Opinion: Chebukati’s long and lonely path to self-destruction

Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Chairman Wafula Chebukati after appearing before the National Assembly Public Accounts Committee in November 1. [Boniface Okendo, Standard]

Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Chairman Wafula Chebukati is at his truest self when he is being ridiculed. This is a man who has singlehandedly wiped out the relevance of an institution for which he has barely led for two years.

He has reneged on every of his positions whether documented or not. Some of these positions majorly contributed to the civil strife Kenya experienced post last year’s general election.

Chebukati has in many ways exposed his incompetence in leadership but the hallmark of his character was when he held a press conference to declare to the world that he could not guarantee a free and fair election. This was after the dramatic exit of former commissioner Roselyn Akombe, whose primary reason was her chairman’s lack of leadership.

Every organisation faces crisis in one form or the other. The true test of leadership is measured in the way the organisation navigates crisis scenarios. Every step taken by Chebukati has only plunged the IEBC further into crisis. His biggest achievement has been to throw out the institution’s objectivity by dividing the commission along political lines while throwing all and sundry under the bus to save his skin.

Today, majority commissioners have resigned and left him without quorum. He has now fired his CEO on the basis on an audit he conducted himself while hiding behind the Auditor General. His public declaration of exposing his staff to public vetting might win him accolades, but only among an audience whose opinions are as misinformed as his actions.

It has now been established that the much publicized 12-point memo that he sent to former CEO Ezra Chiloba was drafted by political stakeholders outside of the commission and later delivered to the CEO through the media. Incidentally, all the responses to the 12-point questions can be found in an affidavit that Chebukati had sworn in court for the presidential petition because these were the very question that the petitioner had posed. 

The country will not forget that when the Supreme Court required IEBC to hold fresh presidential elections within a certain period of time, it is the chairman who made the boldest move to derail the order. In his limited wisdom, Chebukati elected to go into hiding when his commissioners worked tirelessly with their legal team to submit their response to an application that could have delayed the repeat elections.

I now have it on good authority that the chairman actually had appointed his own lawyer and with the help of political operatives, prepared an affidavit that would have supported the application to postpone the October 26 election. The affidavit remains under lock and key. 

In keeping up with his sabotage practice, there are also media reports of the instance where he sneaked out with the KIEMS kit supposedly for his kin to test its functionality and perhaps to manipulate it a few days before the election.

The media also reports that, the now spotless head of the IEBC, allegedly channelled the commission’s legal work to his law firm, a clear example of abuse of office.

Therefore, when it comes to the said audit, one must study the actions of Chebukati in context. This is a man who will never take a media interview unless it is a press conference where he is reading an earlier prepared statement and followed by off-cuff responses to “strictly one or two questions”. Journalists have painted him as a shifty, insincere and schemer who only talks at the media.

There is no more evidence required to prove that IEBC is a shell, untrusted and incompetent institution under his leadership. Chebukati has tried hard to convince us that he is the right man for the job but is failing miserably. We must demand accountability from IEBC.

For us to move forward, Chebukati should admit he has failed Kenyans and he cannot shift the blame to anyone else. On the other hand, Chiloba must be willing to say all that he knows about the last elections and the current IEBC shenanigans. 

- The writer is MP for Kimilili