Ezra Chiloba claims he is fired as IEBC keeps mum

IEBC CEO Ezra Chiloba responds to audit queries when he appeared before the National Assembly Public Accounts Committee at Parliament on Monday 26/03/18. He has claimed that the commission has sacked him. [Boniface Okendo,Standard]

The suspended Chief Executive Officer of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission Ezra Chiloba has announced his dismissal from the commission.

In a statement sent to newsrooms, and shared on his twitter page, Chiloba has revealed that the commission has finally dismissed him as the CEO, a decision he says he had preempted.

He has revealed that he received a termination letter signed by the IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati, telling him that his services are no longer needed.

Chiloba’’s statement reads: “My employment with the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has officially been terminated. This does not come as a surprise to Kenyans who have been monitoring the events at the IEBC in the last six months. The outcome was already predetermined and the process was a mere formality. This is was a narrative that I was told over and over again.”

Mr Chiloba says he has been accused of snubbing planned meeting with commission’s disciplinary committee which was scheduled for October 11, yesterday. This formed the ground for his dismissal.

“The letter claims that I had twice been invited to appear before the disciplinary committee of the Commission, but I failed to show up; hence the decision to terminate my employment.”

 “The position is that, when I was first invited to appear, I was away attending classes at the University of Oxford, where I am pursuing an MSc in Major Programme Management,” he says in his statement.

However, the IEBC has not issued any statement on Chiloba’s dismissal.

In his defence, Chiloba says that he communicated his availability to Mr Chebukati, and that October 11 meeting was agreed. To this, he says that his sacking was a plan that was already hatched.

“It is not true that CEO Ezra Chiloba, who is on suspension, has been dismissed from employment. What is true is that the disciplinary process is on-going and the Commission will make an objective decision on the matter,” IEBC said.

This was after Chiloba had tried to resume duty but was repulsed by the electoral agency, saying that his suspension was still on.

Fight back

He has punched holes on the move by listing five gounds in which he believes that the commission overstepped its mandate in the process of oustering him. Part of this is the unprocedural voting process by the commissioners to send him on leave.

He says that when the audit was conducted on procurement to query losses of funds, he was never given an opportunity to be part of the process.