Raila, IEBC meet a day after Roselyne Akombe resignation

NASA presidential candidate Raila Odinga (PHOTO: File)

 

NAIROBI, KENYA: NASA presidential candidate Raila Odinga Thursday met Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission Chairman Wafula Chebukati hours after IEBC cancelled a meeting with candidates.

NASA co-principal Musalia Mudvadi, who accompanied Odinga, said the meeting was informed by developments in the commission which saw the resignation of commissioner Roselyne Akombe on Wednesday.

Akombe announced her resignation from the US. She was supposed to have been in Dubai supervising the disputed printing of election material for the October 26 repeat presidential election that Raila has pulled out of.

"The resignation of Roselyn Akombe and Chairman's [Chebukati] statement that IEBC cannot guarantee credible elections on October 26 is extremely serious development in our country. This informed our meeting as it points out to our previous concerns," said Mudavadi.

Mudavadi asked the media to analyse statements made by Akombe and Chebukati who, on Wednesday, said that they did not believe that the environment was conducive to a credible election.

He challenged the media to ask Akombe tough questions on who made her work a nightmare.

Days after the August 8 general elections, Immigration officials stopped Akombe from flying to the US on the grounds that she had not been cleared by the government.

Days later she was cleared.

According to Jubilee Vice Chairman David Murathe it took the intervention of American ambassador Robert Godec to get Akombe past the immigration desk at at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.

Akombe holds dual Kenyan and US citizenship.

Jubilee politician have claimed that her employment at the IEBC was irregular because of the American citizenship.