IEBC Chair Chebukati says commissioners, staff to undergo public vetting

IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati addressing the press after Post-Election Evaluation workshop in Kisumu County on June 26, 2018. [Collins Oduor/Standard]

Electoral agency IEBC’s Chair Wafula Chebukati, commissioners and staff manning critical functions will all undergo public vetting.

Communication from the commission also said that stakeholders and the public will be given an opportunity to raise concerns against the officials.

Ina tweet, it said that the move “will enhance the Commission’s effectiveness and accountability, as well as restore public confidence.”

The decision by IEBC to take its commissioners through vetting falls in line with President Uhuru’s directive last month that all government procurement officers must undergo fresh vetting in a bid to rid State offices of spiraling corruption.

Events leading up to this announcement have seen the Commission put under sharp scrutiny for the manner in which it handled last year’s General Election, with many questioning its ability to oversee elections in the country with veracity and accountability.

In April this year, three IEBC commissioners among them vice chair Connie Nkatha Maina, Margaret Mwachanya and Paul Kurgat resigned citing Chair Wafula Chebukati’s ability to lead the commission with independence.

They said the electoral agency’s boardroom had turned into “a venue for peddling money, misinformation and grounds for brewing mistrust.”

They also faulted the manner in which decisions were being made at the commission including a move to send IEBC CEO Ezra Chiloba on a three-month compulsory leave.

Chiloba has been suspended twice, first in April to allow an audit of the 2017 election financial processes and again in June 2018 just hours after the Labour Relations court allowed him to resume work.

Of seven commissioners, only three among them Chair Wafula Chebukati, Prof. Abdi Yakub Guliye and Boya Molu are left holding fort at the troubled agency.