commission, after reshuffling country and constituency returning officers earlier in May has further scrapped the position of regional coordinators and instead appointed 47 county managers.

[Company Disclaimer: This article has been lifted from the Standardmedia.co.ke website to appear only on the Presidential debates website. Any other occurernce of this same article on a different website other than debates.co.ke is considered plagiarism.]

 In the changes, all the 290 constituencies have new returning officers. IEBC’s 17 regional coordinators have been retained as election managers. Another 30 officials have been promoted to make the 47 county managers.

In a letter to all the officers dated May 2, 2017, IEBC’s CEO Ezra Chiloba said they had followed a criteria approved by the commission when making the deployments.

Home county 

According to IEBC, the requirement of one’s home county calls for ensuring that one should not be posted to the constituency or county where they served before. In addition, an officer should not serve in their home county or constituency.

This, they say, is meant to avoid cases where politicians influence or compromise poll officials in their regions while at the same time, making key considerations on health before deploying its officers.

 “The commission has also directed that all county managers and returning officers shall report to their new stations not later than May 20, 2017,” reads the memo that bears signatures of three commission officials.

Chiloba also appointed a five-member team, led by Joseph Ayatta, to oversee the transition. Other members are Jason Akoyo, Joseph Yegon, Mohamed Osman and Naisiae Tobiko. The officers are expected to move with speed and familiarise themselves with the new stations, meet political party representatives and candidates, security officers and other stakeholders.

“Following successful interviews, at least 30 constituency election coordinators were promoted to the position of county managers. We now have 47 County Election Managers (CEMs) who have been deployed to serve in various parts of the country,” read the letter.

IEBC is expected to gazette the new officials in accordance with the law. The latest appointments are meant to gain trust of stakeholders about the integrity of the elections.

The exercise was put on hold last week after some of the affected officers claimed it was done in an inhumane manner.

“There were some concerns by those affected and the commission opted to hold on until that is addressed and ensure it’s done in a humane way,” said Commissioner Roselyn Akombe.

Source: The Standard