Election job applicant dropped for defaulting on Helb loan

By Vitalis Kimutai

A lawyer short-listed for interview by the panel recruiting officials to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission has been disqualified.
At the same time, two former PSs were put to task to explain why they still wanted to serve after working for four decades in the civil service.

Mr Isaac Mutoka Shivachi was disqualified for failing to re-pay loans from the Higher Education Loans Board (Helb), which he secured while studying at the University of Nairobi 19 years ago.
Shivachi told the Ekuru Aukot-led panel that he had not paid the loan because he had many dependants.

The matter arose from a letter by Helb Chief Executive Benjamin Cheboi to the panel.
In the letter received on September 19, Cheboi said that among the 44 short listed candidates, Shivachi was the only one who had not repaid the loan.

The outstanding amount was, however, not provided. Shivachi, who formerly worked for the Local Government, has also had a civil case involving Kimilili Municipal Council.
“How much time would you require to go and sort out your papers with the relevant offices?” Aukot asked the lawyer.
Shivachi said: “I do not

know how long it would take for me to do that or if I would get them immediately”.After consultations, the panel dismissed the candidate for failing to meet requirements for the interview.
Two other short-listed candidates were said to be still servicing their Helb loans.
Mr Simiyu Abiud Wasike, a commissioner with the Interim Independent Electoral Commission, was grilled over the recruitment of his son, Mr Arnold Wekesa, as the Elections Coordinator for Embakasi constituency.

Wasike fended off claims he might have influenced the employment, saying he did not know the son had applied and that he only learnt of it after he was recruited.
“He did not tell me he had applied. He does not live with me and neither does he consult me. He applied and did the interviews like the rest,” Wasike said.

Age factor

The former PS was also put on the spotlight over the fact that he was 71 years old.
“The spirit and mind in me is not 71. I have the energy, enthusiasm and experience to serve in the IEBC,” he said.
The panelists, journalists and the public at KICC, Nairobi, were amused when Wasike said: “When an elderly person falls in love, he/she does it better than a 19 year old”.

Engineer Abdulahi Sharawe, another former PS defended himself against allegations he influenced proposal for the creation of some constituencies in North Eastern while serving in the defunct Independent Boundaries Review Commission (IIBC).

Sharawe said 290 constituencies were delineated according to population statistics provided by Planning Minister Wyclif Oparanya and that the report by the IIBRC should be made public to end speculation.
“We were given the 2009 Census results by the minister even before they were made public and that is what we used in making recommendations,” Sharawe said.
“At the age of 61, why don’t you want to leave the positions to younger people since you have served the public for long?” Mrs Rose Buyu asked the former PS.

No discrimination

Sharawe said: “The Constitution did not discriminate on age and commissions are not places for people to start careers. At my age, I am strong and knowledgeable and I can not possibly sit at home and watch television”.
Mr Lawrence Nyalle, an accountant, said during his tenure as an auditor at Kenya Power and Lighting Company eight years ago, he did not know money had been stashed abroad by some power barons.
“If money was stashed away, I would not know because we had no jurisdiction over companies abroad,” Nyalle said.